Healthy Fast Food Options: Zaxby’s Salads

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If you are looking for healthy fast food options, Zaxby’s has you covered.  Yes, America’s up and coming favorite chicken fast food restaurant serves some hearty salads – or zalads – that you can feel good about eating.  Let’s dig into more about Zaxby’s salads.

Zaxby’s Grilled House Zalad

Zaxby’s Grilled House Zalad is one of my favorites because it is not only delicious, but it is also very filling. 

Zaxby’s House Zalads come either fried or grilled. They each start with a salad base and are topped with cucumbers, Roma tomatoes, Cheddar/Jack cheese, and fried onions.  The Grilled House Zalad comes in at 560 calories and the Fried House Zalad has 700 calories.

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Each Zalad is served with two slices of Zaxby’s Texas Toast.  Pass on the bread and you will save 150 calories.

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The Blackened Blue Zalad

The Blackened Blue Zalad starts with a salad base and is topped with Roma tomatoes, blue cheese, fried onions, a blackened grilled filet, and is served with Texas Toast.  Without salad dressing, the salad only has 540 calories – including the toast!

A spicier version of the Blackened Blue Zalad is The Buffalo Blue Zalad.  The difference is that the latter is topped with Chicken Fingers and Tongue Torch (sauce).  The Buffalo Blue Zalad has 690 calories.

Zaxby’s Cobb Zalads

Just like the House Zalads, Zaxby’s offers two versions of a cobb salad – grilled and cobb.  Both have a salad base topped with cucumbers, Roma tomatoes, Cheddar/Jack cheese, fried onions, bacon, a hard-boiled egg, a grilled fillet or chicken fingers, and are served with Texas toast.  The Grilled Cobb Zalad with toast has 680 calories, the Fried Cobb Zalad with toast has 820 calories.

Zaxby’s also offers a Garden Cobb Zalad which is very much like the other two, with the exception that there is no chicken.  (Note:  It’s not a vegetarian-friendly salad – it does have bacon.)  The Garden Cobb Zalad with Texas toast has 520 calories.

Zaxby’s Caesar Zalads

If Caesar salads are more to your liking, then you could select from one of the three on the menu:  Grilled, Fried, or Garden. Each Caesar salad has a Caesar salad base, bacon, Parmesan cheese, and topped with croutons. 

• The Grilled Caesar Zalad is topped with a grilled filet and has 440 calories.
• The Fried Caesar Zalad is topped with chicken fingers and has 580 calories.
• The Garden Caesar Zalad, again not a vegetarian-friendly salad due to bacon, has 280 calories.

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Keep in mind that the calorie counts for each of those salads does not include salad dressing.  Below are the salad dressings offered at Zaxby’s along with their calorie count (per packet):

• Ranch – 160
• Blue Cheese – 180
• Honey French – 150
• Honey Mustard – 150
• Mediterranean – 140
• Lite Ranch – 90
• Caesar – 90
• 1000 Island – 230
• Lite Vinaigrette – 35

Each salad is served with two packets of dressing.

My favorite is the Lite Vinaigrette.  I only use one on my salad and I take the other home to use on a homemade salad.

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Zaxby’s Zensation Zalad

The Zensation Zalad is a seasonal, limited-time offering and has 810 calories which include the eggroll (120 calories) and a packet of the citrus vinaigrette dressing (140 calories). With the fried chicken, eggroll, and citrus vinaigrette, the Zalad contains 40g of total fat and 72g of total carbohydrates.

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About Zaxby’s 

According to the Zaxby’s website, Zaxby’s got its start in Statesboro, Georgia, when friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley dreamed up the idea of Zaxby’s while playing basketball.  If you are from Northwest Alabama, then you will have heard the rumors (could they be true?), that Zaxby’s was started by a former employee of Guthrie’s Chicken which was founded in Haleyville, Alabama, home.  Compare their chicken menu and you will spot similarities.  

According to Wikipedia, there is a bit of truth to the rumor, “Zaxby’s chicken and Zax Sauce is based on another smaller chicken finger chain called Guthrie’s that existed in Athens, Georgia while Zach McLeroy attended the University of Georgia. ”

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If you aren’t near a Zaxby’s location and are craving something healthy, check out Wendy’s salads and the healthy options at Chick-Fil-A.  They are also delicious, hearty, and healthy fast food options.