How many calories are in a caesar salad?
360calories with 2 tbsp of caesar dressing
10 g of protein, 4.4 g of fiber. The biggest line is the caesar dressing, 160 calories.
C Clears 3 of 6 meters as a meal. Misses Processing, Muscle and Hunger.
About 360 calories with 2 tablespoons of dressing, an ounce of croutons and 2 tablespoons of parmesan, and only 10 g of protein. The dressing is 160 of those calories, the croutons 130 and the romaine 24.
The caesar feels like the light choice, and it grades the lowest of the six salads here that we grade. It has 10 g of protein and little fiber past the leaves, and the bottled dressing and croutons make most of its calories ultra-processed, so it misses Muscle, Hunger and Processing and comes out a C. It’s salty too, with about 900 mg of sodium between the dressing, the croutons and the cheese. Three tablespoons of dressing take it to about 440.
The one change is a palm of chicken, which makes it a B at about 500 calories with 36 g of protein. Swap the croutons for half a cup of chickpeas as well and it’s about 505 calories with 41 g of protein and twice the fiber, a B+. That bowl still misses Processing, since the bottled dressing is a big share of it. Dress it with a tablespoon of olive oil and vinegar instead and it’s an A+.
The six meters
- Energylight360 cal
- Processingprocessed19% whole food
- Musclevery low10 g protein
- Hungerlight4.4 g fiber, 1.5 cal a gram
- Nutrientsdense1½ cups of plants
- Glucosesteady17 g fast carbs
Each meter's name opens its page on meals.guide, which explains the six jobs a meal does.
Sodium 900 mg, 117% of a meal's share of the day's 2,300 mg. Salt isn't one of the six meters, so it never changes the grade.
Part by part
| Ingredient | Amount | Calories | Protein | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romaine | 3 cups, 168 g | 24 | 3 g | 3 g |
| Caesar dressing | 2 tbsp, 29 g | 160 | 0 g | 0 g |
| Croutons | 1 oz, 28 g | 130 | 2.8 g | 1.4 g |
| Parmesan | 2 tbsp, 10 g | 46 | 4 g | 0 g |
| Total | 235 g | 360 | 10 g | 4.4 g |
At three amounts of dressing
| Caesar dressing | Calories | Dressing's share | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tbsp | 280 | 29% | C |
| 2 tbsp | 360 | 44% | C |
| 4 tbsp, a ladle or a 2 oz cup | 520 | 62% | C |
With a palm of chicken: 500 calories and 36 g of protein, graded B.
Add a palm of chicken breast
CtoB
Graded on meals.guide's six meters for a 170 lb person eating 2,000 calories over three meals. Food values from the USDA's Nutritive Value of Foods and its Standard Reference.
2 sources
- Gebhardt SE, Thomas RG. Nutritive Value of Foods. USDA ARS, Home and Garden Bulletin 72, 2002ars.usda.gov
- USDA Standard Reference, salad dressing, regular, caesar (nutritionvalue.org)nutritionvalue.org
