You expect fried chicken to be unhealthy, but you might be thinking a salad is a safe
bet. That's not the case at some of these fast-food chicken chains.
It's okay to eat fast food chicken occasionally, but if you're trying to be more health-conscious,
it's best to treat these outings like special occasions rather than regular
occurrences. That includes trips to America's beloved fast food chicken chain Popeyes.
New Orleans-style chicken is a national favorite, and there's nothing wrong with that,
but the nutrition facts can get concerning. If you order the 4-Piece Signature Chicken Combo
Classic with a biscuit, fries, and a soda, you won't only be ingesting 1,777 calories,
but you'll also have to reserve 91 grams of fat and 89 grams of carbs for the food alone.
And those watching their blood pressure may want to reconsider chowing down on 3,970 mg
of sodium. These numbers far exceed what is medically recommended for a daily intake.
The chain's vegetarian items may be a better bet for diners looking to
lower their overall calorie count at Popeyes. Side dishes like cole slaw, mashed potatoes,
and rice make for a decent meal and seem preferable to a huge portion of salt-packed
chicken. Sodium counts are notoriously high in the fast food industry, but if you want
to steer clear of the blatantly unhealthy stuff, avoid ordering this chicken combo.
KFC has toyed with boxed meals over its long history as a fast-food chicken heavyweight,
and the big box is one such manifestation. With it, you don't have to deliberate between
a spicy chicken sandwich or nuggets and fries. You can have it all in one ... big
box. This is great for ravenous patrons who are deadset on really treating themselves to KFC,
but the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and Nuggets Big Box Meal takes
the top spot as the unhealthiest thing you can order off the menu.
This combo box is customizable, but the range is still between 940 and 1,560 calories. In addition
to the 620-calorie spicy chicken sandwich, you'll also get five chicken nuggets, one side,
and a fountain drink. If you go the classic route and choose a side of secret recipe fries,
that will add 320 calories to the meal. Soda brings in another 250 or more calories,
depending on your choice, but even the modest option of lemonade packs 140 calories. KFC's
spicy chicken sandwich also carries 33 grams of fat, 85 mg of cholesterol, and 2,140 mg of sodium.
If fast-food chicken is what you desire, Raising Cane's has it. The menu here is
refreshingly simplified: chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast,
and a chicken sandwich. Special sauce, lemonade, sweet tea, and fountain drinks punctuate the menu,
but we admire that Raising Cane's stays true to what it does best.
Having such a streamlined menu means most of what you can order is slight variations of the
same things. The 3 Finger Combo, Box Combo, and Caniac Combo are identical ingredient-wise, so
it's probably no surprise that the Caniac Combo is the most unhealthy thing you can order at Raising
Cane's. It's simply the largest portion in every way. You'll get six chicken fingers, a helping
of crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, coleslaw, two sauces, and a large fountain drink — all
of which total upwards of 2,040 calories. If you eat the entire portion of the Caniac Combo,
you consume around a full day's worth of calories in one crispy-fried basket of food.
Raising Cane's consistency in serving unprocessed chicken across approximately
570 locations — including several in military base food courts — is certainly commendable.
The company's claim to fame is its chicken fingers, and if you love them, you should
eat them! Just don't order the biggest portion if you're trying to be mindful of what you eat.
"I'm chicken rich!"
Restaurant salads are known to be deceptively unhealthy, but surprisingly, a Cobb Salad is
the unhealthiest thing you can order from Chick-Fil-A. The nutrition facts of this
Cobb Salad with breaded chicken are gasp-inducing. While 850 calories for a salad is troubling, the
61 grams of fat and 2,220 mg of sodium are almost unbelievable. If you're dead set on ordering this,
opt for grilled chicken, less of the standard ingredients, and ask for dressing on the side.
To put it into perspective, the Hash Brown Scramble Burrito has 0.5 grams of trans-fat,
700 calories, and 1,770 mg of sodium. But even with trans-fat among the ingredients,
this unhealthy breakfast item still seems slightly more appealing than
the gut punch that is Chick-Fil-A's Cobb Salad. A great deal of the fat is sourced
by the buttermilk ranch dressing, which has around 30 grams of fat per serving,
depending on the variation you order. There's also the bacon to consider.
From a calorie standpoint, the Cobb Salad is in a discouraging category of its own,
but some Chick-Fil-A locations sell combo meals with caloric totals that
are in the thousands. An example of such a combo meal would be the Spicy Deluxe,
which could top out at 1,100 calories depending on what you order. A Chick-Fil-A
Combo meal typically includes waffle-cut French fries and a fountain drink.
As a general rule, avoid unwittingly ordering the most unhealthy thing at a fast food chicken chain
by forgoing the combo meal. One place where this rings true is Church's Texas Chicken.
George Church started the eatery in San Antonio, Texas, in 1952. From there, the company grew into
a huge fast-food chain with restaurants in almost all 50 states and nearly two dozen countries.
"That's because Church's chicken is big! Bigger than Kentucky-Fried."
There's no shame in wanting to sink your teeth into a crispy piece of Church's Texas Chicken,
but if you're trying to choose one of the more nutritious menu items,
skip the 3 Piece Mixed Combo.
Church's official website shows that the 3 Piece Mixed Combo's total calorie count is
between 870-1,990, which is quite a range. The company is a little sneaky with how it lists
nutritional information. Instead of providing calories, fat, and other details for each meal,
Church's discloses nutrition facts for everything individually. If you order
an original fried chicken wing, thigh, and leg, the calories for just the poultry total 800. The
3 Piece Mixed Combo also comes with a 230-calorie honey-butter biscuit, a drink,
and a side of your choice. Depending on what you choose, the less-than-great ingredients can add
up quickly. If you're trying to be mindful of fat and calories but still want to enjoy a meal from
Church's Texas Chicken, try gravitating toward a smaller portion, like the 2 Piece Mixed Combo.
Slim Chickens is expanding so quickly that there's probably a location opening
up right as you watch this. The fast-casual chicken chain originated in Arkansas in 2002
as an entrepreneurial venture for high school pals Greg Smart and Tom Gordon.
Like Church's Texas Chicken, Slim Chickens lists its nutrition facts by the item rather than by
the meal. But just looking at what's inside the chicken club sandwich is enough to know that the
meal will be very unhealthy. The Chicken Club Sandwich packs 747 calories, 409 of which are
calories from fat, 42 grams of fat, nine of which are saturated fat, and 1,044 milligrams of sodium.
A fried chicken sandwich practically begs for a side of fries, but consuming regular-sized
fries as part of the Chicken Club Sandwich Meal will add 470 calories, 22 grams of fat,
and 1,180 milligrams of sodium. When eating a fast food chicken meal, you can shave off a few hundred
calories by opting for a diet soda rather than a full-sugar one — or, better yet, drinking water.
Combo meals at fast-food chicken chains have consistently ranked as the unhealthiest things
on the menu, and at Zaxby's, the situation is no different. This chicken joint debuted in 1990
in Statesboro, Georgia, with American-style portions that are the antithesis of healthy.
The Wings & Things Meal is a huge portion of salty, fatty, saucy food items. Although it
might taste good, eating an entire Wings & Things plate could potentially expend your
recommended daily calories in just one meal. With five chicken wings, three chicken fingerz,
crinkle fries, Texas Toast, and a small drink, you probably won't have room for any more food
anyway. Zaxby's website reveals that this meal totals anywhere from 1,480 to 2,050 calories and
around 96 grams of fat, which is a bit much for anyone looking to consume three meals per day.
Since 1977, Bojangles' cajun fried chicken has been a claim
to fame that helped the business expand into over 800 locations.
"'Cause when it comes to down-home cookin', it's not our first rodeo."
The 3-Piece Leg & Two Thighs dinner meal is the unhealthiest thing you
can order from this classic chain. Like other franchises that primarily focus on chicken,
this meal is unhealthy because of the large portions and large doses of sodium and calories.
Bojangles' website puts the 3-Piece Leg & Two Thighs dinner meal at 1,020 to 1,690 calories
— not exactly a light lunch. The fried chicken breast is 260 calories per order, and the wing
is 90 calories per piece. And let's not forget that a biscuit, drink, and two sides are included.
Bojangles has a popular scratch-made biscuit with 310 calories and 780 mg of sodium. You may want to
mix and match menu items rather than order this large meal to keep the portion more manageable.
No fast-food chicken chain is truly complete without french fries. Wingstop,
a Texas-based chain that has amassed a staggering number of locations since opening in 1994, takes
fries pretty seriously. Seasoned Fries, Buffalo Ranch Fries, and Cheese Fries are some savory
sides sold at Wingstop, but the Louisiana Voodoo Fries are the most decadent — and by decadent,
we mean unhealthy. A large order of these bad boys is a staggering 1,180 calories. There
are also 133 grams of carbs, 1,870 mg of sodium, and 64 grams of fat.
Louisiana Voodoo Fries are listed on the menu as a side, but ordering a large is a hefty portion,
weighing in at 483 grams. By comparison, a large order of french fries at McDonald's weighs 154
grams, with 497 calories, 66 grams of carbs, 291 mg of sodium, and 24 grams of fat. So what makes
Wingstop's Louisiana Voodoo Fries so unhealthy? The Cajun Seasoned Fries, which are pretty salty,
to begin with, are drenched in cheese sauce and ranch dressing. Between the big portion
and two creamy sauces, the Louisiana Voodoo Fries eat more like a meal than a side dish.
One chicken chain that makes a concerted effort to shake off the notoriously unhealthy fast food
image is El Pollo Loco. The Mexican-style eatery, which was established in 1975 and is
known for its fire-grilled chicken, tries to be mindful of calories. And while it does a better
job than many of its competitors, the chipotle chicken avocado burrito is hardly diet food. It
contains grilled chicken rather than fried, but it still has 940 calories, 1 gram of trans fat,
84 grams of carbs, and a whopping 2,240 mg of sodium. As delicious as burritos are,
it's hard to justify one that comes with nutrition stats like these.
The Grande Avocado Chicken Bowl may appear like a lower-carb alternative to the Chipotle Chicken
Avocado Burrito. With 90 grams of carbohydrates per serving, however, it turns out that the
opposite is true — though the calorie count of the bowl is a little more palatable at 790 calories.
If you have your heart set on eating the Chipotle Chicken Avocado Burrito
from El Pollo Loco and want to keep your order under 1,000 calories,
you'll need to forgo extras like side sauces, chips and guacamole, or churros for dessert.
Jollibee might be a lesser-known name in fast food chicken, but it started in Quezon City,
Philippines, back in 1978. Now, there are roughly 100 Jollibees in Canada and
the United States and about 1,300 throughout the world. The Filipino chain introduced the
idea of pairing fried chicken with spaghetti to the American public,
but anyone watching their intake should give this quirky combo a hard pass.
"Uh, could I have, uh, the, uh Jolly Spaghetti with the hotdogs on it, right?"
"Yes sir."
"Also, ChickenJoy."
What could be so bad about a fried chicken drumstick and thigh paired with some spaghetti,
sauce, and cheese? Well, to start, this combo tops out at the 1,400-calorie mark. Also,
the spaghetti sauce at Jollibee isn't your average marinara. According to the chain's
website, Jolly Spaghetti sauce includes "chunky slices of savory ham, ground meat, and hotdog."
Stirring a plethora of meat into sauce may be jolly tasting, but it brings the
reasonably sized portion of spaghetti up to 610 calories. On its own, Jolly Spaghetti
has 1,340 mg of sodium and 18 grams of sugar, but as part of the 2 Piece Chickenjoy meal,
the sodium spikes to 2,390 mg. And there's also a side of gravy in this meal. A small
serving of Jollibee Gravy has 25 calories — which isn't bad, seeing as most people don't
view gravy as healthy food — but it adds 380 mg of sodium to an already salt-laden dish.