McDonald's Salads Had More Fat Than Burgers (Until 2020)

Here's a plot twist that sounds like a health-conscious nightmare: back when McDonald's served salads, some of their "healthy" options packed more fat than their iconic burgers. The chain's kale salad topped out at 53 grams of fat—more than a Double Big Mac. So much for eating green.

The culprit? Dressing and crispy chicken. A Crispy Chicken Caesar salad with the full dressing packet contained 540 calories and 35 grams of fat, putting it in burger territory. The "Keep Calm, Caesar On" salad with buttermilk crispy chicken hit 730 calories and 1,400 milligrams of sodium. For comparison, a regular hamburger had just 250 calories.

The Dressing Dilemma

Ranch dressing alone added 170 calories and a hefty dose of fat. Even the seemingly innocent vinaigrettes could turn your leafy greens into a calorie bomb when you used the entire packet. Half the dressing could save you 200 calories and 15 grams of fat—but who reads the fine print when they're hangry?

Choosing grilled over crispy chicken helped, shaving off 130 calories and 11 grams of fat from the Southwest Salad. But let's be honest: if you're ordering a salad at McDonald's, you probably wanted that crispy coating.

Gone But Not Forgotten

In 2020, McDonald's pulled salads from U.S. menus as part of COVID-19 menu simplification. The company discovered something surprising: customers didn't actually want salads from McDonald's. Removing them cut drive-thru times by 30 seconds and increased customer satisfaction.

McDonald's USA president Joe Erlinger said it plainly in 2024: "If people really want salads from McDonald's, we will gladly relaunch salads. But what our experience has proven is that's not what the consumer's looking for from McDonald's."

The salad saga had other troubles too. In 2018, nearly 400 people got sick from a cyclospora infection linked to McDonald's salads—not exactly great PR for the "healthy" menu section.

The Ironic Legacy

McDonald's salads proved an important lesson: a salad isn't automatically healthy just because it's a salad. When you load up lettuce with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, and creamy dressing, you've basically deconstructed a burger and put it in a bowl.

Today, if you want a salad, you'll have to look elsewhere. McDonald's salads are still available internationally in places like France, Great Britain, and Japan—but American customers have spoken with their wallets, and apparently, they prefer their Golden Arches experience with a side of fries.