Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

[SandyL2002]

The other day I was doing some food searches on all three websites.. Thanks to the internet you can see what is exactly in them...

Hardees Low Carb Burger is like 5 carbs... There Breakfast Bowl was 6 carbs..

But what got me was the
Chicken BLT Salad at Wendy's came up to 22 Carbs.. I even took the Croutons away. And did Ranch dressing which was 5 carbs if you use the whole pack. Now how in the world can it be that much? There is like hardly anything in it...

[cocobelle]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

I think that the Ranch is fat-free ranch, which seems to always have more carbs. Check to see if the bacon is sugar-cured (which it sometimes is....). Tomatoes also have quite a bit of carbs, I usually avoid/limit them when possible. Is the chicken grilled or fried? If it is fried, you have to acount for the breading, which is also high in carbs... Crazy, huh?

I like the bacon cheeseburger off the dollar menu, with a side salad at Wendy's. I ask them to hold the ketchup, add mayo and mustard to the burger. Once I get my salad, I break the burger (no bun) into pieces and crumble it on the salad...mmmm

[SandyL2002]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

I think that the Ranch is fat-free ranch, which seems to always have more carbs. Check to see if the bacon is sugar-cured (which it sometimes is....). Tomatoes also have quite a bit of carbs, I usually avoid/limit them when possible. Is the chicken grilled or fried? If it is fried, you have to acount for the breading, which is also high in carbs... Crazy, huh?

I like the bacon cheeseburger off the dollar menu, with a side salad at Wendy's. I ask them to hold the ketchup, add mayo and mustard to the burger. Once I get my salad, I break the burger (no bun) into pieces and crumble it on the salad...mmmm

Its grilled chicken... It says Regular ranch.. Has very little tomatoes..the salad is mostly lettuce.. When I am not on the go and have time to sit and eat there I will do the burger and a side salad.. Sometimes I am heading to the country where there is nothing and I grab a salad to take with me..So I have something to eat if I get to starving..

[speedyturtle]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

I go to wendy's once in a while when I am out working and am in a time (starving) crunch. I like a #1 and a side salad , no catsup extra mayo lose the bun get a fork/knife and I am in business.

[julirama723]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

Sandy, my guess is that the chicken might be injected with a "flavor solution" that contains sugar.

[DAWNIMMEL]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

When I was in graduate school, one of the papers I wrote was about missleading advertisements and I used Wendy's chicken Salad and McDonald's chicken Salad as examples. They are definately high carb. The salad dressing is not low carb I checked the packages myself. I do think they are injected with sugar to add taste. Dawn

[kristenxo]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

Wow, I'm glad I read this! I love the Chicken BLT salad from Wendy's and would have thought it was totally safe! Thanks for sharing that info!

You should try El Pollo Loco. They have great chicken (grilled) and offer veggies as a side. I've checked their nutrition info online and the chicken has 0 carbs, the veggie side has 8 but it includes carrots.

[srahman88]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

Watch out for carrots, since they shread some into the salads. could the rest of the carbs come as dietary fibers?

[Lyssie]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

Wendy's is actually one of the few places that I'll eat from (fast food wise). I have never gotten a nasty look or comment if I order a burger (no bun) meal with a side salad instead of the fries. They make substituting so easy. I forget what dressing I would get with it... blue cheese maybe? But a side salad doesn't need the whole dressing package, and you can take off the tomatoes really easily.

I never tried their salads (entree salads anyway), so now I'm glad I didn't!

[kimzinnie]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

for the Wendy's BLT salad-- did you make sure there was grilled chicken, not the breaded? I recently recalculated it their site on and also i think there are carrots in the salad-- these things may add up. ??

[jimmyolsenblues]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

Sandy, my guess is that the chicken might be injected with a "flavor solution" that contains sugar.

i sadly agree, because I eat fast food all the time and I know its a staller.

[texasbaby]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

I actually work at wendy's and have looked at labels and this is the ingredients in the grilled chicken. I made bold the bad stuff that i know is bad lol, i'm not sure about the other stuff.

Chicken Breast, Water, Seasoning (salt, natural flavors, corn maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, onion powder, paprika, spice, garlic powder, sugar, disodium idosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, artificial flavors), Modified Corn Starch, Sodium Phosphates.

This is the classic ranch:
Buttermilk, Soybean Oil, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Garlic (dehydrated), Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Xanthan Gum, Onion (dehydrated), Spices, Natural Flavors, Lactic Acid. CONTAINS: MILK, EGG

Fat Free Ranch:
Buttermilk, Water, Soybean Oil, Distilled Vinegar, Egg Yolk, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Sugar, Cultured Whey, Garlic (dehydrated), Xanthan Gum, Spices, Natural Flavor, Lactic Acid, Onion (dehydrated), Lemon Juice Concentrate, Mustard Seed. CONTAINS: EGG, MILK.

Bacon Bits:
Pork Cured With: Water, Salt, Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Nitrate. Contains one or more of the following: Sugar, Sodium Erythrobate, Brown Sugar, Sodium Ascorbate, Potassium Chloride, Dextrose.

The BLT salad with honey dijon dressing, breaded chicken and croutons was 42 carbs.
I took off all that and put grilled chicken, and classic ranch and it came to only 13 carbs. I usually have the side caeser salad with classic ranch when i go on break. Which is only 7 carbs, it has romaine, parm cheese and bacon bits, I love it!

[emanuel83]

Re: Wendy's/McDonalds/Hardees

I work at Wendy's (unfortunately). What I just started doing often is doing like a double with no bun (3 carbs), grilled chicken with no bun (1 carb), or a ceasar side salad (4 carbs WITH dressing, as it only has 1 carb in it). I find that these can get me through a 9 hour work day and it works out pretty well. I always use mustard for a condiment as it is void of carbs whereas (evil but delicious) ketchup does have carbs. Not to mention that the amount of ketchup I put on things might as well warrant a frosty instead.

As for the BLT Chicken Salad. It has cucumbers on it, PLUS I'm fairly certain that the calorie count on the website includes the piece of homestyle chicken which is breaded and has something like 18-20g of carbs. If you're still hesitant, go with a Chicken Ceasar Salad which is a ceasar side salad X2, minus the bacon bits, plus grape tomatoes. Basically just be sure to go with the grilled chicken on ANY salad, and if you need some form of dressing, ceasar is legit at 1g carb per packet. All Wendy's should have some sort of nutritional information whether it be posted on the wall or in a brochure you can ask for. If they don't have it, talk to a manager and tell them I said they should. Hope this helps!