What’s The Lowest Calorie Options at Subway? Here’s 24 to Consider

If you feel like Subway for lunch, but are watching your calories, what are the lowest choices on the Subway menu to order? We know – and we’re telling! Here’s 24 choices that won’t bust your calorie budget…

Note: This guide refers to US Subway. Other countries will use have other suppliers and so numbers are likely to vary.

What’s The Absolute Lowest Calorie Dish in Subway?

Not surprisingly, it’s the Veggie Delite Salad which has just 50 calories a serving – without cheese. If you add the lowest calorie cheese, Grated Parmesan that adds just 5 calories, which actually makes the Veggie Delite waaaayyyy too low for a main meal.

Ideally meals should be 400-600 calories even if you’re trying to lose weight.

You could either choose one of the other lower calorie options on our list, or, add some other healthy, low-calorie protein like yogurt, nuts, seeds, oily fish or fresh rotisserie chicken to bump the calories up and fill yourself up.

What’s the Lowest Calorie Subway Sub?

This comes from the Build Your Own Sub section, and the absolute lowest calorie choice is the 6″ Veggie Delite with, say, American Cheese which comes in at 240 calories.

Again this is a bit too low in calories to eat as a solo meal, and you could also find this a bit low in protein though which might not make it as filling as one of the other low calorie choices – sometimes picking the lowest calorie option isn’t always the best choice if you find yourself getting hungry a bit later.

If you’re having a large meal later though then it could work.

The Build Your Own Sub section is the best place to pick from when ordering a sub at Subway as pretty much everything on it comes in under 500 calories (if you choose the right bread, cheese and condiments).

The exception is the Chicken and Bacon Ranch with Rotisserie Chicken which has 530 calories before you add anything to it.

The Five Other Lowest Calorie Subs to Pick

SubCalories
Oven Roasted Turkey260 calories
Black Forest Ham270 calories
Cold Cut combo280 calories
Roast Beef300 calories
Rotisserie Style Chicken300 calories

Customizing Your Sub

Considering one of the best things about Subway is that you can make everything personal to you, the Subway Nutritional Information is a bit vague when it comes to the subs as, it doesn’t tell you what bread it uses in the calorie calculations – and they do differ a little bit.

They also don’t include condiments or cheese in the totals.

So if you want to maximise the chance of the lowest calories it’s good to know what the lowest calorie choices are here.

Image @Subway Media Centre

What’s the Lowest Calorie Choice of Bread?

The lowest calorie choice is most Subways is going to be the Artisan Italian Bread which has 160 calories per 6″ serving.

However, for health reasons you might want to splurge a couple of extra calories and pick the Hearty Wholegrain. It only has 30 calories more but it has three times the fibre and is likely to keep you fuller for longer.

What’s Hero Bread?

Now you notice above I say ‘most Subways’ as there is a lower calorie option that you might find in some branches.

Hero Bread was introduced to Subway in 2021 and in 2022 was rolled out into 1600 locations around the country.

Hero Bread is a low carb bread (it has 0 sugar and 1g net carbs making it also keto-friendly) and at just 100 calories a serving is the lowest calorie bread option on the Subway menu,

Are Subway Wraps Low-Calorie?

Not as low as the bread – the plain wrap has 300 calories per sandwich, while the flavoured wraps have 290 calories.

Wraps might be thinner but they’re deceptively high in calories and contain twice the fat of a 6″ serving of wholegrain bread.

The Best Cheese to Pick

The lowest calorie cheese in Subway is the Grated Parmesan which contains just 5 calories.

If you prefer your cheese in slices, or want your sub toasted, then the American or BellGioioso Mozzarella Cheese cheese have 40 calories.

Which Veggies Should You Add?

Go to town my friend!

Pretty much all of the veggies you can add to a Subway Sub, or that make up their salads, contain zero calories for a Subway-sized portion. And those that do contain more and still pretty low so just add whatever you like.

The only one to perhaps watch out if you’ve picked a higher calorie sub is the avocado – the Sliced Avocado has 45 calories but if you pick the Smashed Avocado has 70 calories.

Lowest Calorie Subway Condiment

Red Wine Vinegar and Hot Pepper Relish are both zero calorie condiments so they should be your first choice when cutting calories.

But you could also pick Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce for just 5 calories – or, Yellow Mustard for just 10 calories.

A quick note on the Buffalo Sauce though – when we did our guide to cutting sodium at Subway we realised that Franks was the highest sodium condiment so, if you’re watching your salt levels, you might want to pick another option. We have a full list of the best low sodium options at Subway here.

Image: Subway Press Gallery

What’s the Lowest Calorie Subway Series Sub?

The Series Subs were introduced to Subway in 2022 and the 12 combinations are designed to be the best options they’ve ever created. Sounds temping but they tend to run a bit higher in calories than the established menu you know and love.

In fact, pretty much everything on the Build Your Own Sub Menu contains fewer calories than even the lowest calorie option on the Series Subs Menu

The lowest calorie option on this part of the menu though is the Bella Mozza which contains ham, mozzarella and capicola.

5 Other Low Calorie Series Subs to Choose

Series SubCalories
The Outlaw440 calories
The Champ440 calories
All American Club450 calories
Subway Club460 calories
The Great Garlic 470 calories

Are Subway Salads Low Calorie?

Yes, without dressing, every option on the Subway Salad menu is under 500 calories making them a great option if you’re calorie counting.

We’ve already explained that the Veggie Delite option is the lowest calorie choice, but you could pick anything here and eat a low-calorie lunch.

5 Lowest Calorie Subway Salads

SaladCalories
Oven Roasted Turkey110 calories
Black Forest Ham120 calories
Roast Beef150 calories
Rotisserie Chicken150 calories
Cold Cut Combo160 calories

What’s About the Bready Bowls?

The Bready Bowls are like the salads, but with a larger serving of protein. This increases the calories but is also likely to be more filling which, if it stops you reaching for higher calorie snacks later, might be a fair trade.

The lowest calorie Bready Bowl is Oven Ready Turkey which contains 150 calories – again, this is a bit low so, you should probably add something else to bump up the calories.

5 Other Low Calorie Bready Bowls

Bready BowlCalories
Black Forest Ham170 calories
Rotisserie Chicken220 calories
Roast Beef230 calories
Cold Cut Combo260 calories
Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki330 calories

The Salads and Bready Bowls are also good choices if you’re trying to limit gluten in your diet. Check out our longer guide to eating gluten-free at Subway here.


And Can I Add A Side?

As we said, one of the issues with a few of the dishes on the Subway Menu is that they actually contain too few calories. In which case you might want to add a side… but is this a good idea?

Well, many of the sides in Subway do fall into the high fat and/or high sugar category so, a healthier choice would be something like yogurt, fruit, or nuts but, if you do want to keep things simple and pick up an extra side, what should you pick?

The lowest-calorie choice would be the Chicken Noodle Soup which has just 70 calories.

If you’d prefer something sweet, then choose the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie which has 120 calories (it’s also the lowest sugar option with 10g per cookie)

The Subway nutritional information doesn’t include calories for the chips sold in store so check individual packets if you fancy chips.

So, now you know what to pick when counting calories in Subway.


Who is The Wellness Nerd?

My name is Helen Foster and I’m a health journalist and wellness author. Publications I’ve written for include Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest, Body and Soul, Good Health at the Daily Mail and more. I have also written 16 books on health and nutrition.

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