High Protein Fast Food Orders, Ranked per 100 Calories

Eight Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets give 25 g of protein for 130 kcal, the most protein per calorie of the 20 high protein fast food orders in the table below. Burgers and sandwiches give between 3.6 g and 7.8 g of protein per 100 kcal. Every number comes from the chain’s own page or nutrition PDF, such as Chick-fil-A’s 8 ct Grilled Nuggets page. I checked them.

Which high protein fast food orders give the most protein per calorie?

Below the grilled nuggets the order mixes breaded nuggets, chicken sandwiches, bowls and double burgers. I ranked 20 orders by dividing protein by energy. They are common orders, not every item on each menu, and each row marks its market.

Order	Market	Energy (kcal)	Protein (g)	Protein per 100 kcal (g)
Chick-fil-A 8 ct Grilled Nuggets	US	130	25	19.2
Chick-fil-A 12 ct Grilled Nuggets	US	200	38	19.0
Chick-fil-A 8 ct Nuggets	US	250	27	10.8
Wendy’s 12 Pc Boneless Bites	UK	479	47	9.8
Chick-fil-A Egg White Grill	US	300	27	9.0
Wendy’s 6 Pc Chicken Tenders	UK	514	42	8.2
Subway 6-inch Grilled Chicken & Fresh Avocado	US	450	35	7.8
Subway Grilled Chicken Protein Bowl	US	620	48	7.7
Chick-fil-A Grilled Chicken Sandwich	US	390	28	7.2
Chick-fil-A Cool Wrap	US	660	43	6.5
McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese	US	740	48	6.5
Wendy’s Double	UK	879	54	6.1
McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese	UK	514	31	6.0
McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese	US	520	30	5.8
McDonald’s McDouble	US	390	22	5.6
Subway 6-inch Oven-Roasted Turkey	US	480	26	5.4
McDonald’s Big Mac	UK	509	27	5.3
McDonald’s Big Mac	US	580	25	4.3
McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish	US	380	16	4.2
McDonald’s McChicken	US	390	14	3.6

Order size matters as much as the ratio. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans give 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg a day, which is 84–112 g at 70 kg, and how much protein you should eat a day explains the range. A 30 g order is 27–36% of that. A 14 g McChicken is 13–17%.

If you have kidney disease, a doctor sets how much protein a fast food order should carry.

Put your height and weight into the protein calculator, which turns the same 1.2–1.6 g per kg range into a daily number.

Why do nuggets and bowls beat sandwiches for protein?

The bun is most of it. Chick-fil-A’s grilled nuggets have 130 kcal and 25 g of protein, and its grilled chicken sandwich has 390 kcal and 28 g. The sandwich adds 3 g of protein for 260 kcal. Breading does something similar. The breaded 8 ct nuggets have 250 kcal and 27 g, so the coating adds 120 kcal for 2 g. Even so, nuggets lose to home foods on this measure: cooked cod and shrimp come out ahead on high protein low calorie foods, and high protein foods ranks the same shelf per 100 g as well as per 100 calories.

Subway shows the same thing with a different build. In its U.S. PDF, the 6-inch Grilled Chicken sub has 510 kcal and 31 g of protein. The Grilled Chicken Protein Bowl drops the bread and is a bigger portion, 415 g against 247 g, with 620 kcal and 48 g. The 6-inch Artisan Italian bread alone is 210 kcal and 8 g.

I still order the sandwich some days. It is more food, while a bowl or a box of nuggets is more protein per calorie. Pick by which of the two numbers you’re short on. If you’re trying to gain, the sandwich’s extra calories are the point, and high protein foods for weight gain goes into that side.

Can I build a high protein bowl at Chipotle?

Yes. Chipotle publishes every ingredient on its own line, so the arithmetic is easy. My bowl is chicken, white rice, black beans, fajita vegetables and fresh tomato salsa.

Ingredient	Portion	Energy (kcal)	Protein (g)
Chicken	4 oz	180	32
Cilantro-lime white rice	4 oz	210	4
Black beans	4 oz	130	8
Fajita vegetables	2 oz	20	1
Fresh tomato salsa	4 oz	25	0
Total, from Chipotle’s chart		565	45

That bowl is 8.0 g of protein per 100 kcal. Leave out the rice and it’s 355 kcal and 41 g, or 11.5 g per 100 kcal. Add 1 oz of cheese (110 kcal, 6 g) and 2 oz of sour cream (110 kcal, 2 g), and the bowl gains 220 kcal and 8 g.

I don’t think the rice is a mistake, since it’s 210 kcal you may well want.

Is the same fast food item the same in the US, UK, Canada and Australia?

No. The same menu name can carry different numbers in another market. The table puts the same menu name next to its figures in two markets, each from that market’s own document.

Item	Market	Energy	Protein (g)
McDonald’s Big Mac	US	580 kcal	25
McDonald’s Big Mac	UK	509 kcal	27
Subway 6-inch Black Forest Ham	US	490 kcal	25
Subway 6-inch Black Forest Ham	Canada	420 kcal	19
Subway 6-inch Tuna	US	570 kcal	27
Subway 6-inch Tuna	Canada	490 kcal	22
Subway 6-inch Chicken & Bacon Ranch	US	580 kcal	35
Subway 6-inch Chicken & Bacon Ranch	Australia	466 kcal (1,950 kJ)	28.9

The Big Mac is the small gap, at 71 kcal and 2 g. The Chicken & Bacon Ranch is the big one. The Australian sub is 114 kcal lighter and has 6.1 g less protein than the US sub. The PDFs don’t say why, though the sub weighs 262 g in the US and 256 g in Australia.

If you travel, or use a US list while eating in the UK, log the item from the country you’re in. Takeaway and restaurant menus differ by market.

What happens to the numbers when I change my order?

They stop matching the chart. Chick-fil-A’s pages say the figures may not reflect customizations, and Subway’s PDF says small differences in assembly can occur. Treat a chart number as a starting point and adjust the part you changed.

Here’s how that works on a Subway sub. The 6-inch Grilled Chicken is 510 kcal and 31 g. If your shop adds a second portion of chicken, add the chain’s individual-protein line, 80 kcal and 16 g, to reach 590 kcal and 47 g. Add the mayonnaise line, 100 kcal and 0 g, and you’re at 690 kcal for the same 47 g.

Extra chicken moved the sub by 80 kcal and 16 g, and the sauce by 100 kcal and no protein. Log each one separately.

How do I log a fast food order?

Log it by the name on the menu first, then change what you changed. I do this in the parking lot with the chain’s page open, and it takes about a minute. In Calsa you can search a chain’s dish and get the numbers the chain itself publishes, with the source shown on the entry.