Looking to eat healthy with all the convenience of fast food? It’s time to finally order that salad. And look, we’re fully aware that once you smother a salad in dressing, or top it with fried chicken, it ups the calories considerably, but we think obsessing about calories misses the point.
If you’re an obsessive calorie counter, then yes, you’re going to have to ration your dressing or skip out on the more indulgent ingredients, but if you’re looking for something nutritious, full of vegetables and greens, that isn’t fried — salads are the answer. Even if the calorie count is nearly the same, a salad is healthier for your body than a fried chicken sandwich or an indulgent bacon cheeseburger.
So if you want that fried chicken topping. Get it! We’d argue there is probably a better option elsewhere on the menu, but hey, we support baby steps.
To help make your salad ordering easier, we ranked our favorite fast food salads that are still available in 2025.
9. Dairy Queen — Crispy Chicken Strips Salad
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
We tried to include only the very best salads for this ranking, partly to save you some time, and partly because salads in fast food are a dying breed. There are fewer of them than ever, so it truly baffles us that one of the last remaining is this awful one by Dairy Queen. So while this isn’t a “salad worth ordering,” allow us to indulge in this rant for a second.
This is maybe the most mediocre dish we’ve ever eaten in all of fast food.
This salad gives you a bed of flavorless iceberg lettuce topped with chopped up fried chicken tenders, some oddly flavorless tomatoes, bacon, and a few shreds of bagged cheddar cheese. The main issue here is the flavors never really come together, it just tastes like a random assortment of ingredients meant for other dishes.
The Bottom Line:
Going to Dairy Queen to order a salad sounds like some truly bizarre behavior. Like going to a Steakhouse to order soup.
8. Jack in the Box — Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
There was a time when Jack in the Box’s Southwest Salad was one of the best in the game, but that was a long, long time ago. Then the salad went through a phase when it was absolutely awful, and now, it has swung back around. I wouldn’t call it one of the best in the game, but it’s certainly better than a few years back.
On a bed of mixed greens you get your choice of grilled or fried chicken strips (we prefer grilled because it melds with the flavors more), juicy grape tomatoes, salty tortilla strips, which add a nice layer of texture, shredded carrots, and a light sprinkle of cheddar cheese.
Tieing the salad together is the “Creamy Southwest Dressing,” which is a heavy cream-based sauce that has a zesty blend of seasoning, a bit of lime tang, and a savory finish.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a good, but not great salad. If Jack in the Box is all that’s available and you want something on the healthier side, this is your best bet. But if you’re looking for the type of salad to be excited by, look elsewhere.
7. Taco Bell — Cantina Chicken Bowl
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Last year Taco Bell launched the “Cantina Chicken Menu,” and it’s probably the best thing to ever happen to the chain restaurant. Some of my favorite dishes are part of that menu, and while we wouldn’t classify the Cantina Chicken Bowl as my favorite from the menu, it’s pretty damn good, so we’re happy to suggest it.
The bowl, which we admit isn’t technically a salad, features zesty and tender chicken, black beans, a savory avocado ranch sauce, some oddly flavorless sour cream, pico de gallo, a scoop of guacamole, cheese, lettuce, rice, and purple cabbage.
The mix of lettuce and cabbage gives the salad a nice textural crunch, and while the guacamole and rice aren’t the best you’ll ever have, they get the job done and pair nicely with the real star of the show: the chicken, which has a nice blend of zesty and herbal notes, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Yes, we’re talking about Taco Bell! It needs to be tasted to be believed.
The Bottom Line:
The Cantina Chicken Bowl is way better than it should be. While we love the flavor here, there is a handful of much better options.
6. Habit Burger & Grill — Santa Barbara Cobb
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Habit’s Santa Barbara Cobb means well, but some slight quality control issues keep this from being truly delicious. Mainly, it’s the avocado. A lot of times, it’s over-ripened, which adds a dirty flavor to an otherwise great-tasting salad. However, there have been a few times I’ve ordered this, and the avocado is fine. Just something to keep in mind — when dealing with avocado at the Habit, it’s a gamble.
The salad features a bed of romaine and iceberg lettuce topped with juicy cherry tomatoes, the aforementioned avocado, some tangy blue cheese crumbles, thin, but crispy and wonderfully smokey bacon, egg, and some fresh grilled chicken breast.
I think this salad tastes best with Habit’s House Dressing, which is a simple balsamic and olive oil blend and adds a nice tangy and slightly smokey finish to each forkful.
The Bottom Line:
Altogether this salad comes across as wonderfully savory and quite hearty. It’s a restaurant-quality salad for sure.
5. Chick-fil-A — Spicy Southwest Salad
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I keep ping-ponging back and forth on whether or not I think the Spicy Southwest Salad or the Cob is the king at Chick-fil-A, but I’m going to go ahead and draw a line in the sand, put my foot down, and say that the Spicy Southwest Salad deserves the crown.
Over a base of mixed greens, this salad features always-ripe grape tomatoes, a mix of creamy and sharp Monterrey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, some roasted corn, black beans, sweet red bell peppers, chili and lime-dusted pumpkin seeds, salted tortilla strips, and what we consider the star of the salad, poblano chilies.
Combine that with your choice of grilled or fried chicken (we think the new spicy grilled chicken tastes the best), and you’ve got a medley of fresh, sweet, peppery, and spicy flavors in every forkful. The poblanos provide a really nice smokey and earthy flavor that somehow makes the spicy grilled chicken filet taste even spicier.
The Bottom Line:
Smokey, sweet, and peppery. This salad is packing big flavors worth getting excited over.
4. El Pollo Loco — Double Chicken Tostada Salad
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The goal of this article is to point you in the direction of the very best-tasting salads, nutritional facts be damned, so if eating a salad out of a big giant fried tortilla seems a bit too indulgent for you, by all means, pick up the regular Double Chicken Avocado Salad. It features essentially the same build. But if you like having fun, you gotta grab the Tostada version.
Inside a giant fried flour tortilla you have a big serving of pinto beans, El Pollo Loco’s housemade salsa, sour cream, creamy Monterey Jack cheese, rice, shredded lettuce, avocado, and a double-serving of flame-grilled chicken.
The dominant tasting notes here are citrus and charred meat with some earthy, zesty seasonings, some mild spice from the pico de gallo, and a savory buttery quality courtesy of the avocado. The best part is you can break off pieces of the Tostada, and you essentially have a plate of nachos.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a bit more indulgent than a regular salad, but in the best way possible.
3. Chipotle — UPROXX Custom Bowl
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
A couple of years back, we set out to make the greatest Chipotle salad build (we also did burritos and tacos) and after several taste tests and different combinations, we think we’ve cracked it!
The Uproxx Custom, as we’re calling it, features pinto beans, white rice, barbacoa, fajitas, tomatillo red salsa, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, and a finishing dash of Tabasco Green Pepper sauce, which is strangely located near the straws and lids.
With our build, you’re guaranteed forkful after forkful of spicey, smokey, earthy, and sweet flavors, with mouth-watering aromatics that tickle the tongue as much as the tastebuds. Why barbacoa? Because it’s the juiciest and most tender meat on the entire Chipotle menu, and those notes of oregano and clove pair nicely with the cumin-heavy pinto beans.
The Bottom Line:
Part of us wants to give this salad the number one spot, but since it’s a custom job, that seemed a bit too biased. If you’re looking for a salad that is earthy, spicy, and herbaceous, this hits the spot.
2. Sweetgreen — Guacamole Greens
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I fully expected Sweetgreen, an eatery whose whole concept is, you know, greens, would have the best salad and while it comes close, it’s not quite there yet.
The Guacamole Greens features a bed of romaine, spring mix, and purple cabbage topped with roasted chicken, avocado, juicy cherry tomatoes, pickled onion, and fried tortilla bits, and is served with a lime cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette, and a slice of lime for an extra dose of bright citrus. If you’re wondering where the guacamole is, same.
I don’t actually think guacamole would improve this salad, I much rather have the chunks of fresh avocado, I just thought it was strange to include it in the name.
First I’ll start with what works. I love the lime cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette. It’s tangy, a bit sour, herbal, peppery, and has a nice mild heat to it. Hands down, its the best dressing of any fast food salad.
he rest of the salad is standard fare, the produce here is great but I did find the chicken to be a bit dry and flavorless, and could’ve done without the pickled onions.
Still that dressing more than makes up for any weak points.
The Bottom Line:
If your favorite part of a salad is the dressing, it doesn’t get better than Sweetgreen’s lime cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette.
1. Panera — Mediterranean Greens With Grains
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
My original go-to at Panera was the Asian Sesame salad, but when it was taken off the menu I was forced to find something new, which is when I came across the delicious Mediterranean Greens with Grain salad. Recently, Panera brought back the Asian Sesame, but having had this, I’m not sure I could go back.
On a bed of romaine and spring mix, we’ve got a mix of rice and farro, which bring some nice nutty and toasty notes, a scoop of simple hummus, feta cheese, sweet red onions, sweet and mild peppers, cucumber, and a heavy dusting of robust seasoning that combines paprika, with cumin and cinnamon.
There is a lot of flavor here, it’s a mix of shifting earthy, toasty, and peppery flavors all tied together with a tangy, fatty, and oregano-heavy Greek dressing. There is a version of this salad with chicken, but honestly, the flavors offer so much here that I don’t think it’s needed.
The Bottom Line:
The current best fast food salad your money can buy in 2025. Each forkful is a flavor bomb.