The Chipotle menu offers very few items. However, each of these items is made to order from a list of ingredients of your choosing. Thus, a burrito bowl, a burrito, a taco or a salad may contain more or less the same ingredients.The key thing when ordering is to make healthy choices among the available ingrediants.
Tortillas
Chipotle offers two different flour torillas: a burrito tortilla with 290 calories and a taco tortilla with only 90 calories. Give that the burrito tortilla has more than 200 calories over its smaller cousin, you can opt for a burrito bowl or a taco if you want a lower calorie alternative. Opting for the low calorie choice is a healthy decision because the burrito tortilla packs in 670 mg of sodium compared with 200 mg for the taco tortilla.
Beans
Chipotle offers both black and pinto beans. Both are served in 4 oz portions and both have 120 calories. The similarities do not end there, as both provide 2 percent of the daily value of vitamins A and C, as well as 4 percent of the daily value of calcium and 10 percent of iron. The difference between the two lies in the sodium and fiber. While black beans provide a smidgeon more fiber, coming in as 11 g vs. 10 g for pinto beans, the pinto beans have 80 mg more sodium. This suggests that black beans are the healthier choice, particularly if you are watching your sodium intake.
Meats
Chipotle offers barbacoa, chicken, carnitas and steak, each with its own benefits. The barbacoa comes in at 170 calories while all the others have 190 calories. The steak has substantially less sodium than other choices, coming in with 320 mg sodium, while the barbacoa racks up 510 mg sodium. Both the steak and the barbacoa provide 15 percent of the daily value of iron, while the chicken and carnitas only provide 8 percent.
Salsas
Chipotle offers tomato salsa, green tomatillo salsa, corn salsa and red tomatillo salsa. The green tomatillo salsa has only 15 calories per 2 oz serving, compared with 80 calories for a 3.5 oz serving for the corn salsa. The green tomatillo salsa also has the least sodium, with only 230 mg compared to 510 for the red tomatillo salsa and 410 for the corn salsa.
Chips
Tasty as they are, Chipotle chips pack in 570 calories and 420 mg of sodium for a 4 oz serving. According to the Chipotle website, they have 27 g of fat, 3.5 of which are saturated fats. Unfortunately, Chipotle chips are the single most fattening thing on the menu.
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