This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
Although picking a chicken sandwich at the drive-thru might seem like a healthy decision, the truth is less straightforward. In fact, depending on what exactly you order, a chicken sandwich could pack in a lot of calories, fat, and sodium–making it the opposite of healthy.
With that in mind, next time you take a trip to Burger King, keep this in mind when it comes to ordering.
Some of Burger King's popular most chicken sandwiches can mean serious trouble for your diet. The fast food chain offers an array of chicken sandwiches, including Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Original Chicken Sandwich, Bacon & Cheese Crispy Chicken Sandwich, and BBQ Bacon Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
Each of these options is over 650 calories. And the Bacon & Cheese Crispy Chicken Sandwich maxes out the list at 800 calories per serving.
With that in mind, ordering one of these sandwiches could be a problem, especially considering the average woman should be consuming about 2,000 calories a day to maintain her weight according to Healthline.
Consuming over a fourth of these calories in one sandwich will make it hard to maintain this goal through the rest of the day. Plus, this calorie count does not account for any sides you might order with your sandwich--so it might actually be a higher total.
All of these sandwiches also contain at least 40 grams of fat. According to MayoClinic, "If you're following a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, your target range for total fat is 44 to 78 grams a day."
The fat in one of these BK chicken sandwiches gets you to over half of the maximum amount of fat you should be eating in a day.
The sodium in these sandwiches also presents a problem. According to the CDC, "The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that Americans consume less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day as part of a healthy eating pattern."
The Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which contains 1,o80 mg of sodium, is the lowest on this list. Meanwhile, the Bacon & Cheese Crispy Chicken Sandwich is the highest with 1,650 mg of sodium.
With that in mind, if you are in the mood for a chicken sandwich at Burger King, it's a good idea to stay away from their fried options. Try the Tendergrill Chicken Sandwich instead.
Plus, it's dietitian-approved. Heather Mangieri, MS, RD, CSSD, says it is her go-to BK order. She told Eat This, Not That!, "I'd go for the Tendergrill Chicken Sandwich. Grilled chicken is a staple in my diet as it is, so ordering a sandwich out is not out of the ordinary for me. It fills me up without making me feel like I overate. This sandwich is 380 calories, and it drops to 290 if you tell them to hold the mayonnaise."
