I'm trying one of McDonald's Asian Salads now, and I have to say, I really enjoy it. It's a nice balance of salad greens to "stuff", and stuff is pretty tasty. The orange-glazed chicken has a nice flavor, and it's surprising and very cool to find edamame (green soybeans) outside a Japanese restaurant. According to their website info this salad, with dressing, comes to just at 380 calories, so it's a decent choice as is. The almonds do come separate, and you could leave off the dressing, which would bring the total to more like 230.

I know that some people consider McDonald's to be evil incarnate. After all, isn't that what Morgan Spurlock says in "Supersize Me"? But still, I have to give them credit for trying, and for delievering a pretty tasty, satisfying salad that doesn't have to wreck one's attempts to eat better.

Hi Annie,

Thanks for the "heads up" about the McDonald's Asian Salad. Sounds very tasty and you could always use just half the dressing (which is usually one of the highest calorie items in any salad). I'll try one next time I'm in a hurry and want something quick and healthy.

Thanks for trying it out for the rest of us I've been seeing the advertising for it, but figured it was just another one of those salads from McDonalds that 'sounds' healthy, but isn't actually very healthy in the end. My husband isn't on a diet so sometimes it's hard when we're out and about running errands and we get hungry. It's nice to have another low cal option for fast food.
Thanks!!

How about this...if you *have* to go to McDonald's and don't mind doing a little work...a side salad (or even 2 if you're hungry) the chicken off a chicken McGrill sans mayo and either a couple packages of their salsa or the low fat balsamic vinegar plus a diet coke = under 150 calories! Doable!

Awww pffffft, that's crazy. What that jerk did he did it to himself willingly. He was out of control. You can do the same thing to yourself at home.

I happen to like McDonald's salads, but I never use their dressing, only my own.

That's what I do. I get the grilled chicken sandwich, no mayo or sauce or one of their salads. My personal favorite is the Grilled Chicken Caesar.

Granted, yep, the grilled chicken (whether on a sandwich or in a salad) is high in sodium, but it's not like I eat this stuff every day.

Good call not eating it every day. Me and my bf were going through the McDonald's site looking at what we used to eat without thinking about it...all of my daily calories now used to be one meal. I used to eat McChicken sauce on my fries! Blech!

I happen to like mickey d's saleds, as long as you get the grilled chicken you don't come out too bad for a meal. same with the yogurt parfait w/o granola, not toooooo bad. I just don't touch the burgers and fries -> ick!

My favorite meal from McDonald's (before I changed my lifestyle, that is) was a Big Mac, a large fry and a 6-piece chicken nugget.

Sandwich: 560
Large fry: 531
McNuggets: 255

Total for one meal: 1346 calories (which is more than I eat in an entire day now) and 70 grams of fat.



(beating myself over the head)

Okay so we had to run to soccer practice unexpectedly and I had to go to the store too, so I let the boys pick where we'd eat. They picked McDonald's, so I decided to try the new salad. I got the combo meal with a water (you can get any drink youd like) and picked grilled chicken instead of breaded. I got to pick a nifty exercise dvd which I'm interested in opening this evening.

The salad was interesting. The chicken and salad mix and additions were all great. They forgot to give me my almonds, but that was fine by me because I wasn't going to use them anyways. The dressing I tasted on a little bit of the salad and it seemed okay so I poured about half of it. The Lite Sesame-ginger dressing itself is only 90cal/2.5g fat anyways, but I didnt feel I needed all of it...

What I wasn't prepared for was the HEAT. OMG it was spicy and I wasn't ready for that. Next time I think I'll choose another dressing or bring it home pick one of my own. I ended up not finishing the salad because of that and being a little hungry, but I resisted getting something else. Hehe. I was fine in the end.

Was it that spicy for others? I normally like spice, but I guess I wasn't prepared for it in my salad.