About El Pollo Loco Restaurant Nutrition
With childhood obesity and documentaries like "Super Size Me" taking a main focus of the public's attention, nutrition becomes a huge part of where people eat and how much they consume on a daily basis.
Being informed about nutritional facts can help people maintain a healthy diet and know exactly what they are eating when they do.
At El Pollo Loco, the nutrition is available for all of the customers and it provides insight into what they are actually consuming when they visit this Mexican fast food chain restaurant. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Features
Before understanding the nutrition at El Pollo Loco, you must first understand how fats are broken up. When looking at the nutrition menu for a restaurant, you may notice a lot of fat in something but not all the fats are bad.
The worse fats that are found are saturated fats and trans fats. More and more companies have begun eliminating trans fats because these fats contribute to risk for coronary heart disease.
The El Pollo Loco menu actually features practically no grams of transfFat. Saturated fats include milk, butter, and other fats that are solid at room temperature, such as beef and chicken fat.
The menu at El Pollo Loco features a wide range of food featuring high and low grams of fat and calories. The items featuring the most grams of fat per serving are the Grilled Chicken Nachos with 55 grams of fat and 1090 calories. This amount of fat includes .5 grams of trans fat and 21 grams of saturated fats.
The lowest item on the menu are the Fresh Vegetables (with margarine) featuring 0 grams of fat and 35 calories. Right above that are the Pinto Beans with 0 grams of fat and only 160 calories.
For burritos, the unhealthiest item on the menu is the Twice Grilled Burrito featuring 37 Grams of Fat and 830 Calories. The 37 grams of that fat includes 18 grams of saturated fat and 0 grams of trans fat.
The healthiest burrito according to grams of fat and calories is the BRC Burrito with 10 grams of fat and 390 calories. That is a 27 gram difference from the Twice Grilled Burrito, but half of that burrito's fat is saturated with 5 grams.
Types
When ordering from an El Pollo menu, there are four different categories that you can choose from. All of these categories can be mixed into affordable combo meals or bought separate.
The first section is the Flamed Grilled Chicken section featuring thighs, breasts, wings, and other types of chicken pieces. The second option on the menu are the Bowls and Salads.
Here you can find chicken salads, garden salads, and a combination of the two.
The third section is the Burritos and is one of the key sections of their menu. The final section features Loco Values and Mexican Favorites and is filled with a lot of side dishes and some desserts for meals.
Misconceptions
Many people think that the word salad equals healthy, but this is not the case with some of the menu options at El Pollo Loco. In fact, the Caesar Pollo salsa and Chicken Tostada salad both contain over 35 grams of fat with the Caesar Pollo containing 38 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat) and the Chicken Tostada containing 40 grams of fat and 11 grams of that being saturated fat. It would actually be healthier to replace the Chicken Tostada with the Twice Grilled Burrito when you are ordering there.
Considerations
Taco Bell is a lot like El Pollo Loco, but is usually cheaper in price. Their unhealthiest burrito available is the Grilled Stuffed Burrito, Beef which features 30 grams of fat. That is 7 grams of fat less than the Twice Grilled Burrito from Taco Bell, but you may want to consider taste and quality over just the healthiness. The Grilled Stuff Burrito, Beef may have less fat overall, but it features 1 gram of trans fat and 10 grams of saturated fat, technically making that more unhealthy because of the trans fat alone.
Benefits
Knowing and understanding the El Pollo Loco food menu can help you choose and decide the best options for you or yourself the next time you order. Just because something like a salad may look and sound healthy does not mean that it is and by studying the nutrition of El Pollo Loco, you will understand what is what on their menu.
Seeing that just a small addition of the Loco Value Cheese Quesadilla will add 23 grams of fat to your meal could make a huge difference in your order. Also remember to check out the frans fat and saturated fat options on the menu because these fats are what contribute to an increased risk for heart disease.
Tags: Pollo Loco, grams calories, grams saturated, Grilled Burrito, Twice Grilled, Twice Grilled Burrito, with grams