The #1 Unhealthiest Steak at Every Popular Steakhouse Chain
Tasty as it may be—and we hate to break this to you—steak is not all that healthy of a food. Sure, it's high in protein, with an average 100-gram serving of the stuff packing in 26 grams of protein, but it also tends to be high in fat, with nearly 12 grams per that same serving. It also tends to be high in saturated fat and cholesterol if you don't choose the right cut. And that's referring to just the meat alone with nothing at all added.
Eaten without any additional ingredients, as in no salt or butter or fatty sauces, it's fine to enjoy a lean steak every now and then, but when you order a steak at a steakhouse, it's almost never served without being slathered with extras. (Read: 8 Secrets Steakhouses Don't Want You to Know.) And it's definitely not going to be served in a modest 100-gram portion—that's a mere 3.5-ounce serving, or less than a quarter pound of meat, for reference.
Go ahead and treat yourself to a great steakhouse steak now and then, but do yourself a favor and never order the unhealthiest steakhouse steaks featured here from every popular chain. Or at least split them with a friend.
Fogo De Chao Wagyu Ancho Ribeye
Fogo de Chao is one of the best-known Brazillian steakhouses in the country. As the servers come around with steak and other cuts of meat served churrasco-style, it can be easy to overdo it with some of the fattier cuts. If you opt for the fancier Wagyu Ancho, which needs to be split amongst six people at the table, you are looking at 370 calories per person for just four ounces, and that doesn't factor in any other meats or sides that are coming to the table. The bottom sirloin is your best bet at just 100 calories per typical slice.
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Texas Roadhouse 16-Ounce Prime Rib
This pound of steak isn't the highest calorie cut on the Texas Roadhouse menu—that "honor" goes to the 16-ounce Ft. Worth Ribeye. But it's a close second at 1,260 calories, and it "wins" when it comes to fat and sodium, with 42 grams of saturated fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.
Outback Steakhouse Classic Prime Rib 24-Ounce
This gut-busting pound-and-a-half steak is just a bad idea. According to Outback's own nutrition info, it packs in well more calories than the average adult needs in an entire day, the recommended amount being 2,000 while this steak has 2,660 calories, 1,950 of which come from fat. It has 99 grams of fat and 1,180 milligrams of sodium.
Logan's Roadhouse 16-Ounce Ribeye
Maybe this steak has nothing on Outback's 24-Ounce Prime Rib in terms of calories, but 1,000 calories is still more than anyone needs in one entrée. And it's the fat here that's really the issue: despite being significantly smaller than that Prime Rib this Ribeye still has a staggering 87 grams of fat, not to mention 34 grams of saturated fat. And 2,780 milligrams of sodium.
LongHorn Steakhouse LongHorn 22-Ounce
The LongHorn 22-Ounce Porterhouse steak is going to take a long time for you to work off, what with its 1,280 calories, almost exactly half of which come from fat. It has 67 grams of fat total, 27 grams of saturated fat, and five grams of trans fat. Also, there are those 365 milligrams of cholesterol, and no, it's not good cholesterol, either.
The Capital Grille Bone-In Ribeye 22-Ounce
Remembering that this is a bone-in steak, meaning you won't eat all of it, the 990 calories in this steak are actually quite high for the portion, as are the 72 grams of fat and the 1,060 milligrams of sodium. At least you'll also get a whopping 80 grams of protein.
Morton's 24-Ounce Prime Porterhouse
When you go to Morton's The Steakhouse you can expect to pay heartily and eat heartily. And that's what will happen if you order the 24-ounce Prime Porterhouse steak, which is something you should probably not do, because the steak costs around $75 at most locations and packs in more than 1,600 calories.
Black Angus Steakhouse 18-Ounce Bone-In Ribeye
Here's another 1,000-plus calorie steak. It is, in fact, a 1,030 calorie steak with 750 calories from fat, 83 grams of fat (and 37 grams of saturated fat) plus 1,680 milligrams of sodium and 275 milligrams of cholesterol.
Claim Jumper's Porterhouse Steak
This steak, served in a pound-and-a-half portion, delivers a whopping 1,620 calories, 1,174 of which are from fat, to be very specific, as per the chain's nutrition info. The Porterhouse also has 130 grams of fat, and 49 grams of saturated fat, and let's not even get into the chain's "Steak Toppers," like sautéed mushrooms and onions, which add 310 more calories and 30 more grams of fat.
Fleming's Prime 32-ounce Prime Tomahawk
Fleming's Tomahawk, which is a bone-in ribeye with a long bone is a huge steak at 32 ounces, exactly two pounds. Of its 1,700 calories, 1270 come from fat, so you are essentially chowing down on mostly fat. How much? 141 grams to be exact. And there's no cutting around this fat.
Ruth's Chris Steak House Tomahawk Ribeye
Now, for the record, we know that no one orders this massive steak to eat by himself or herself—no sane person not accepting a bet or a dare, anyway—so no need to point that out. But even if halved, this steak is still a health bomb. It weighs in at 40 ounces and it packs in 3,160 calories, plus it costs about $140 at most locations. Ouch.
Sizzler Ribeye Steak
The 14-ounce Ribeye Steak from Sizzler is certainly an affordable way to get your calories, but with 1,090 calories in this single slab of meat, it's still not a good deal health-wise, the under $20 price tag alluring as it may be.
A previous version of this article was originally published in September 2022. It has been updated with new information.
