When health is a top concern, whether it’s because you’re dieting or simply trying to make more nutritious choices, desserts can seem off-limits. They don’t have to be! Desserts, especially in fast food chains, have such a bad reputation because of their perceived high sugar and calorie content. But let’s be honest: is the bad reputation deserved? Not for these healthy fast food desserts. They prove that fast food trips can’t be harmful if you know what to order. Grab a spoon and freshen your perspective!
Craving something sweet on the go? A drive-thru run can quickly and easily satisfy your sugar cravings. Of course, many fast food dessert offerings mimic their entrees in terms of high calories and large portions. If you’d like something lighter, you’ll want to avoid jumbo shakes, sizable cinnamon buns, and hefty sundaes. When looking for a healthy dessert, it’s important to note that what one person considers “healthy,” another wouldn’t. For instance, someone who avoids gluten may not be too concerned about sugar content, and someone watching their carbs might still be pro-dairy. Each dessert should be weighed against your own health goals. Still, there’s something for everyone!
Fruit-Forward Delights
I’m a firm believer that five-star desserts put fruits up front, so this fruit cup from Chick-fil-A deserves way more than five stars! It’s made with nothing but fruits, including strawberries, apples, blueberries, and mandarin orange. The smallest cup has the lowest calories (60), but even the large cup still has lower calories (120) compared to all the desserts on this list. Best part?
Fruit is a healthy dessert option, especially after a fast-food meal. Saweres recommends the fruit cup at Chick-fil-A. This parfait is vegetarian, high-protein, and comes with only 240 calories. What I love about this is it’s loaded with a variety of fruits like raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. It’s also filling because you get some of that honey-oat granola. Panera may be known for its baked goods, but here you’ll find another winner of a dairy treat. “This parfait includes fresh strawberries and blueberries as well as granola made with whole grain oats,” says Mandy Tyler, RD, CSSD, LD. For a sweet treat that’ll leave you feeling satisfied (and won’t send your blood sugar for a wild ride), check out this fruity parfait from Tim Hortons. “With 15 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber, it will help fill you up and prevent your blood sugar from crashing later,” says certified fertility and prenatal dietitian Elena Usdenski, RD, MScFN.
Swing by Jamba Juice for a cold and creamy dessert that’ll hit the spot in the summertime (or any time!). The small Peach Perfection smoothie combines real peaches with several other fruits and a juice blend, providing 60% of your daily vitamin A and 70% of your vitamin C.
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Frozen Treats with a Healthy Twist
At Chick-fil-A, wash down fried chicken (or, better yet, a healthier choice like the market salad or grilled chicken sandwich) with a sweet frozen lemonade. Plus, you can shave calories and carbs when you opt for diet lemonade instead of regular. “Choosing the diet version makes it around 70 calories less than the regular, but the real savings is the 20 grams of carbs you save!
Dairy Queen’s strawberry sundae takes the cake-er, ice cream-in this category. The small size contains just 240 calories and 7 grams of fat. Enjoy a classic treat coated in a flavor that you love. A Dilly Bar is a vanilla soft serve coated in a crisp chocolate, butterscotch, or cherry coating. This frosty treat also has a plant-based version, made with coconut cream. The thing is, the non-dairy dilly bar has a calorie amount that’s a bit higher, but lower sugar content. Karolin Saweres, MS, RDN, LD, of My Nutrition & Me is a fan of Chick-fil-A’s signature Icedream cup. As ice cream options go, it’s quite low-calorie at just 140 cals. If you like to keep things simple (and sweet), you can’t go wrong with McDonald’s vanilla soft serve cone. A small cone clocks in at 200 calories, but you can further bring it down by removing the cone itself. The icy treat also includes Vitamin A palmitate, which is a supplement that can be used to treat Vitamin A deficiency. The McDonald’s Vanilla Soft Serve Cone is the fast food world’s original ode to dessert, and it’s surprisingly decent for you! “It contains 200 calories and 17 grams of added sugar, which is less than the recommended amount of daily sugar from the American Heart Association,” points out Amy Beney, MS, RDN, CDCES.
Wendy’s Jr. You’re never gonna look at a Jr. Chocolate Frosty the same way again. This treat has a calorie amount similar to the ones you’ll get from a McDonald’s vanilla soft serve cone. And you can bet that the frosty is tastier, thanks to all that chocolatey goodness. It’s also a good source of potassium and calcium, giving 8% and 20% of your daily value, respectively.
Baked Goods: Portion Control is Key
A cheesecake makes it on the healthiest desserts list? Yep! This petite strawberry swirled treat at White Castle comes in at just 150 calories and 9 grams of sugar. Raspberry and cheesecake is such a great combination but many are sleeping on this cookie from Subway. As one fan puts it, “it’s the best dessert ever made!” The cookie isn’t too sweet, and you’ll get that pieces of raspberry that taste like a tart jam, white chips, and of course, cheesecake. Can you believe that one cookie only has 212 calories?
Some fast food cookies are pretty massive, but Carl’s Jr's Chocolate Chip Cookie manages to keep things portion controlled. The chocolate chip cookies at Carl’s Jr.’s are like hidden gems, and I’m sure those who are looking for a subtly sweet dessert will love it. The chain describes the cookies as semi-sweet, and it’s true to its claims as one cookie has 13 grams of sugar-one of the lowest on this list. If you decide to get a 2-pack chocolate chip cookies, make sure to share it with someone!
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It doesn’t have to be your birthday for you to enjoy this mini dessert at Starbucks. Amidst the coffee shop’s many larger pastries and sweet drinks, the birthday cake pop stands out as a more moderate choice. Who said fitness buffs can’t have their cake? Starbucks made it so easy to enjoy a decadent dessert while keeping portion control in mind. Their Cookies & Cream Cake Pop is a little ball of chocolate cake with cookie bits and sandwich-cookie buttercream, finished with chocolate coating and more cookie crumbs.
Now, here’s a treat that’s like a cross between cake and bread, and it’s from Starbucks again. The Petite Vanilla Bean Scone is, well, a little treat with strong vanilla flavor. It’s about 1/3 the size of a regular scone, and made with real vanilla beans and vanilla extract. They’re small enough so you can’t feel guilty, but the taste is so remarkable others are frustrated that it’s only bite-sized.
Apples are a good source of fiber and other antioxidants, and so you can sneak these good stuff into your body when you get a McDonald’s Baked Apple Pie. It’s made with 100% American-grown apples, baked and topped with sprinkled sugar. Just skip the part where you pair it with a hot caramel sundae to avoid getting too much sugar. “The McDonald’s Baked Apple Pie is a relatively healthy choice compared to many other fast food desserts,” says Wan Na Chun, MPH, RD, CPT.
Warm and fresh original glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme are hard to resist, and you don’t have to. It’s one of the lowest calorie doughnut options on the menu and being free from toppings makes it a treat that’s not overly sweet. Make sure you won’t overdo it when you see a box of these; so you don’t need to run (or walk) the extra mile when you workout.
Cinnamon Sensations: Twists and Delights
Crispy, puffed corn gets dusted with a cinnamon-sugar blend in these iconic Taco Bell twists. It’s a combo that won’t overload you with calories or fats. “Their 170 calories and no saturated fat can easily fit into a healthy eating plan,” says Heidi McIndoo, MS, RD, of Foodie Mom RD. Here’s a treat with lower sugar content and calories than the previously mentioned fast food desserts. Taco Bell’s Cinnamon Twists clock in at only 170 calories, while the sugar amount is at 10 grams. It’s key ingredient, cinnamon, is a source of antioxidants that help with inflammation and disease protection.
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Don’t try to resist these cinnamon bread twists coming to you fresh and hot! The fact that they’re baked, and not fried, already makes them healthy. These bread twists are sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and can be dunked into a cup of creamy icing. Also, they make a decent post-workout treat, with protein amount clocking in at 5 grams.
That warm, spicy, and slightly sweet flavor from cinnamon? Yup, it’s so good! That’s why here’s another Taco Bell cinnamon treat for you: Cinnabon Delights. These are bite-sized cinnamon spheres that are crunchy on the outside, with a melty surprise inside. These bites are filled with cream cheese frosting, so when you take a bite, it will finally hit you that it’s a dessert, not a breakfast!