13 Chick-fil-A Items Ranked from Worst to Best

Chick-fil-A is known as one of the better fast-food options, offering a wide variety of sides, entrées, and of course those iconic chicken sandwiches. Not all menu items offer the same bang for your buck, nutritionally—some are glorified dessert sugar bombs, while others are packed with extremely high amounts of sodium. So what should you choose when you visit the chain, and which menu items are better enjoyed sparingly, when it comes to healthy options? Here are 13 Chick-fil-A menu items, ranked from worst to best for you nutritionally.

Cookies & Cream Milkshake

The Cookies & Cream Milkshake is not a drink, it is firmly a dessert, with a whopping 84 g of sugar in just one shake. Chick-fil-A fans are undeterred by the dubious nutritional information and recommend ordering the milkshake with an extra pump of chocolate or peppermint syrup. With more sugar than you'd find in many candy bars, this is definitely a special-occasion-only treat.

Frosted Coffee

Frosted Coffee doesn't sound unhealthy just going by the name alone, but it's deceptively sweet for a beverage, and it offers almost no fiber to offset the sugar. A hand-spun treat that combines a custom blend of cold-brewed coffee and Chick-fil-A's signature Icedream dessert, 44 g of sugar per drink is no joke. "The frosted coffee only gets barely filled to even a fourth of a cup then the rest with ice dream," one Redditor shared. "A lot of people at my store personally do even less just so that it comes out thicker."

Mac & Cheese

Chick-fil-A's Mac & Cheese is delicious but indulgent—a single serving is packed with saturated fat and sodium. "By fast food standards it's 10/10, by homemade baked macaroni standards? 7 or 8. I've actually bought trays of it you can get for parties to eat on Thanksgiving and it's more than acceptable," one Redditor said.

Every Single Chick-fil-A Side, Tasted & Ranked

Chocolate Chunk Cookie

With nearly as much fat as a burger and 26 g of sugar per cookie, this treat is better shared. "There are days where we have to make a ton of cookies all day for catering and it's awful, it just smells so good all day and I know I can't eat them all. Absolutely atrocious working conditions," one employee joked. Other guests said one cookie is so rich, you usually stay away from them for a while after enjoying more than one.

Side Salad

This menu item is surprisingly high in fat and sodium for a side salad, especially with dressing. One employee said a surprisingly large amount of people order some sort of salad with their chicken meals. "They are eating salads. Some days, we sell anywhere from 50-80 side salads on top of the standard salads. Cobb is by far the biggest seller with over 120 a day."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Market Salad

Coming in at number 8, the Market Salad is a solid healthier option packed with protein and fiber, but the sugar and sodium take the shine off. Adding dressing adds hundreds of calories (Avocado Lime Ranch alone is 310 calories). "Calories in a Chick-fil-A sauce. That blows my mind! A cup of soup has less calories than a single packet of Chick-fil-A sauce," one stunned Redditor said. "It blows my mind when people get 2-3 of those for their one salad order," another added.

Chick-fil-A Nuggets

Standard Chick-fil-A nuggets have a lot of protein, but are also high in sodium. Some guests are appalled at how expensive they are (almost $1 per nugget in California). "I love their chicken nuggets but the day they cost the same as a fried chicken wing covered in my favorite sauce is the day chicken nuggets end for me. They are getting real close lol," one Redditor said.

Hash Browns

While hash browns are deep-fried, the portion is small and overall damage is limited. Each box should contain approximately 12-14 hash browns per serving, former employees say, so if you get significantly less, say something! "I work at CFA and I just dump as many as I can that'll fit in the box," one Redditor shared.

Chick-fil-A Cool Wrap

Coming in at number 5, the Cool Wrap is one of the most balanced entrées on the menu, offering fiber, a fantastic amount of protein, and satiety. "My stomach is usually a black hole, I can pound back like 2000 calories in one sitting and barely be phased," one Redditor said. "But man, the grilled cool wrap is tiny, but I can barely finish it without my stomach feeling like it's going to explode. Even just now I came off 16 hours of intermittent fasting and still got full like immediately. When I worked at Chick-fil-A last summer I had it every day and it's probably the main reason I was able to stay so shredded."

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Low in saturated fat and high in protein, the Chick-fil-A Grilled Chicken Sandwich is a solid choice for a healthy meal option. Each sandwich is made with a lemon-herb marinated boneless breast of grilled chicken, served on a toasted multigrain bun with green leaf lettuce and tomato. Just be aware that the Honey BBQ they recommend with the sandwich will add more calories.

12 Healthy Chick-fil-A Orders, According to Dietitians

Fruit Cup

A simple, natural, whole-foods option, the Fruit Cup comes in at number 3. This delicious chilled fruit mix is made with chopped red and green apples, mandarin orange segments, fresh strawberry slices, and blueberries, and prepared fresh daily.

Side of Kale Crunch

The Chick-fil-A Kale Crunch comes in as the number 2 healthiest option on the menu. This little salad is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to enjoy a nutrient-dense and flavorful side to their meal. Packed with fiber, greens, and healthy fats, this blend of  kale and green cabbage is tossed with an Apple Cider and Dijon Mustard vinaigrette and topped with roasted almonds.

And the Number One Most Nutritious Order is…Grilled Nuggets

The Chick-fil-A grilled Chicken Nuggets are easily the healthiest item on the menu: Lean, high-protein, low-calorie, these nuggets are as clean as it gets. "I never liked the grilled sandwiches but I LOVE the grilled nuggets," one Redditor said. "I second this! I have always loved the grilled nugs, and I tried the grilled sandwich for the first time a while back and was not a fan 😕," another commented. "I get them for low carb purposes either stand alone or on the cobb salad. And I really actually kind of like them better than the regular nuggets some days. Just depends on my mood," a third added.