I have eaten hundreds of burritos from Chipotle over the last 4 years and I have yet to turn into a fat, sweaty, repulsive, panting slob.
My burrito of destiny includes:
Chicken, rice, pinto beans, pico de gallo, corn, hot red salsa, cheese and sour cream. Guacamole if I'm feeling wild and crazy.
As a finishing touch I always politely ask for the burrito guts to be mixed up.
Be ready to take a short siesta afterwards.
The law just requires that you post calorie information... I think Chipotle decided to do the "Calorie Range" as a way to post mis-leading information. Because items are not pre-made with a specific set of ingredients, and calories will vary based on your personal selections, they are well within their legal right to post a "range"- but clearly the range is total baloney.
As for the law itself, while I agree that eating by numbers is no way to live, there are clearly alot of people who think that fast food is less fattening than it is, and while we are all fairly well informed eaters- you'd be really surprised how many people are shocked to discover how incredibly fattening a Chipotle Burrito is.
As far as Chipotle being for "Serious Eaters", while their use of organic and/or fresh ingredients is commendable, it's still the lesser of two evils- and is clearly fast food made to be mass marketed and mass produced across the country in a cookie cutter way.
mmm chipotle! i get the veggie burrito w/ black beans, tomatoes & roast corn, lettuce, cheese, guac & sour cream. it's probably a lot of calories (who's counting?) but it's not like i eat there all the time, maybe once a month or so for lunch.
Try an asada steak, guac, and pico do gallo burrito (holding the rice, beans, peppers, onions, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and anything else I might have missed). Have it with a Negra Modelo. Grab a couple lemon wedges from the fixins bar, and sprinkle some lemon juice as you go.
wasn't this news several years ago? i eat: burrito bol, rice, black beans, two salsas, guac and extra lettuce. total: 550 calories. the thing about that bol is i FEEL full. it seems like a lot of food. you could get the same caloric intake for a big Starbucks drink or a milkshake at some drive through - and not feel full.
recommended: this blog, where someone details how he lost 60 pounds on his "chipotle diet" -- link
I think the rice is this biggest sneak when it comes to calories.
My favorite is a barbacoa salad.
I get a salad with chicken, corn salsa, tomato salsa, a bit of sour cream and cheese. And I maybe eat half of it and save the rest for another meal. The salad dressing is DEADLY, calorically-- 200 just for the dressing.
Thanks, aliikazoo, figured out my salad is 880 calories. Good thing I only eat half.
Go to this website www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=nutrition_calculator to find out just how bad for you it is. Never stops me from going, even though I live in a Tex-Mex capital. I love their guac.
I'm with you @CVilleBilly! I have an obsession with tacos...especially crunchy corn ones. I get the tacos with barbicoa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and mild chunky salsa on the side! Mmmmm...chipotle!
I generally have a burrito bol with barbacoa, rice, black beans, fajita veggies, tomato salsa, green salsa & lettuce. It's 600 calories, which is a bit much, but not the end of the world if you're eating healthy the rest of the time. I can always drop the beans or the veggies if I want to come in lower, or switch to chicken. Sometimes I just go vegetarian, which saves me calories as well.
The real calorie saver is dropping that tortilla.
I also support having calorie info available. I don't think the fuzzy math on the Chipotle menu is helpful, but I do believe that restaurants should make their calorie info available online or in a separate sheet that could be reviewed at the restaurant. It really burns me when places refuse to do so... ahem, Quiznos (whose claims to be healthy I find dubious).
What? No one eats the tacos? Crispy tacos with carnitas, pico, hot, sour cream and extra cheese makes for an excellent lunch.
Also, if you're on a south beachy diet, the riceless burrito bowl is one of the few options you have when eating out.
Subscribe to our feeds:
All of Serious Eats, Talk, Required Eating, Videos, Eating Out, Recipes, New York
Subscribe by email:
Website:
Location:
About:
Favorite foods:
Last bite on earth: