Just Salad, an American health-fast food chain, has a tonne of delicious salad options that will have anyone salivating at the thought. Their mission to not only be healthy, but environmentally friendly, attracts thousands of customers across America. But what about their calories? Just because something is branded as healthy, doesn’t mean it’s low-calorie, right? And when we write these guides we often find that salads are some of the higher calorie options you can order.
That’s why we have prepared this guide to Just Salad calories where we will be going through all the low-calorie options at Just Salad, so you can make an informed choice about what to eat.
Knives and forks at the ready, let’s go!
Is Just Salad Healthy?
Just Salad is a healthy fast-food chain in the U.S. offering, well, just salads. They say they offer food that not only tastes good but makes you feel good, too. So if you’re wondering whether Just Salad is healthy, the short answer is, yes!
Not only do they claim to be a healthy restaurant, but they’re sustainable too. They adopt a zero-waste philosophy, bringing in their reusable bowl program that prompts reusing bowl and Tupperware, in exchange for a free topping on your salad. If you’re ordering from the App, it will automatically say ‘no’ to utensils and bags, so that customers can enjoy fuller bellies with less impact on the environment.
As well as being mindful of our planet, they are also mindful of all the different dietary requirements that people need.
They have worked with Health Tribes, a nutritionist organisation, to ensure their menu is right for Keto, Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Paleo diets. In 2020, they introduced a ‘climatarian’ menu, which is said to be a climate-friendly menu. Wait, what?
Eh, What’s a Climatarian?
You’ve just read that Just Salad has a climatarian menu. So what is it? Those who consider themselves to be ‘climatarian’ are people who campaign to stop global warming by changing their diet and eating habits.
However, that doesn’t mean eating only plant-based items. On the contrary, as long as the meat has been sustainably sourced in a way that doesn’t harm the environment, then a climatarian will still eat meat – this is why Just Salad still serves meat on the menu.
Climitarian eating looks at things like how far the goods have travelled, whether they are in season and even how much water is used in growing them – and avocado lovers might want to look away there.
Not only does Just Salad have healthy food that is good for the soul and planet, but they also have low-calorie food.
Read on to find out the lowest calorie meals at Just Salad.
The Meal With the Lowest Calories at Just Salad
The lowest calorie meal at Just Salad is the Thai Chicken Crunch Salad at just 160 calories. The Spicy Thai Peanut dressing that is paired with this meal is an additional 135 calories, bringing the total meal to 295 calories.
This is still quite a low-calorie meal and we recommend you aim for around 400 calories per meal to maintain a healthy diet, so you might want to bump this number up, otherwise you’ll find yourself feeling hungry again a couple of hours later.
Just Salad doesn’t offer side dishes, but they do have a delicious soup range. The small Chicken Noodle soup at 100 calories for a small portion would go really well with this. Or just grab a yogurt or some nuts afterwards to raise your numbers.
Let’s Talk about Salads…
Lowest Calorie Signature Salads
The lowest calorie signature salad is the Thai Chicken Crunch Salad at 160 calories. If you add the delicious Spicy Thai Peanut dressing, this will add another 135 calories to the meal.
If you want a meal with a little more weight to it, the second lowest-calorie signature salad is the Tokyo Supergreen Salad with Chicken at 400 calories, plus the Miso Ginger Vinaigrette is an additional 120 calories.
The Lowest Calorie Classic Salads
The lowest calorie classic salad at Just Salad is a Chicken Caesar Salad at 280 calories. The Creamy Caesar dressing is an additional 140 calories.
The Lowest Calorie Plant-Based Salads
The lowest calorie plant-based salads at Just Salad are the Vital Greens and Chipotle Cowboy with Daring Chicken Salads – both at 410 calories.
The Vital Greens salad comes with arugula, romaine, and red cabbage, creamy vegan feta, hearty wheat berries, grape tomatoes, pickled red onions, and pita chips.
If you add the Balsamic Vinaigrette to the Vital Greens salad, it will add 130 calories to the meal – bringing the combined total to 540 calories.
The Chipotle Cowboy with Daring Chicken Salad comes with romaine, breaded daring chicken, pico de gallo, avocado, and tortilla chips. You can add a Chipotle Vinaigrette for an additional 150 calories.
What is the Lowest Calorie Warm Bowl at Just Salad?
The Lowest Calorie warm bowl is the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl at 420 calories. The Chicken Fajita Bowl is just a tiny bit higher at 450 calories, so would also make a good low-calorie option.
Are Just Salad Wraps Low Calorie?
The wraps are the highest calorie items on the menu but you can still sneak in under the 600 calories suggested for a healthy meal if you’re careful with the dressing.
The lowest calorie wrap is the Spicy Chicken Caesar wrap for 550 calories.
Add the Smoky Poblano Ranch dressing and you will be adding an additional 100 calories to the meal.
Can They Guac Our World? The Lowest Calorie Avocado Toast
The lowest calorie avocado toast meal at Just Salad is the Avo Blast Toast at a staggering 500 calories! Are you avo-ing a laugh?
The Avo Blast Toast comes with Avocado mash, corn, pickled red onions, cilantro, smoky poblano ranch drizzle. Sounds delicious, and don’t forget that while avocados are higher in calories, they fat they contain is monounsatured which means it’s good for your body.
In fact, there’s some evidence that monounsaturated fats may even boost weight loss, so don’t say no to them for that reason.
Are the Plant-Based Smoothies Low Calorie?
The lowest calorie smoothie is the Detox Cleanse, which consists of baby spinach, lemon, apple, pineapple, and fresh ginger. This delicious smoothie is just 90 calories per 0.14kg serving.
Is it Soup-a Low-Calorie Soup at Just Salad?
The lowest calorie soup is a small Chicken Noodle Soup at 100 calories per 0.9kg serving. A large Chicken Noodle soup is twice the size and therefore, twice the calories, at 200 calories per serving.
A small Spiced Pumpkin Bisque soup comes in a 0.5kg serving and is at 210 calories. A large Spiced Pumpkin Bisque at 1.06kg comes to 420 calories.
The Digital Exclusive Range: What’s the Lowest Calorie Option?
The digital exclusive range is a selection of meals that can only be ordered by the chain’s App and websites, which you can then pick up or have delivered to you.
The lowest calorie digital exclusive is the Feisty Fiesta Bowl at 160 calories. This low-cal meal comes with cauliflower and broccoli rice, red cabbage, corn, grape tomatoes, pickled red onions, tortilla chips, and cilantro. You can add Spicy Avocado to this meal for an extra 15 calories.
We’ve Found the Hidden Calories..What’s the Lowest Calorie Dressing?
While the salads by themselves are relatively low in calories, what really adds to the numbers is the dressings. So pick them carefully.
Each dish comes with a suggested dressing, but if you want to enjoy your salad, but keep the calories as low as possible, ditch those and pick the lower calorie ones.
So, what’s the best dressing to choose?
The lowest calorie dressing at Just Salad is the Spicy Avocado at just 15 calories per 12oz. If you want a less spicy option, the Yogurt Cucumber Salad Dressing is the second least calorific option at 35 calories per 12oz.
The Lowest Calories at a Glance…
Below you will find the lowest calorie meal options at Just Salad. If you see (DE) in parentheses, it means that these are digital exclusive options. If you see (PB) in parentheses, it means that these are plant-based options. They don’t contain dressing so you’ll need to add that on top.
Under 350 calories
Chicken Noodle Soup (Small) – 100 calories
Thai Chicken Crunch Salad – 160 calories
Feisty Fiesta Bowl (DE) – 160 calories
Chicken Noodle Soup (Large) – 200 calories
Cauli-Crunch Bowl (DE) – 210 Calories
Spiced Pumpkin Bisque Soup (Small) – 210 calories
Chicken Caesar Salad – 280 calories
Sweet Mama Salad – 310 calories
Mediterranean Bowl (DE) – 310 calories
Farmer’s Basket Salad – 320 calories
Warm Shawarma Bowl (DE) – 330 calories
Under 450 calories
Autumn Ceasar Salad – 360 calories
California Cobb Salad – 360 calories
Modern Green Crunch Salad (DE) – 370 calories
Chicken Shawarma Salad (DE) – 380 calories
Tokyo Supergreens Salad with Chicken – 400 calories
Chipotle Cowboy with Daring Chicken (PB) – 410 calories
Protein Power Salad (DE) – 410 calories
Vital Greens (PB) Salad – 410 calories
Crispy Chicken Poblano Salad – 420 calories
Spiced Pumpkin Bisque Soup (Large) – 420 calories
Teriyaki Chicken Bowl – 420 calories
Plant Power Salad (PB) – 430 calories
Banh Mi Bowl (DE) – 440 calories
Chicken Fajita Bowl – 450 calories
Earth Bowl Salad – 450 calories
Sweet Valley Salad (DE) – 450 calories
Under 550 calories
Buffalo Chicken Salad – 460 calories
Warm Chicken Thigh + Goat Cheese Bowl – 480 calories
Avo Blast Toast – 500 calories
Tokyo Supergreens Salad with Tofu – 530 calories
Chicken Pita Salad – 530 calories
Umami Bowl (DE) – 530 calories
Spicy Chicken Caesar Wrap – 550 calories
The Keto Salad (DE) – 550 calories
We’ll leaf it there…
So there you have it, everything you can eat for under 550, 450, and 350 calories. We hope that this guide helped you to make an informed decision about what to order at Just Salad.
We were pleasantly surprised by the number of options we could eat for under 450 calories. We expected a salad restaurant to be low-calorie, but it’s always nice to have plenty of options.
Remember, choose your dressings wisely!
Were you surprised by any of these meals? Let us know in the comments.
Images from Just Salad press selection