The 7 Healthiest Dishes to Order at BurgerFi—and 3 To Skip

If you've ever been to a BurgerFi, you'll know they're not generally known for their nutritious meal options. The BBQ Rodeo Burger, topped with jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, crispy onion rings, and barbecue sauce, doesn't exactly scream lean. It's more of a spot to satisfy a craving for a juicy smash burger piled high with meat and toppings than it is a healthy food establishment.

As a dietitian, there are times when the nutritious status of a meal doesn't matter, and others when I'm hungry for something more nutritious to fuel my body. Fortunately, visiting a BurgerFi with my family doesn't mean I'm stuck with the former. In fact, if you browse the menu carefully enough, you'll find several dishes that are nutrient-dense and delicious. Even if you do decide to order something based on your internal cues (aka, you just really like it), you could easily balance it out with a more nutritious option later.

Plus, BurgerFi is committed to serving next-level burgers with the freshest ingredients. On their menu, you'll always find Angus or Wagyu beef burgers and hotdogs, all-natural antibiotic-free chicken, and a proprietary, award-winning veggie burger.

I've scoured the menu to find the 7 healthiest dishes to order at BurgerFi (and 3 to skip) so you don't have to.

How We Chose the Healthiest BurgerFi Orders

Your best bet when ordering off any menu, including BurgerFi's menu, is to find something that's balanced (contains somewhat equal portions of protein, fiber, and healthy fats). Balanced meals help you feel full and satisfied so you're better able to tune in to your fullness cues, stop when you're full, and stay full longer. Focusing on balanced meals means you can eat the foods you love while staying within your body's needs.

• Protein: Many BurgerFi menu items are hard-pressed for protein.  After all, it is a burger joint and burgers are packed with protein. Even the veggie burger has a decent serving of protein, while high-protein, meat-free patties are not the norm. Research suggests protein helps you feel full, making you eat less overall. When reading the nutrition facts on the menu, we picked the items that packed the most protein for that category.
• Fiber: Fiber does more than move food through your digestive tract. It provides bulk meals, leading to greater feelings of fullness. This stimulates the vagus nerve, telling your brain to stop eating. Part of a nutritious diet is understanding your own fullness cues, and fiber helps you do that. It's also important for both gut and cardiovascular health. The recommended daily intake of fiber for adults is at least 25 grams per day for women and 38 grams for men. Choosing a menu item that has at least 3 grams of fiber per serving is a great way to move you toward your goal.
• Saturated Fat: Fast food restaurants are notorious for their high saturated fat menu items. Surprisingly, there are options on the menu that aren't major offenders. Ideally, you'd want to replace saturated fat with healthy mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids in the diet, but since those aren't listed on the nutrition facts panel, we chose menu items that are lowest in saturated fat but not necessarily total fat. Saturated fats have been shown to contribute to poor cardiovascular health while the addition of healthy fats has the opposite effect. Since about 10 percent of your daily dietary fat should come from saturated fats, you don't have to eliminate them altogether. Just reduce your intake.

Read on to see which items on the BurgerFi menu are the healthiest and unhealthiest. Then, check out 25 Healthy Fast-Food Orders.

Burgers

Best: BurgerFi Single

The BurgerFi Single Burger is a nutritious way to enjoy a juicy smash burger without going overboard. Even though this classic isn't loaded up with exciting toppings, it is slathered in BurgerFi's delicious Fi sauce. Overall, a single burger at BurgerFi is well-balanced with 24 grams of protein, 44 grams of carbs, and only 6 grams of saturated fat, and it fits in a nutritious diet any day of the week. The only minor setback is its lack of fiber, which you can easily make up for later in the day.

Best: VegeFi Burger

Plant-based connoisseurs can rejoice over this meat-free option at BurgerFi if they can get over the fact that this entire establishment serves up mostly juicy beef burgers. The VegeFi burger is neck and neck with the single burger in the nutrition race – the balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates makes this meal a great choice. And, the 6 grams of fiber from the quinoa + veggie blend patty will put you 1/4 of the way to your daily fiber goals. That's something the single BurgerFi burger doesn't have. What's not so nutritious about the VegeFi burger is that it's high in sodium – which is likely added to improve the shelf life and flavor profile of this meat-free alternative.

Chicken

Best: Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Most people aren't visiting a BurgerFi for chicken, but if white meat is more your style then you're in luck – the Grilled Chicken Sandwich is one of the healthiest sandwiches on the menu. It's a grilled chicken breast topped with lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard in between BurgerFi's epic bun. It's packed with 31 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, and has only 3 grams of saturated fat – all of which represent a heart-healthy option.

Bowls

Best: Grilled Chicken Bowl

*Nutrition information unavailable.

Whether the Grilled Chicken Bowl is a better choice than the sandwich is uncertain, but what is clear is that a bowl of lettuce with tomato, onions, pickles, and grilled chicken is full of nutritional value. The addition of ranch dressing and Fi sauce provide a source of dietary fat, while the fried Haystack onions bring on the flavor and crunch. This bowl is a great choice if you're looking for something healthier than a double-decker burger, but probably not any better for you than grilled chicken with the bun.

Dogs & Sides

Best: Original Dog

As a dietitian, I fully believe in an all-beef hot dog as a nutritious choice, and BurgerFi's Original Dog doesn't disappoint. It's full of flavor and higher in protein than the typical hot dog you'd find at the grocery store. If you're a plain dog kind of person, this one is for you. Once you start loading the toppings, the health status will go down.

Best: Burger Fi Regular Fresh Cut Fries

Not unlike other restaurant french fries, BurgerFi Fresh-Cut Fries have plenty of fiber to help you feel full and satisfied. A regular portion has 8 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein, and only 4 grams of saturated fat. Even half of the portion would be a nutritious addition to your meal and would reduce the calories to a more reasonable number.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Shakes + Frozen Custard

Best: Chocolate or Vanilla Cup Jr.

BurgerFi's shakes and frozen custard menu is extensive. Between floats, toppings, and crazy shakes, there's something for everyone. But it's the plain junior-size Chocolate or Vanilla Custard that is the healthiest option in this category. With 360 calories, it's not outrageous, and 6 grams of protein to help stimulate those fullness cues.

3 Menu Items to Skip

Worst: The CEO

The CEO is one of BurgerFi's signature burgers. Imagine double premium Wagyu burger patties layered with candied bacon jam, truffle aioli, garlic aioli, and aged Swiss cheese. It's the epitome of indulgence, and rightfully so. But with so much yum, you'll also find 865 calories, 19 grams of saturated fat, and 1242 mg of sodium. That's nearly half of the 2000 calories and 2500 mg of sodium the USDA recommends per day. The best thing this burger's got going for it besides the taste is the hefty serving of protein, coming in at 53 grams. You may be better off skipping this burger or sharing it with a friend.

Worst: BurgerFi Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger

BurgerFi has so many incredibly indulgent sandwiches on the menu, so I was a little surprised the bacon cheeseburger was at the top of the charts over some of the others. The Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger is two Angus beef burgers layered with two slices of American cheese and double the bacon. This might be one you want to leave for another time – it's incredibly high in calories, sodium, and saturated fat and only has 1 gram of fiber. Like the CEO, the Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger has a whopping 55 grams of protein.

Worst: O.M.C.! Concrete

The concrete is BurgerFi's custard layered with toppings like brownie chunks, red velvet chunks, key lime pie, Oreos, peanut butter, and chocolate syrup. You're looking at ¾ of your daily calorie needs with the O.M.C! (Oh My Chocolate) Concrete. This dessert is more like a high-calorie meal with 26 grams of protein and an incredible 10 grams of protein. While those numbers are exciting, the 109 grams of sugar and 33 grams of saturated fat are quite the opposite. Kinda makes you rethink dessert.