
We love fast food burgers, and we bet you do, too. However, it's an indulgence—and everyone knows it. Just as you wouldn't order a Whopper or a Big Mac because you're trying to watch your waistline, you'd probably order restaurant salads for the same reason: it sounds like the healthiest item on the menu. Sadly, that's not always the case as there are plenty of restaurant salads that are high in calories.
More often than you realize, that salad is actually the worst choice on the menu. Restaurants across the country have learned that "nutrition" sells, so they smack these salad calorie bombs onto the "lighter fare" portion of the menu, encouraging you to think you're making a healthy selection. To clear up the confusion and call these offending high-calorie salads out, we've rounded up the most prominent examples of unhealthy salads. These restaurant salads are so bad, you'd be better off ordering that Whopper, after all. Or maybe one of these best restaurant salads instead!
In fact, the 25 unhealthiest restaurant salads have thousands of calories, unhealthy trans fats, and more sodium than you should eat in a whole day, all served over a bed of lettuce. Check out the worst offenders from some of the most popular restaurants in America.
Applebee's Crispy Chicken Tender Salad

Four of the salads on Applebee's menu break the 1,000-calorie barrier, making them just as dubious as any other menu item, but this one takes the cake with more than the daily recommended amount of sodium in just one salad! Slash calories by switching over to the Thai Shrimp Salad.
Eat This! Instead:
Side Caesar Salad
Buffalo Wild Wings Honey BBQ Chicken Salad with Ranch Dressing

It's quite baffling seeing the amount of sodium and sugar you get from this salad! Your better option is to choose a side salad, and a side salad only, as most of Buffalo Wild Wings' salads are high calorie.
Eat This! Instead:
Caesar Side Salad
California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf Chicken Salad with Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (Full)

There's no reason that this salad should saddle you with over a grand of calories. According to the CPK website, it contains grapes, green apples, candied walnuts, crisp celery, baby greens, and Gorgonzola, all served with housemade Dijon balsamic vinaigrette.
When mixed together in reasonable proportions, there's nothing inherently wrong with these ingredients. In fact, most of them are good for you. It's just that CPK jumbo sizes their menu items. (If you're looking for helpful dining out tips, your ultimate restaurant and supermarket survival guide is here!)
Eat This! Instead:
Roasted Veggie Salad with Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing, Half
T.G.I. Fridays Million Dollar Cobb Salad with Beyond Meat Patty and Ranch Dressing

You might think choosing a salad that has Beyond Meat might make it healthier but alas, that is not the case. Here, mixed greens, sliced carrots, red cabbage, avocado, tomatoes, chopped cage-free egg, bacon, blue cheese, red onions, cucumber, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses all come together along with ranch dressing for a salad that is overloaded with fat and sodium.
Eat This! Instead:
Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken with Caesar Dressing
Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad With Crispy Chicken

Why is this salad so hefty? Part of the blame goes to the tasty Oriental vinaigrette, for sure (the secret is always, at least partially, in the sauce). Another reason: It's topped with crispy noodles (carbohydrate overload). And to complete the triumvirate of dietary doom: Fried chicken. What exactly makes this a salad again?
Eat This! Instead:
Side Caesar Salad
Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad

The "explosion" is what happens to your mind when you realize what's in this "salad." Chili's highest-calorie salad will supply you with 1.5 days' worth of fat, thanks in no small part to its "garnish"—an order of cheese quesadillas!
Eat This! Instead:
Santa Fe Chicken Salad with Chicken
Cheesecake Factory Chinese Chicken Salad

Bet you weren't expecting to take down the sugar equivalent of six Original Glazed Krispy Kreme donuts in a salad were you? That's not to mention you'll also be wolfing down the same amount of fat as you'd find in 13 bags of Doritos chips. Instead, opt for the more calorically-reserved Seared Tuna Tataki Salad.
Eat This! Instead:
Seared Tuna Tataki Skinnylicious Salad
Cheesecake Factory Barbeque Ranch Chicken Salad

The dismal dawn of the more than 2,000-calorie salad is upon us. If we're being honest here, nearly every Cheesecake Factory salad dwarfs a Whopper (or two, or even three), but this one is truly the worst of the worst. Save 1,340 calories by switching to the Wellness Salad instead. On the "Super" Food Menu, the Wellness Salad is a kale-based dish with avocado, broccoli, fresh fruit, and nuts.
Eat This! Instead:
Wellness Salad
Panera Southwest Chile Lime Ranch Salad With Chicken (Whole)

Panera's salads might have fewer calories than a Whopper, but it's worse in almost every other category. This Southwest Chile Lime Ranch Salad packs in more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium. If you're planning to order a salad at Panera, try the antioxidant-packed Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad.
Eat This! Instead:
Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad, Whole
Chipotle Carnitas Salad With Black Beans, Fajita Veggies, Cheese & Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette

If you're looking for a salad at Chipotle, be sure to pass on this vinaigrette dressing on the menu. With 220 calories and 16 grams of fat, it has more than double the calories than the most caloric salsa at Chipotle. Your best bet is to turn the tangy green salsa (just 15 calories per serving) into your dressing and spend the 205 calories you save elsewhere. When you're looking to order at Chipotle, we opt for a burrito bowl over the salad and ask for extra lettuce on the bottom. Basically, just a salad without the caloric dressing.
Eat This! Instead:
Barbacoa Burrito Bowl With black beans, cheese, lettuce, and tomato salsa
Cosi Cobb Salad

We're going to say it: the sodium in this salad is just downright scary! Ordering a restaurant salad when dining out is risky business, but the Shanghai standby below offers plenty of lean protein and fresh vegetables without the normal salad pitfalls.
Eat This! Instead:
Smart Fit Salad
Burger King Club Salad with Crispy Chicken Salad and Ranch Dressing

When you're at BK, just stay away from this salad! Although it might not seem as bad as some of the other culprits on this list, it's still pacling when it comes to fat and sodium. It has more sodium that one Whopper!
Eat This! Instead:
Garden Side Salad
BJ's Honey-Crisp Chicken Salad

This high-calorie salad comes from BJ's "Garden Fresh" menu, but it's not even close to something you'd find in a real garden. It has multiple nutritional categories in the quadruple digits. Downsize and look to the "Small Salads" section of the menu.
Eat This! Instead:
Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Salad
P.F. Chang's Mandarin Crunch Salad With Chicken

Adding protein such as chicken or fish to a salad is never a bad idea. But as you can see, that doesn't save this salad here. The fact that it has 1 gram more sugar than four donuts is just not OK, along with packing as much sodium as 120 Lay's potato chips.
Eat This! Instead:
Asian Caesar Salad with Chicken
Romano's Macaroni Grill Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Salad

Again, this is yet another example of how you can't just trust that a salad offered up a restaurant will be good for you. The "crusted" salad is just another way of saying breaded and fried. Don't let it fool you!
Eat This! Instead:
Entrée Caesar
El Pollo Loco Double Chicken Tostada Salad

Rice and a fried tortilla combine for a one-two punch of empty carbs, while the shredded cheese and sour cream lend these leaves more saturated fat than a dozen strips of bacon. Opt for the surprisingly healthy Double Chicken Avocado Salad instead.
Eat This! Instead:
Double Chicken Avocado Salad
California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad with Herb Ranch Dressing, Full
You know something's amiss when the salad packs more than twice as many calories as the pizza. California Pizza Kitchen's menu is a minefield of viscous calorie bombs, and if you try to venture far from the beaten path, you'll likely find yourself with a barrage of clandestine calories clambering for real estate in—and on—your belly.
Eat This! Instead:
Classic Caesar Salad, Full
On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Ground Beef

You could almost have two Whoppers instead of this high-calorie salad! This belt-busting bowl boasts two days' worth of saturated fat and almost a full day's worth of heart-taxing sodium. The Chipotle-Honey Mustard Dressing alone adds 330 calories and 31 grams of fat.
Eat This! Instead:
Sizzling Fajita Salad – Chicken
California Pizza Kitchen Thai Crunch Salad with Lime Cilantro Dressing, Full
Here, you'll be eating a salad that is made up of crisp veggies (shredded carrots, edamame, cabbage, fresh avocado to be exact), fresh cilantro, chicken, peanuts, wontons, and rice sticks. It comes across as seemingly harmless, but this salad will saddle you with more calories than a pound and a half of sirloin from Applebee's.
Eat This! Instead:
California Cobb With Herb Ranch Dressing, Half
Ruby Tuesday Crispy Chicken Ranch Salad

When you sat down for dinner, did you expect to blow through your entire day's sodium budget by the end of your salad? Well, that's exactly what would happen if you sat down to this dish at Ruby Tuesday's. While our healthier option is slightly better on the sodium front, it's a clear winner when it comes to being nearly half the calories, fat, and saturated fat.
Eat This! Instead:
BBQ Chicken Cobb
IHOP Cobb Salad with Crispy Chicken

Although it's no surprise that IHOP has some of the unhealthiest restaurant breakfasts options, seeing a salad that has more calories than an order of pancakes is just shocking.
Eat This! Instead:
Grilled Chicken & Veggie Salad
Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad with Chick-n-Stips and Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing

The Cobb salad with Chick-n-Strips and avocado lime ranch dressing off Chick-fil-A's menu will set you back nearly 1,000 calories. That's a hard-pass on this option! Instead, go for the grilled nuggets on the market salad to cut back on calories and fat for a good amount of protein.
Eat This! Instead:
Grilled Market Salad with Light Balsamic Vinaigrette
Moe's Southwest Grill Fried Salad Bowl with Adobo Chicken, Black Beans, Shredded Cheese, and Southwest Vinaigrette

We think this is clear: if you're trying to eat healthy, a deep-fried taco shell isn't going to cut it. Swap the chicken for steak, leave out the 455-calorie deep-fried taco shell, sub the Southwest Vinaigrette for a Chipotle Ranch, and you're looking at a reasonable meal from Moe's.
Eat This! Instead:
Chopped Romaine Salad with Steak, Pico de Gallo, Shredded Cheese, and Chipotle Ranch
Zaxby's The Fried Cobb Zalad

Save yourself 30 grams of fat and over double the saturated fat and trans fat by opting for grilled instead of fried when you're ordering a salad at Zaxby's. The fried chicken chain makes some good crispy chicken, but double the calories just isn't worth it if you're eating a salad every day.
Eat This! Instead:
The Garden Blue Zalad
Wendy's Full Taco Salad

Wendy's may have a good number of salad options, but you're going to be in the red when it comes to one macronutrient for each of them. While this Taco Salad takes the cake for the worst of all of them, we're going with the Southwest Avocado Salad as the healthiest fast food salad from Wendy's because many of those fats are healthy monounsaturated fats from avocado. Plus, it serves up a high amount of protein. Go with the half to cut back on calories while maintaining just as much protein as the Taco Salad.
Eat This! Instead:
Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad, Half