The 500-Calorie Index

September 2026 edition

One number per chain: the most protein in a complete order — an entrée, a side and a drink — that stays under 500 calories, composed from the chain's own published nutrition figures rather than picked by hand. 28 of the 30 chains have such an order at all and 23 of them reach 30 g. Popeyes leads the September 2026 edition with 72 g in 460 calories (Tenders - Blackened (8) · Water).

3,176 items · 30 chains · each chain's own nutrition guide · Data refreshed September 14, 2026 · rebuilt every Sunday

• 23 of 30 chains at 30 g
• 72g best meal under 500
• 21 with the garnish problem
• 11 on a third-party host

As of September 2026, 23 of the 30 fast-food chains we track can serve a complete meal — an entrée, a side and a drink — with 30 g or more of protein under 500 calories, and Popeyes leads at 72 g in 460 calories.

The ranking: most protein in a complete order under 500 calories

Entrée first, then a side, then a drink if there is room — the same greedy order the MinMax app uses (water unless a shake adds 10 g of protein). Protein per 100 calories is the same order measured for density. Chain names link to that chain's full table; the rightmost column says whether the guide behind the row sits on the chain's own domain or on a third-party host.

What 400, 600 and 800 calories change

Move the cap and the ranking rearranges. 16 of the 30 chains clear 30 g of protein under 400 calories, 23 under 500, 25 under 600 and 28 under 800. The 7 that cross the line between 400 and 500 are Subway, Hardee's, Carl's Jr., Sonic Drive-In, Shake Shack, Burger King and In-N-Out Burger; 2 more cross between 500 and 600 (Domino's Pizza and Little Caesars) and 3 between 600 and 800 (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Papa John's). The largest single gain belongs to Chick-fil-A, 48 g more at 600 than at 500; from 600 to 800 it is Papa John's, 29 g more. Dropping to 400 costs Subway 25 g. A cap is not a diet — it is the room left in the day — and the index is the same measure at four of them.

The garnish problem

At 21 of the 30 chains the lowest-calorie single order on the menu is under 100 calories — Firehouse Subs (Rice Krispies Treat, 45), Culver's (Peaches, 35) and Chick-fil-A (Fruit Cup (Small), 60). Rank chains by their single lightest item and what you rank is their garnishes, which is why a "lowest-calorie item" list says so little about what a meal there looks like. At the other 9 the lowest-calorie order clears 100 calories: Popeyes (Blackened Tenders (2), 110), Jersey Mike's (Cookie (Gf SnickerDoodle), 210), Carl's Jr. (Chocolatey Chip Cookie, 170), Burger King (Chicken Fries (4), 110), In-N-Out Burger (7up (11 oz), 130), Papa John's (Garlic Knots, 110), Raising Cane's (Coleslaw, 100), Little Caesars (Caesar Wings Oven Roasted, 510) and Five Guys (Bulk Peanuts (1 oz), 170), and at Popeyes and Little Caesars it is an entrée rather than a side. The CSV carries both figures for every chain: the lowest-calorie order, and the lightest order that is actually meal-sized — at least 150 calories or 10 g of protein.

What the numbers cannot tell you

The figures are as published, not as served. A chain's guide is a national average; the store you walk into varies with portioning, the day's prep and a regional menu, so treat a 495-calorie order as a plan, not a measurement. 11 of the 30 chains here are read from a copy of the guide hosted by a third party rather than from the chain's own domain: Firehouse Subs, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Panda Express, Jack in the Box, KFC, Hardee's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Raising Cane's. Each is labelled on its own page and on the sources page; the numbers are still the chain's own, but the host is not. 2 chains have no qualifying order under 500 calories at all: Little Caesars, because its guide publishes whole pizzas rather than slices, so no entrée row lands under 500 calories; and Five Guys, because it publishes components — a patty, a bun, each topping — rather than assembled burgers, so nothing composes into a complete order. And the index measures one thing — protein in a complete order under a cap — not sodium, not saturated fat, not fiber, and not whether anyone wants to eat it twice.

Cite this

Quote any figure on this page with attribution. The suggested citation for the September 2026 edition:

MinMax, “The 500-Calorie Index (September 2026)”, eatminmax.com/report/500-calorie-index, data refreshed September 14, 2026.

The whole index is one CSV — a row per chain, the same four columns at 500, 400, 600 and 800 calories, then the source tier, the refresh date and the garnish figures: 500-calorie-index.csv (30 rows). Every chain's underlying table, including the rows the validation gate dropped and the reason each was dropped, is published as JSON:

• McDonald's (JSON)
• Burger King (JSON)
• Wendy's (JSON)
• Taco Bell (JSON)
• Chipotle (JSON)
• Subway (JSON)
• Chick-fil-A (JSON)
• KFC (JSON)
• Popeyes (JSON)
• Arby's (JSON)
• Sonic Drive-In (JSON)
• Jack in the Box (JSON)
• Carl's Jr. (JSON)
• Hardee's (JSON)
• Five Guys (JSON)
• Shake Shack (JSON)
• In-N-Out Burger (JSON)
• Whataburger (JSON)
• Culver's (JSON)
• Raising Cane's (JSON)
• Panda Express (JSON)
• Panera Bread (JSON)
• Jersey Mike's (JSON)
• Jimmy John's (JSON)
• Firehouse Subs (JSON)
• Domino's Pizza (JSON)
• Pizza Hut (JSON)
• Papa John's (JSON)
• Little Caesars (JSON)
• Dairy Queen (JSON)

The compiled dataset is published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse it, commercially included, with attribution to MinMax (eatminmax.com). The underlying figures are facts from each chain's own nutrition publication; the document behind every chain is linked on the sources page, and how a figure gets from that document into this table is on the methodology page. Corrections: support@eatminmax.com.

The same data, kept current

This page is the dated edition. The live ranking, the per-chain pages behind it and the cap pillars are rebuilt from the same tables every Sunday.

• The live protein-per-calorie leaderboard
• Fast food under 300 calories
• Fast food under 400 calories
• Fast food under 500 calories
• What changed this week