If you're in the mood for Chinese fast food, Panda Express is often your best bet.
But there are certain dishes you'll want to avoid there, whether because you have allergies,
or because you're counting your calories, or because some of them just aren't as good
as you'd hoped.
If you've ever tried the Beijing Beef entree at Panda Express, you probably know it's almost
as delicious as the famous Orange Chicken, and a lot of that has to do with its ingredients.
It's a mixture of crispy beef, red bell peppers, and onions all mixed up in a sweet and tangy
sauce.
Sounds delicious, right?
“There's nothing tastier than Panda Express Orange Chicken."
"Yeah, well, that was before Panda's new Beijing Beef."
But what's not delicious is the wildly high fat content in this dish.
It comes in at 26 grams of fat for one serving, 5 grams of which are saturated.
That's a significant chunk of the typical daily recommended total of 13 grams of saturated
fat per day.
According to the American Heart Association, it's recommended that consumers keep their
consumption of saturated fat as low as possible, as it can lead to heart disease and high cholesterol.
With almost half of the daily recommended amount in this dish, is that fried beef really
worth it?
Fried rice, with its classic blend of carrots, peas, and green onions, is just one of those
givens at Panda Express.
It's the sort of thing that you order without thinking about it, but what are you actually
getting in that rice bowl?
According to Panda Express employees who have revealed secrets on Reddit, this might be
a dish to be concerned about if you have certain food allergies.
Those with shellfish or nut allergies should be aware that the fried rice is stored next
to the Honey Walnut Shrimp and sometimes employees drop food while serving.
With such close proximity, it's enough to make you think twice.
Allergies should always be taken seriously, and there's no reason to let your guard down
when you're eating at a fast food joint.
Yes, you're hearing us correctly, the famous Panda Express Orange Chicken is on a list
of items to avoid.
At 490 calories per serving, it has the highest calorie count of all Panda Express entrees,
and that's partly due to it being breaded and fried.
That crispy outer texture isn't the only reason for that sky-high calorie count.
It also has a lot to do with a sugar content of 19 grams and that infamous orange sauce.
And those aren't the only reasons you might want to steer clear of this dish.
If you've ever had Orange Chicken before, you know it's all about that wildly delicious
and addictive sauce.
But unfortunately when a batch of orange chicken isn't fresh, you might be getting food that's
been sitting for a long time, and the sauce is added to hide that from you.
So next time, if you're still somehow craving this calorie bomb, try asking for a fresh
batch to be extra sure.
If you're looking for the delicious flavor that mushrooms can bring to a dish, don't
get your hopes up too high when you're at Panda Express.
Mushroom Chicken may just be one of the most boring options on the menu.
This entree is served up with mushrooms and zucchini, along with a light ginger soy sauce,
which might sound like an ideal combination.
But the chicken has a reputation for being too subtle and the mushrooms are known to
be mushy, and that's definitely not the standard of great texture and amazing flavor.
And that's not all that's wrong with it.
The Mushroom Chicken only has 220 calories, which is awesome for those looking to keep
that count down, but it comes with a whopping 840 milligrams of sodium per serving.
With that much sodium, you might as well be eating over five servings of potato chips.
"Where's my potato chips?"
"Oh, we're not having chips tonight, munchkin, sorry."
"I want my chips."
If you're hitting up Panda Express for lunch or zipping through the drive-thru on the way
home, you know you're going to add a lot of sodium to your diet that day.
It's just a fact.
But that doesn't mean you have to grab the item with the highest sodium count on the
entire menu.
The Black Pepper Chicken is a pretty simple dish, consisting of chicken, celery, and onions,
but it packs a very salty punch.
With 1,130 milligrams of sodium per serving, it's astonishing that this entree is even
allowed to be on the menu.
The World Health Organization recommends 2,000 milligrams of sodium per day, while the Institute
of Medicine suggests 1,500 milligrams.
While there may be differing opinions of exactly how much sodium you should be consuming, it's
nonetheless clear that this dish is just way too much.
A few pieces of chicken will easily get you past the half-way mark for the whole day,
and that's not even counting the additional 860 milligrams for chow mein or 850 milligrams
for fried rice to bring you well over your daily limit.
Better to just skip this option altogether.
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