Qdoba, a popular fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain, is known for its customizable burritos, bowls, and other Mexican-inspired dishes. The restaurant provides a free-flowing system of personalizing meals as per preferences. By giving almost full control over the menu, Qdoba allows its diners to create their own meals with their preferred ingredient options. With its emphasis on fresh ingredients and customizable options, Qdoba can be a moderately healthy option for weight loss if you choose lower calorie ingredients like veggies as the base and avoid excessive toppings, cheese, rice, tortillas. However, navigating the extensive menu and making informed choices is crucial to ensure a healthy and satisfying meal. Amidst this wide list of options, it’s obvious for you to go astray. Before you utilize this free-flowing option at Qdoba, its important to learn the art of customizing a healthy meal for yourself. Make sure that the options you opt for help you keep the calories at check alongside providing the highest nutritional value for a healthy experience. This article delves into the healthier options available at Qdoba, providing guidance on how to customize your order for optimal nutrition and flavor.
The Qdoba Advantage: Customization is Key
One of the most appealing aspects of Qdoba is its commitment to customization. You can pick every single ingredient that goes into your meal, allowing you to create your perfect bowl, burrito, salad, and more. This level of customization may allow you to combine your favorite flavors, but that doesn’t always make for the healthiest option. Luckily, Qdoba allows total order customization. This empowers diners to tailor their meals to their specific dietary needs and preferences. Whether you're aiming for a low-calorie, high-protein, or vegetarian meal, Qdoba's flexible menu allows you to create a dish that aligns with your health goals.
Building a Healthy Bowl or Burrito
Burrito is a flavorful dish that keeps the stomach fuller for longer. Packed with essential nutrients, this meal is served in a variety of ways here. A customized qdoba bowl with chicken, lots of low-carb veggies, salsa, beans and just a small scoop of brown rice supplies protein and fiber. Qdoba also caters well to low-carb and keto diets. An added perk? Luckily, Qdoba allows total order customization. When constructing a bowl or burrito, the following strategies can help you maximize nutrition and minimize unhealthy additions:
Start with a Fiber-Rich Base: Using lettuce as a base and including ingredients such as pico de gallo, fajita veggies, and beans adds loads of volume to your meal. Opt for lettuce as your base to save on calories and add a refreshing crunch. Cilantro-lime rice can be a flavorful addition, but be mindful of portion sizes.
Choose Lean Protein: There isn’t a huge calorie difference between the different protein options at Qdoba, but you will notice a difference in saturated fat. Go lean. Select grilled chicken or steak over ground beef or shredded pork to reduce your intake of saturated fat. A healthy Burrito choice would be to opt for a plain Burrito with minimal or no dressing at all. You could also skip the tortilla as it is made of flour that is not very helpful to health. Healthy veggies like Lettuce, black beans, Pinto beans and cilantro-lime rice are the best fillings for a healthy Burrito meal.
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Load Up on Vegetables: Fajita veggies, black beans, and corn salsa are excellent sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Don't hesitate to add a generous serving of these nutrient-rich ingredients to your bowl or burrito.
Be Mindful of Toppings: Sour cream, queso, and ranch dressing are among the most calorie-dense condiments at Qdoba. While they add flavor, they also pack high calorie and fat counts with few valuable nutrients. Go easy on high-fat toppings like cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. Instead, opt for salsa, pico de gallo, or a small amount of light vinaigrette. Add some guacamole for healthy fats.
Skip the Tortilla (Sometimes): The tortilla used for the burrito alone is 300 calories-a lot of calories for a small part of the meal. Consider ordering a "naked" bowl without the tortilla to save on calories and carbohydrates.
Salad Sensibly
When in doubt, opt for a salad bowl! However, in many cases, even salads might not be a healthy choice. At Qdoba, the salad comes in two options: naked without the shell and fried tortilla shell. The best way to avoid such rich calories and fat content are to select the healthy ingredients for your salad bowl. By adding chicken, black beans, sour cream, salsa and minimal cheese, you can create your own delicious bowl without compromising on the nutrition. For those who are looking for keto bowl, Qdoba nutrition might also be looking for a healthy option for Chips and dip. Salads can be a healthy choice, but it's important to be aware of hidden calories and unhealthy additions. Opt for a salad bowl with a base of lettuce and load up on vegetables and lean protein. Be cautious of creamy dressings and fried tortilla strips, which can quickly turn a healthy salad into a calorie bomb.
Navigating Other Menu Items
- Taco Bowl: Another delicious meal that one just can’t resist eating at Qdoba is the Taco bowl. Although the Taco bowl is a recipe that promises to keep you fuller for longer, it is not the healthiest choice found here. However, if you’re really looking forward to eating it, you can use the advantage of customizing the bowl here. Select ingredients like the grilled chicken that contains lesser calories than the fried ones. You could also go for black beans, corn salsa and grilled vegetables to top it all off without any hesitation.
- Nachos and Quesadillas: Nachos and Quesadilla are generally considered unhealthy options when being selected among the wide list of dishes on Qdoba’s menu. The three-layer beef, cheese, and rich content of Guacamole together enhance the calorie count of this meal. Although this dish is a favourite here, we recommend you to create your own healthy version of it to avoid unhealthy eating. Recreate your Nachos and Quesadilla by incorporating ingredients like black beans, lettuce, sour cream, and chicken that can reduce the calorie content. Like the burrito, a quesadilla starts with a high calorie count due to the tortilla. However, a quesadilla wouldn’t be possible without the tortilla, so your best bet is to limit your portion and combine it with lean protein, like chicken.
- Chips and Dip: Qdoba nutrition might also be looking for a healthy option for Chips and dip. At Qdoba, there are many variants of Chips and dip. However, each contains nearly 650 calories, 43 grams of fat and 16 grams of saturated fat which does not make them ideal for healthy consumption. In that case, you could opt for a smaller option of Chips and Dip which will automatically include lesser calories and minimal fat content.
Specific Menu Recommendations
- Best Pick: In terms of the healthiest choices found at Qdoba, the naked taco salad paired with chicken and grilled veggies is the best pick of all. Since this dish contains minimal calories it is a standout dish for sure.
- Worst Pick: The Nachos and Grilled Quesadilla is surely the worst pairing of all the dishes found here. Go with a kids meal. The 2 Taco Kit Kids Meal ranges from 170-690 calories, depending on your ingredient choices.
Qdoba's Health-Conscious Initiatives
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of the New Year, QDOBA, a leading fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain, launched new, health-conscious creations under the Vegetarian, Keto & More category of their online menu. Introduced on December 29, the new entrées are designed to provide customers with better-for-you menu options that help meet guests' dietary goals and needs, such as keto, vegetarian, low-carb, gluten-free and more, and do so without sacrificing flavor. The better-for-you offerings include QDOBA's recently introduced Mexican Cauliflower Mash, a low-carb alternative to rice made with fresh cauliflower that's oven-roasted in-house daily. This flavorful and keto-friendly option, with only 6 grams of carbs per 4.5 oz. serving, has quickly become a fan favorite.
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General Tips for Healthy Eating at Qdoba
- Load up on fiber: Using lettuce as a base and including ingredients such as pico de gallo, fajita veggies, and beans adds loads of volume to your meal.
- Choose nutritious sides: If you want a side item, the corn and black beans are more nutritious than a basket of chips.
- Go with a kids meal: The 2 Taco Kit Kids Meal ranges from 170-690 calories, depending on your ingredient choices.
- Skip the burrito: The tortilla used for the burrito alone is 300 calories-a lot of calories for a small part of the meal.
- Be cautious of condiments: Sour cream, queso, and ranch dressing are among the most calorie-dense condiments at Qdoba. While they add flavor, they also pack high calorie and fat counts with few valuable nutrients.
- Go lean: There isn’t a huge calorie difference between the different protein options at Qdoba, but you will notice a difference in saturated fat.
Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions
- Myth: All salads are healthy.
- Reality: Salads can be healthy, but it depends on the ingredients. Be mindful of high-fat dressings and toppings.
- Myth: Fast food is always unhealthy.
- Reality: With careful choices and customization, it's possible to create a nutritious meal at Qdoba.
- Myth: Low-carb options are always the best choice.
- Reality: While low-carb diets can be effective for some, it's important to ensure you're still getting a balanced intake of nutrients.
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