Lowest Calorie Benihana – What to Order for Under 600 Calories

Benihana is a restaurant known for it’s experience, but if you want to watch your calories as well as the show from the chefs, what should you order. Our guide to Benihana calories – and the lowest choices to order explains…

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Is Benihana Healthy?

Founded in New York in 1964 by Hiroaki Rocky Aoki (father of Steve Aoki and former wrestler, don’t ya know), Benihana became famous for its teppanyaki style of cooking. Nowadays, he has several restaurants under the franchise and has included other notable Japanese cuisines such as sushi and sashimi.

If you’re wondering whether Benihana is healthy, the simple answer is it can be.

One of the biggest draws to Benihana is the Teppanyaki, a style of cooking where the chef prepares your food for you on a piping hot teppan (a grill-like contraption).

This style of cooking is said to be healthy since it requires less oil and little cooking time which helps to keep those nutrients locked in. However, you do need to watch any sauces served with the meal – and as you’ll see that’s the same rule at Benihana.

how do you avoid that… let’s get into it.

What’s the Lowest Calorie Meal at Benihana?

If you walk into Benihana and ordered lots of small bits of sushi from the a’la carte menu, you can easily create a filling meal for 400, 500 or 600 calories… but, that can get fiddly and perhaps a bit pricey (although we will explain how to do it in a minute) – so, in this section, we’re going to talk about the absolute lowest calorie Entree to order at Benihana.

And, the answer is the Nigiri Assortment which contains 10 pieces of Nigiri, Benihana Salad and Miso soup for 535 calories.

If you want to stick to under 600 calories in Benihana – and not have to leave any part of your meal, that’s the one to choose…

But, as delicious and healthy as all that fresh fish is, it’s not really the point of Benihana where you’re as much going to the show relating to the Tepan grill – think clever knife work and the odd flame – as you are the food – so…

What’s the Lowest Calorie Tepan Meal at Benihana?

These are the meals cooked in front of you on the grill.

When you order these, you do so by choosing the type of protein you want – meat, fish, seafood – and, the lowest calorie choice is the Hibachi Scallops which are just 140 calories.

But, as anyone who has already eaten at Benihana knows, you don’t just get those with your meal.

Their five-course speciality meals each come with (deep breath) Benihana Onion Soup, Benihana Salad, the Hibachi Shrimp Appetizer, Hibachi Vegetables, Homemade Dipping Sauces, Steamed Rice and Japanese Hot Green Tea.

The lowest combination of those (which sees you picking the ginger sauce) adds up to 505 calories.

That gives you a total calorie count for your meal of 655 calories

That’s a little bit above the 600 calories that’s it suggested a healthy main meal should be – but, hey, chances are you’re at Benihana for a special occasion, so don’t stress about that. Just enjoy it.

But, if you’d prefer to sneak things under that 600, the easiest way to cut things back, and not spoil the experience is just to eat half of your rice.

This contains 300 calories a bowl so, if you can just leave half of it, you’ll take that amazing scallop dinner and all the sides down to a healthy 500 calories.

Calories in the 5 Course Sides and Starters

As you can see, the sides and starters served with your ‘main’ add up, and if you’ve not got the biggest appetite you might want to skip one or two so, here’s how their calories add up – and you’ll quickly see why we suggest the ginger sauce as your sauce option.

Benihana Onion Soup	25 calories
Benihana Salad	90 calories
Hibachi Shrimp Appetizer	150 calories
Hibachi Vegetables	40 calories
Ginger Sauce	10 calories
Mustard Sauce	110 calories
Yum Yum Sauce	170 calories
Steamed Rice	300 calories

If you don’t feel like scallops though, what else can you order… let’s go through the rest of the menu.

Lowest Calorie 5-Course Steak & Chicken Meal at Benihana?

As we said, when you order from the main part of the menu in Benihana, you’re basically just picking what meat or fish you want as everything else is chosen for you.

So, what’s the lowest calorie choice if you’re in a Steak or Chicken frame of mind?

It’s the Hibachi Steak at 230 calories.

Add that to all your sides and starters and you have a meal of 735 calories

If you want to shrink that down to under 600, just leave half of your rice.

If you don’t eat red meat and so are looking for the lowest calorie chicken meal, you’d be looking at the Hibachi Chicken at 280 calories (785 calories in total).

Again, if you just eat half the rice you’ll take that closer to 600 calories.

Lowest Calorie 5-Course Noodle & Tofu Meal

Okay, this section is not a friend to the calorie counter.

The dishes on their own aren’t too bad – but, when you’re also adding all the sides and starters things do mount up.

The lowest calorie choice in the Noodle and Tofu section of the menu is the Spicy Tofu Steak at 490 calories – plus the 505 for the starters – making your meal 995 calories.

It might be a better idea to order the Yakisoba (the Shrimp is the lowest calorie option at 600 calories a serving) and use the noodles for your carbs and leave the steamed rice. That would add up to 805 calories.

Lowest Calorie 5-Course Seafood Meal

You already know the answer to this – it’s those 140-calorie Habachi Scallops.

The Colossal Shrimp, worth ordering just for the name in my opinion, are a close second at 190 calories.

Added to the sides and starters, that will add up to 695 calories.

You know what to do with the rice if you want to reduce that!

Lowest Calorie 6-Course Speciality Meal?

The six-course speciality meals at Benihana include all the same starters as the five-course meal, with an additional dessert.

The main options also combine two different types of protein – ie lobster and steak or steak and chicken and that also raises the calories slightly.

The lowest calorie six-course speciality meal at Benihana would either be the Benihana Special, which comes with a Lobster Tail at 70 calories and a Hibachi Steak at 240 calories.

With the extras – including the lowest calorie dessert (the ice cream at 100 calories) this will add up to 915 calories. If you pick the Rainbow Sherbert dessert you’d add another 30 calories to that.

The Benihana Excellence which includes Julienne Steak and Colossal Shrimp or the Splash n Meadow which combines Habachi Steak and Colossal Shrimp- both also have 310 calories adding up to a 915 calorie meal.

If you want to cut something out to bring this down, I recommend leaving all the steamed rice to one side to reduce your numbers by 300 calories.

How Many Calories are in the Habachi Chicken Rice?

People rave about a lot of dishes in Benihana, but one thing that everyone says to do is upgrade, or add a serving of the Habachi Chicken Rice – but, what does that do to the calories?

A serving of the Habachi Chicken Rice is 470 calories, that’s 170 more than the steamed rice.

The combo meals are the main reason most people go to Benihana, but, as you can see, you can rack up a lot of calories eating the whole thing – but, if you can skip the rice, you can eat a pretty huge and filling meal at Benihana for under 600 calories.

The other way to reduce your calories in Benihana is to order from other parts of the menu. These dishes are usually side items to add to your meal, but, if you’re not a big eater, or, really want to keep the calories down, you can order these instead of the combo meals.

If that sounds like a plan, or you want to add some extras to your meal, here’s what you need to know…

What’s the Lowest Calorie Appetizer at Benihana?

The lowest calorie appetizer at Benihana would be the Tuna Poke at just 140 calories.

Or, order the Sashimi Sampler which is also 140 calories.

If this doesn’t take your fancy, the second lowest calorie appetizer is the Edamame Gyoza Dumplings at 184 calories.

Sushi and Sashimi

This is where to pick from if you have a smaller appetite, or really want to keep your calories low. There’s four options, sashimi, nigiri, sushi rolls and rolls (which are seaweed wrapped hand rolls).

So, the best idea if you really want to keep your calories low (and don’t mind maybe totting up a bit of a bill) is to pick a calorie budget and spend it on your favourites from this section. Here’s how they add up…

A’La Carte Sashimi and Nigiri Calories

The best thing about Benihana is that no matter which nigiri or sashimi you go for, it’s going to be less than 100 calories. Most of them are even under 70 calories!

Calories per serving

Shrimp	10 calories	Albacore tuna	30
Izumidai	10 calories	Salmon Roe	30
Octopus	10 calories	Yellowtail	40
Kanikama	17 calories	Smoked Salmon	50
Tuna	20 calories	Salmon	50
Egg Tamago	25 calories	Eel	60

The Lowest Calorie Speciality Sushi

If you’re looking for something less fiddly that stacking up individual pieces of sashimi or nigiri, you might want to allocate some of your calories to a sushi roll – but order carefully as one of the Benihana sushi roll has more calories than the entire 5-course Habacihi meal!

If you want to pick the lowest calorie sushi roll you’re looking at… drum roll….the Shrimp Lover’s Roll at 240 calories.

If you don’t feel like that, here’s how the others stack up.

Shrimp Lovers Roll	240 calories	Katana Roll	434 calories
Las Vegas Roll	275 calories	Shrimp Crunchy Roll	500 calories
Lobster Roll	390 calories	Spicy Lotus Tempura Roll	530 calories
Alaskan Roll	395 calories	Sumo Roll	610 calories
		Chili Shrimp Roll	810 calories

Lowest Calorie Rolls

Rolls, (or hand rolls as they’re more commonly known) are another popular item on the Benihana menu. They are all under 500 calories, except for the Dragon Roll.

The absolute lowest calorie roll at Benihana is the Shrimp Tempura Roll at 190 calories.

Here’s how the others stack up…

Shrimp Tempura Roll	190 calories	Vegetable Roll	300 Calories
Tuna Roll	210 calories	Spicy Tuna Roll	335 Calorie
Yellowtail Roll	230 calories	Rainbow Roll	375 Calories
Cucumber Roll	240 calories	Philadelphia Roll	380 Calories
Salmon Roll	250 calories	Spider Roll	385 Calories
California Roll	275 calories	Eel Roll	420 calories
Spicy Salmon Roll	300 calories	Dragon Roll	510 calories

What’s the Lowest Calorie Lunch Meal?

If you’re visiting Benihana for lunch, then you’ll see a few special options on the menu – and, because portions are a little smaller, the calories are also a little lower.

The absolute lowest calorie lunch option is the Imperial Salad with Chicken which comes served with a side on Onion Soup. This is just 360 calories.

The Bento Box is a more filling option – picking the Steak option is 553 calories with all the add ons.

The lowest calorie Tepan meal on the lunch entree menu is the Hibachi Scallops at 90 calories.

All lunch entrees are served with Benihana Onion Soup at 20 calories, Hibachi Vegetable Rice at 410 calories and Hibachi Vegetables at 90 calories. This brings the total meal to 610 calories.

Roll Call…

So there you have it, how to eat at Benihana for less than 600 calories. As you can see, it’s not too hard, if you manage to stick to a slightly smaller portion of rice.

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