The Healthiest Ruby Tuesday Orders—And What To Skip

Named after The Rolling Stones' song, Ruby Tuesday was founded in 1972 by Sandy Beall, a student at the University of Tennessee who opened the first restaurant near the campus with some of his fraternity brothers. The chain offers fast, casual American cuisine in more than 40 states, concentrated mostly in the Southeast. The Ruby Tuesday menu is extensive, with everything from salads and starters to burgers, pasta, ribs, steak, sandwiches, seafood, desserts, and cocktails. The chain is known for its expansive salad bar with more than 55 fresh ingredients, flavorful ribs, and fried options, including French fries, onion rings, fried mushrooms, and seafood.

Like many casual restaurant chains, most of the menu options are extremely high in calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. If you're trying to eat well, navigating the menu at Ruby Tuesday can be challenging. To help, we have identified the 14 healthiest Ruby Tuesday orders and a few to skip.

Read on, then check out The #1 Unhealthiest Texas Roadhouse Order (and What to Eat Instead).

The Healthiest Ruby Tuesday Orders

Sides

Best: Grilled Zucchini

If you want a healthy side dish at Ruby Tuesday, order the Grilled Zucchini or the fresh steamed broccoli. Both are calorie-poor and nutrient-rich. When added to a healthy main dish below, the veggies can help keep you satisfied. Many of the sides, like the Loaded Fries or Loaded Tater Tots, pack in about 800 calories per serving!

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Greens & Goodness

Best: Ruby's Chicken Caesar

This Chicken Caesar Salad is made with grilled chicken and is one of the lighter options at Ruby Tuesday. It's not by any means a good choice, but of the menu items, it is one of the better options. It makes our best bet list due to its lower saturated fat and high protein content.

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Best: Honey Glazed Salmon Bowl

Despite having higher sugar counts due to the honey in the glaze, this Honey Glazed Salmon Bowl is a better option at Ruby Tuesday. It is high in high-quality protein and contains one of the highest fiber counts. It is one of the few menu options that doesn't exceed the daily recommended sodium intake.

Steaks

Best: 6 oz Top Sirloin

This is one of the most wholesome options you can order at Ruby Tuesday. It's a 6oz Top Sirloin served with a baked potato. The calories, fat, and saturated fat are moderate and aren't too sodium-packed. Moreover, it provides 40 grams of high-quality protein and 6 grams of fiber. The 6-ounce sirloin or top sirloin also provides similar nutrition and is also the best bet on the menu.

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Best: Deconstructed Steak Kabobs

The Deconstructed Steak Kabobs are made with grilled beef tips with grilled zucchini, bell peppers and onions served over rice pilaf.  This menu item is one of the better options on the menu due to its moderate calories, fat and high protein. While it does have an excessive amount of sodium, if you balance the rest of your daily food choices with lots of produce and low-sodium foods and beverages, it should balance out for the day.

Smashed Burgers & Burgers

Best: Impossible Indulgent Burger

The Impossible Indulgent Burger is made with a 100% plant-based burger, and due to its lower calorie and saturated fat counts, this is one of the best bets. Another benefit of this burger is that it provides more fiber than most of the menu items at Ruby Tuesday. With 26 grams of protein, that's an ideal amount for a meal.

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Best: Classic Burger

The Classic Burger is made with lettuce and tomato and no cheese. It is one of the best options on the entire menu. It's not too high in calories, and the fat, saturated fat, and sodium are lower than those of most other menu items.

Sandwiches

Best: Grilled Chicken Sandwich

The Grilled Chicken Sandwich is made with a grilled chicken breast with lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a bun. It's the best choice because the calories are more modest than most of the menu options at the restaurant. It also has a relatively low saturated fat and sodium count compared to other choices.

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Seafood, Chicken & More

Best: Deconstructed Kabobs with Shrimp

Generally, seafood-based dishes at Ruby Tuesday are among the better-for-you options. The Deconstructed Kabobs with Shrimp is made with grilled veggies and shrimp served over rice pilaf, is one of the best choices. It is lower in calories, and the saturated fat is lower than most options, and it still delivers a lot of high-quality protein. It is, however, high in sodium, with more than a day's worth in a serving. The Deconstructed Kabobs made with chicken is another excellent choice.

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Best: Grilled Salmon

Grilled salmon is generally a healthful choice, due to the heart-healthy and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids salmon provides. The Grilled Salmon dish from Ruby Tuesday has moderate saturated fat and provides 45 grams of high-quality protein per serving.

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Best: New Orleans Seafood

The New Orleans Seafood dish features blackened tilapia and sauteed shrimp served with grilled zucchini and rice pilaf. It is one of the healthiest choices at Ruby Tuesday due to its lower calorie count and moderate saturated fat. The dish has high sodium, which is common for restaurant fare.

Best: Blackened Tilapia

The Blackened Tilapia is served with rice pilaf and grilled zucchini. It's low in calories and saturated fat and has a better sodium level than many other menu options. It also provides 38 grams of high-quality protein.

Pasta

Best: Pasta Marinara

This is the lowest-calorie pasta item on the menu. In fact, some pasta options, like the Chicken & Broccoli Pasta or the Crispy Chicken Mac 'n Cheese, have more than twice the calories. The Pasta Marinara is made with penne pasta, topped with a tomato basil sauce, and a garlic breadstick. With 8 grams of fiber, this pasta dish will keep you satisfied.

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Desserts

Best: Carrot Cake

This is not a nutrition all-star by any means, but the Carrot Cake is the best choice among the dessert offerings at Ruby Tuesday. Splitting it with one or two people in your party won't blow your daily calorie budget. Some of the other dessert options on the menu are more than twice the calories of the carrot cake.

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The Unhealthiest Ruby Tuesday Orders

Worst: Crispy Shrimp Platter

The Crispy Shrimp Platter includes fried shrimp with French fries and cocktail sauce. It has many nutritional issues, including calories, two days' worth of sodium, and more than four teaspoons of sugar.

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Worst: Crispy Chicken Mac 'n Cheese

When you combine fried chicken with ooey-gooey mac 'n cheese, it's no wonder you get a calorie and fat bomb. The Crispy Chicken Mac n' Cheese is one of the worst items at the chain due to its excessive calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium, carbohydrates, and protein. It would still be an unhealthful choice even if you split it with someone.

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Worst: Mushroom Swiss Smashed Burger

The smashed burgers are the worst in general of all the burgers on the menu. The Mushroom Swiss Smashed Burger is made with two smashed patties, Swiss cheese, mushrooms, and Caesar dressing. The burger has almost all the calories most adults need in a day, enough fat for two days, excessive saturated fat and sodium and even protein. This is a must-skip menu item.

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Worst: Cheddar Cheese Queso & Chips

None of the starters at Ruby Tuesday made our healthiest choices, as they are all too high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium for a starter. The worst, however, is the Cheddar Cheese Queso & Chips. This starter is loaded with calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium. It has all the sodium you should have in an entire day. What's more, with nearly 100 grams of carbs, this menu option would only be appropriate as a post-marathon or post-Ironman meal to help you replenish the carbs burned during endurance exercise.

Worst: Rib Eye, Ribs, and Crispy Shrimp Combo

If you love ribs, unfortunately, Ruby Tuesday doesn't have any options that will be worth ordering if you're interested in your health. This combo comes with a rib-eye steak, half-rack of baby-back ribs, crispy shrimp, and French fries. In a nutshell, it's just too much food—for anyone. It packs in nearly a day's worth of calories, two days' worth of sodium, and almost all the sugar you should have in a day. All the other options within this category of the menu are almost as unhealthy as this choice.

Worst: Rib Eye Caesar Salad

Weighing in at over 900 calories, the Rib Eye Caesar Salad won't do your diet any favors. It is also high in saturated fat and has 9 teaspoons of sugar. Although it does provide 8 grams of fiber, which is one of the higher-fiber items on the menu, the high fiber count isn't enough to make up for the other nutritional misses.

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Worst: Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet

This dessert is made with a chocolate chip cookie in a skillet with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauces. Not only does it have about half the calories most of us need in a day, but it has more fat also than you need in an entire day and about 28 teaspoons of sugar or more sugar than you'd get by drinking three cans of soda.