Meal Planning

Healthiest Fast Food Chicken Sandwich Guide

By Ted KallmyerUpdated May 23, 2023

Choosing the grilled chicken option for a sandwich is usually the best choice, but not all fast food grilled chicken sandwiches are created equally.

Those that come with a bunch of sauces and cheese quickly add a lot of calories.

This guide will show you the healthiest grilled chicken sandwich at 8 major fast food restaurants.

NOTE: Both McDonald’s and Burger King removed their grilled chicken sandwiches.

Wendy’s Ultimate Chicken Grill

Wendy's Ultimate Chicken Grill

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: 230 grams
  • Calories: 370
  • Fat: 7 g ( 1.5 g sat. and 80 mg cholesterol)
  • Sodium: 880 mg
  • Carbs: 43 g (9 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 2 g
  • Protein: 34 g

Wendy’s chicken sandwich does not come standard with mayo and offers a reasonably-sized portion of chicken.

Their popular Spicy Chicken Sandwich provides a smaller portion of chicken but 140 more calories.

Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich

chick-fil-a chargrilled

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: Not listed
  • Calories: 320
  • Fat: 5 g (1.5 g sat. and 65 mg cholesterol)
  • Sodium: 800 mg
  • Carbs: 40 g (7 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 3 g
  • Protein: 30 g

The “inventor” of the chicken sandwich uses marinated grilled chicken. Chick-fil-A uses no hydrogenated oils in their store, so it’s free of trans fat. They also serve the product mayo-free, which cuts down on some calories and fat.

Chick-fil-A serves their sandwich on a multigrain bun, which provides more nutrition than the standard white bun.

Choosing their “Club” option adds 120 calories and 9 grams of fat.

6″ Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Sub

subway over roasted chicken sandwich

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: 219 grams
  • Calories: 310
  • Fat: 4.5 g (1.5 g sat. and 45 mg cholesterol)
  • Sodium: 610 mg
  • Carbs: 46 g (8 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 5 g
  • Protein: 23 g

Subway also offers whole-grain bread options and unlimited veggies. So when eating here, pile the veggies on.

Hint: Skip the iceberg lettuce and go for a lot of baby spinach instead.

Caution! Adding cheese and dressings quickly adds to the calories.

Mayo or ranch adds 110 calories, so your best choices are sweet onion (40 calories), honey mustard (30 calories), or mustard (10 calories)

Cheese adds 50-60 calories.

Hardee’s or Carl Jr.’s Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich

carls jr. hardee's chicken sandwich

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: 296 grams
  • Calories: 470
  • Fat: 9 g (1.5 g sat. and 60 mg cholesterol)
  • Sodium: 1710 mg
  • Carbs: 70 g (25 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 4 g
  • Protein: 31 g

Carls Jr. or Hardee’s has more calories than any of the others and almost double the sodium.

This is their lowest Calorie Charbroiled Chicken Sandwich. Their “Club” version is almost 600 calories.

This one would fair better if you skip the BBQ sauce; a small portion adds about 80 calories, 12 grams of sugar, and 720 mg of sodium.

Red Robin’s Simply Grilled Chicken Burger

Red Robin Chicken Burger

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: Not Listed
  • Calories: 432
  • Fat: 15 g
  • Sodium: 1027 mg
  • Carbs: 51 g (8 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 1 g
  • Protein: 26 g

Red Robin has several grilled chicken burgers, but Simply Grilled is the healthiest and comes without dressing.

The bun is grilled with margarine, and this is why the sandwich is higher in fat even though no mayo is present. Ordering it without is best.

Their California Grilled Chicken Burger is 745 calories, and their Bruschetta Grilled Chicken Burger is 640.

Caution: All of their burgers are sold with bottomless fries, which makes this a very dangerous place to eat for the calorie-conscious…

Note: Pictured is their turkey burger, as we couldn’t locate a picture of the burger featured.

Sonic Grilled Chicken Sandwich

sonic-grilled-chicken-sandwich

Nutrition:

  • Serving size: 257 grams
  • Calories: 450
  • Fat: 17 g
  • Sodium: 1240 mg
  • Carbs: 44 g (7 g sugar)
  • Fiber: 3 g
  • Protein: 32 g

“America’s favorite drive-through” has about one healthier choice, and this is it.

Sonic’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich comes standard with light mayo, so opting for mustard instead will cut out some of the fat and calories.

Caution: Don’t be tempted by their milkshakes: The Peanut Butter Fudge Shake is 760 calories.

What is the best grilled chicken sandwich?

Given all factors involved, like calories, options, and cost – Subway rises to the top.

You can go to Subway and ask for as many veggies as possible – for no extra cost – making it the healthiest choice.

They give you, the customer, control over every aspect of the sandwich creation. You can even skip the bread and make it a big salad.

When you are out and about and need a healthier fast food option, turn to the grilled chicken sandwich .

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