Food Delivery Makeover: How to Order Restaurant Salads that Are Actually Good for You (and Which Ones to Avoid Entirely)

When you order takeout or food delivery for a working lunch, picking a salad off the menu often feels like the easiest way to eat healthy at the office. But many, many restaurants make their salads more mass-appealing by adding less-than-low-cal ingredients… and after a little bacon and a lot of cheese, that “healthy” salad ends up being just as packed with fat, salt, and calories as a triple-decker club or even a burger.

Sadly, several of the most popular restaurant salads often fall right into that category. To help keep your food delivery orders on track, here’s our take on which salads should be skipped, which can be salvaged, and how to make it happen:

Greek salad

Tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, olives: there’s a lot to like about a good Greek salad, which is traditionally packed with vitamin and antioxidant-rich vegetables. Make sure your restaurant order stays healthy by ordering a traditional vinaigrette on the side, instead of a creamy “Greek” dressing poured over the top. And if you’re watching your calorie intake, ask for just half of the usual feta cheese (with flavorful cheeses like feta, a little goes a long way).

Wedge salad 

Crisp iceberg lettuce, savory bacon, creamy blue cheese, sweet tomatoes — the wedge salad hits all the right notes when it comes to taste and texture. Unfortunately, it misses the mark on nutrition. Iceberg lettuce makes for about the least nutritious salad green out there, and the calorie-laden toppings load this salad with excess fat and salt. At one nationwide chain, you’ll consume 59 grams of fat and 600 calories when you order the wedge — and it’s classified as a side salad. Consider this a very occasional treat, not a healthy everyday lunch.

Cobb salad

There’s no doubt that this is a hearty salad, with grilled chicken, hardboiled egg, bacon, blue cheese, and, oh yeah, some vegetables underneath. While the calories and fat grams can add up with all that bacon and blue cheese, it is possible to modify your way to a healthy Cobb salad: swap in heart-healthier avocado for bacon, and again, ask for just half the amount of blue cheese. With a vinaigrette dressing, it will be a very satisfying and fairly healthy lunch with plenty of protein and vitamins… just be careful not to overeat when you order a gigantic restaurant portion.

Caesar salad

This classic has a few nutrient-packed positives: romaine lettuce is a great source of vitamins A and K, and anchovies are packed with omega-3 fatty acids (although many chain restaurant varieties leave out the traditional chopped fish). However, those are drowned out — literally — by a sea of creamy dressing, Parmesan cheese, and crunchy croutons. At one Southwestern chain, a chicken Caesar salad has 44 grams of fat… almost as much as a lunch order of their signature baby-back ribs. Given the simplicity of the ingredients, it’s hard to make substitutions without ruining the salad completely… so you’re better off skipping Caesar altogether.

Southwestern chicken salad

Shredded romaine piled with chicken, black beans, corn, peppers, and tortilla strips: we all know this ubiquitous restaurant salad, although it goes by many names (yes, the counterintuitive “quesadilla salad” being one of them). And it’s this-close to being an awesome lunch choice, since it has all the hallmarks of a satisfying salad (fiber from beans, protein from chicken, and vitamins/minerals from the greens and veggies)… but when it’s piled with crispy tortillas, breaded chicken, and a creamy ranch dressing, it becomes another fat-and-calorie bomb. Luckily, by ordering grilled chicken, a vinaigrette-style dressing, and skipping the tortilla strips, you’ll end up with a very well-balanced salad.

There’s a pattern here to making sure your restaurant salad is a healthy one: choose grilled instead of fried when it comes to your protein (whether chicken or shrimp), ask for a vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy one, and hold the empty-calorie extras like croutons or tortilla strips. And if you can’t do without a little indulgence in your salad, just choose one: pick bacon OR blue cheese, not both. You’ll still be way better off than if you’d gone right for the burger or burrito, while still enjoying a flavorful and satisfying lunch.

Choosing the right salad is much simpler when you have plenty of restaurant menus at your disposal… just one of the reasons why Waiter.com is your greatest ally when it comes to ordering healthy food delivery!