Dine at your local Chipotle Mexican Grill equipped with the following nutritional facts and you can navigate the restaurant's endless combinations successfully. Chipotle menu options are built around a combination of tortillas, rice, beans, meat, guacamole, salsas, cheese and sour cream. As simple as that sounds, eat a burrito and chips and you could walk out with 1,300 calories under your belt. However, make a few simple swaps and you'll enjoy a satisfying meal for fewer than 500 calories.
Burrito
This heavyweight rings in at approximately 700 calories with a flour tortilla, rice or beans, meat or guacamole, salsa and cheese or sour cream. It's built inside a flour tortilla that's 290 calories all by itself so the only way to make the burrito any better is to leave it on the menu and off your plate.
Burrito Bowl
The Burrito Bowl answers the primary problem of the burrito by nixing the tortilla. Served in an inedible plastic bowl, this pick totals in at approximately 530 calories with a choice of rice, beans, meat or guacamole, salsa and cheese or sour cream. If you want to shave off another 100 calories, drop the cheese or sour cream in favor of tomato salsa and bring the total to only 420 calories.
Fajita Burrito
Served in a flour tortilla, with sauteed peppers and onions, rice, meat or guacamole, salsa and cheese or sour cream, the Fajita Burrito offers approximately 600 calories. Dropping the cheese or sour cream still leaves this item around 500 calories.
Crispy Tacos
Typically the word "crispy" tips diners off that something has been fried and is loaded with extra calories. However, Chipotle's Crispy Tacos ring in at only approximately 510 calories, with crispy corn shells filled with meat, salsa, cheese or sour cream and romaine lettuce. Not too bad. Drop the cheese or sour cream and shave off another 100 calories for a grand total of 410.
Soft Tacos
Soft flour tortillas filled with meat, salsa, cheese or sour cream and romaine lettuce make this meal approximately 580 calories. Once again, you can save calories by replacing sour cream or cheese with tomato salsa.
Salad
Although it's the standard dieters fare, beware. This salad packs a punch right to the gut. The vinaigrette alone has 260 calories. Add chicken, beans, corn and tomato salsas as pictured on Chipotle's website and you have a bowl full of approximately 710 calories. To rescue this diet bomb, drop the dressing and get a second helping of salsa to save 200 calories for a grand total of 510.
Chips
Perhaps the guiltiest item on the menu, the four ounce serving of chips provides a hefty 570 calories. Add guacamole and you're well over 700 calories, and this is just a side dish. To save a few hundred calories, split the chips among a whole table and opt for salsa instead of guacamole, or just skip it altogether.
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