The Unhealthiest Items On The Menu At Arby's

When you drop by a restaurant like Arby's, chowing down on a super nutritious meal probably isn't at the top of your priority list. The chain is renowned for its hefty stacks of indulgent meat — particularly its roast beef sandwiches, which have even managed to win over professional foodies such as Alton Brown — and isn't exactly known for selling healthy, nutrient-heavy fare. However, like all fast-food chains, not all of these offerings are built equal. Some items from Arby's are packed with more sodium, saturated fat, and sugar than others, with some exceeding your recommended intake in several categories.

Of course, there's space for indulgence in every balanced diet. We're not calling out Arby's unhealthiest items to suggest that you skip them forever. At the same time, we're not suggesting that the Arby's menu items missing from this list are by any means healthy — just that those items aren't quite as lacking in nutritional substance as those that did make the cut. If you are curious about which Arby's items will put the biggest dent in your nutritional values, we did the legwork to figure out the worst of the bunch. From burgers and fries to cookies and shakes, these are the unhealthiest items on the Arby's menu.

When a burger has the words "double" and "bacon" in the title, it's pretty safe to assume that it isn't the healthiest thing in the world. That's certainly the case for Arby's Double BBQ Bacon Burger. While Arby's was once sued for inaccurately advertising the size of its burgers, this option remains wonderfully hefty. Its stack of American cheese, crispy onion strings, bacon, and two juicy burger patties, all sandwiched between a brioche bun, is delicious, but it does also come together to offer an eye-watering amount of saturated fat.

To be precise, each Double BBQ Bacon Burger contains 27 grams. While the daily recommended saturated fat intake varies from institution to institution, the American Heart Association (AHA) suggests capping your intake to 13 grams — less than half the amount found in one burger. Unsurprisingly, this saturated fat comes with a shocking side of sodium. The vast majority of fast food burgers are sodium-heavy, but this one really takes the cake (or the salt) with a whopping total of 2,280 milligrams. That's only fractionally less than the suggested maximum of 2,300 milligrams set by both the AHA and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is roughly the equivalent of one teaspoon. Considering the fact that there are small amounts of sodium in pretty much all foods, picking up a Double BBQ Bacon Burger guarantees one heck of a salty day.

Arby's is proudly home to "the meats," but we all know that one specific meat built the fast food chain's legacy. Back when the chain first opened in 1964, roast beef sandwiches were its specialty. While other items have joined the lineup in the decades since, slow-roasted beef remains the standout, with eight different delicious — but extremely salty — options listed on the menu today.

The Half Pound Beef 'n Cheddar takes the highest toll. As the name suggests, this is quite literally ½ pound of Arby's beef with cheddar sauce, red ranch, and a hearty onion roll. All in all, that's equal to 2,530 milligrams of sodium. That's not only 230 milligrams more than the daily recommended intake but also 1,000 milligrams higher than the American Heart Association's ideal goal of 1,500 milligrams per day.

In the short run, consuming that much sodium will likely do little more than rack up your thirst. Regularly consuming foods high in sodium can spike your blood pressure and even lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular issues in the future. That being said, you may want to keep the Half Pound Beef 'n Cheddar as an infrequent indulgence. Alternatively, its smaller counterpart — the Classic Beef 'n Cheddar — contains less than half the sodium at 1,280 milligrams apiece.

Like all the best milkshakes, Arby's Jamocha Shake is best described as a dessert than an actual beverage. With swirls of coffee and chocolate, topped with a dollop of whipped cream, there's no arguing with its flavor factor. What is slightly harder to praise is its sugar content, which comes in at a whopping 71 grams. And that's just the regular shake — should you opt for the large, you can expect 94 grams. To put that into context, that's over 23 teaspoons of sugar in a single shake. Yikes.

The sugar content is the real shocker here, but the rest of the nutritional values are no picnic either. A large Jamocha Shake contains 690 calories and 13 grams of saturated fat. Although that may not sound as drastic as everything else on this list, it's still worth considering before making the shake your new go-to order. As research neuroscientist and nutrition, diet, and addiction expert Dr. Nicole Avena previously told Mashed, "Its fat content is lower than the daily recommended intake, but it is still never a good idea to get an entire day's worth of fat from one drink, especially when a significant amount of that fat is saturated or trans." Not that it's any consolation, but downing this much milk does mean you get 15 grams of protein, which is actually more than some protein shakes.

The Classic French Dip & Swiss is another entry from the slow-roasted beef section of the Arby's menu. Like any good French dip sandwich, this pairs a roast beef and Swiss cheese sub with au jus sauce. Quite literally translating as "with juice," this is typically made with the juices of roast meat, making for a rich, hearty dipping sauce for a hot sandwich.

Unfortunately, it also makes for an extremely salty experience. Arby's Classic French Dip & Swiss contains more than your daily recommended sodium intake, at 2,540 milligrams of sodium. That's over 200 milligrams more than the daily limit set by the American Heart Association and enough to constitute it as one of the saltiest sandwiches at food chain in the U.S.

While in practice, the average American consumes way more salt than that recommendation (3,300 milligrams, to be precise), it's still far from ideal to consume a day's worth of salt in a matter of minutes. With that in mind, it's probably also not the smartest idea to order the French Dip Max, a secret menu item that contains twice as much sodium-laden roast beef. Still, even that pales in comparison to another secret menu item: the Meat Mountain. This stacks eight different kinds of meat to create a behemoth of a dish that some estimate contains well over 3,500 milligrams of sodium. In other words, the Meat Mountain is one Arby's item that we can definitively claim is best left avoided.

If you're not content with a single sandwich or burger, Arby's has a decent selection of sides to fuel your tank. When it comes to fries, you have the option of either Crinkle Fries or Curly Fries, with the latter proving to be the significantly less nutritious of the two.

Available in a small, medium, or large portion, the biggest of the bunch was always going to have the worst statistics. A large helping of Arby's Curly Fries contains 550 calories, with nearly half of this number composed of calories from fat. Speaking of fat, you'll find 4 grams of the saturated variety in each portion. The most sobering statistic is its sodium levels, which sit at 1,250 milligrams. Paired with the vast majority of its main menu items, this number will easily tip you over into excessive sodium territory.

In comparison, the Crinkle Fries don't pack anywhere near as much of a salty punch as the Curly Fries (and, for the record, ranked far lower on our ranking of Arby's sides). A large portion contains 530 calories, which is admittedly only fractionally less than the Curly Fries. These calories come with just 630 milligrams of sodium — slightly more than half the amount found in Arby's Curly Fries. You'll also find half a gram less saturated fat.

At first glance, the Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon Sandwich sounds like one of the lighter options on the Arby's menu. Its primary protein is roasted poultry instead of fried meat, and it comes squeezed between two slices of honey wheat bread with lettuce, cheddar, tomato, and red onion. The issue, however, is that the sandwich also includes bacon and parmesan peppercorn ranch dressing, neither of which are exactly tantamount to a nutritional fast food item.

The proof is in the numbers. Not only does Arby's Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon Sandwich contain 810 calories — more than several of the burgers on this list — but it also packs 10 grams of saturated fat and 2,520 milligrams of sodium. There's also a surprisingly large amount of sugar in this for a sandwich at 15 grams, which we assume is due largely to the dressing and bread. The Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon Sandwich is also notably high in carbohydrates, with 79 grams overall. The good news is that there are more veggies involved here than most other Arby's menu items, but even that doesn't do much to outweigh the rest of its nutritional pitfalls.

Realistically, we never expected a Double Big Cheesy Bacon Burger to be particularly healthy. Even after setting our standards low, we were surprised by the nutritional values of this Arby's menu item. As it turns out, piling both American and Swiss cheese on top of two beef patties with bacon, burger sauce, and a handful of veggies doesn't equal the lightest meal (even if it does give you an impressive 59 grams of protein).

Sodium racks up the highest number here, with 2,350 milligrams in each Double Big Cheesy Bacon Burger. The calorie count also sits high at 990 calories, while the number of calories from fat is 570. Of the 64 grams of fat in each burger, you can find 28 grams of saturated fat and 1.5 grams of naturally occurring trans fat. The burger's 14 grams of sugar also isn't overly promising.

One of the details that stood out to us most was the fact that a Double Big Cheesy Bacon Burger contains 155 milligrams of cholesterol — more than half your daily recommended intake. While red meat is, in general, high in cholesterol, this is still a notable number. Eating large amounts of cholesterol on a regular basis can take its toll and increase your long-term risk of heart disease.

Good cookies are deliciously addictive, but we won't pretend that they regularly slot into the "healthy foods" category. While it's safe to assume that most baked goods are high in sugar and carbohydrates, Arby's Salted Caramel & Chocolate Cookie takes it to another level. Each individual cookie contains decadent chunks of caramel and semi-sweet chocolate — but it also contains an astounding 31 grams of sugar, which equates to nearly a third of the cookie's overall weight.

Backing up this high sugar content is 13 grams of saturated fat. Indulgent though the Salted Caramel & Chocolate Cookie may be, it feels hard to justify cutting that far into our daily recommended intake when some of the more filling main menu items at Arby's — including the Ham & Swiss Melt, Greek Gyro, Corned Beef Reuben, and Classic Roast Beef — contain the same amount of saturated fat or less. For better control over your sugar and fat content, you may want to simply whip up your own cookies at home.

Arby's Mozzarella Sticks are par for the course with your average fried cheesy treat. Each stick contains indulgent melted mozzarella, encased in a fried batter and served with a side of marinara sauce (even if some people believe there are far superior dips for mozzarella sticks in general). It should come as no surprise that it sadly doesn't come with a side of nutritional perks, but it does go a long way in brightening up a bad day, which is as good as any health benefit in our eyes.

Mood-boosting abilities aside, Mozzarella Sticks aren't the strongest pick from Arby's if you're trying to eat healthy (or healthy-ish). Just six Mozzarella Sticks contain a whopping 2,110 milligrams of sodium, which is similar to an actual main menu item like a burger or roast beef sandwich. You could eat an entire bag of Lay's Classic Potato Chips and still consume less sodium than a single Arby's Mozzarella Stick.

Saturated fat is another sore point here. Each Arby's Mozzarella Stick contains over 2 grams of saturated fat. That may not sound like a lot, but it tallies up quickly, with each serving of sticks setting you back by a total of 14 grams.

Arby's may offer few sweet treats, but what it lacks in variety, it makes up in sheer amounts of sugar. While that may be great news for anyone with a sweet tooth, we're not too sure how dentists would feel about the contents of some of its desserts, especially the Andes Mint Chocolate Shake.

First things first, we have nothing but positive things to say about the way this shake tastes. With Andes Candy Pieces scattered across a cream-topped mint chocolate shake, this is fast food indulgence at its finest. However, the nutritional values are enough to make anyone rethink making this a regular order. A large Andes Mint Chocolate Shake doesn't just contain enough added sugar to exceed your daily recommended allowance. At 111 grams, it actually contains several days' worth of sugar. The regular shake isn't much better, with 85 grams of sugar in every 389-gram drink.

Beyond sugar, the calorie count for a large Andes Mint Chocolate Shake (770 calories) isn't dissimilar to an actual burger. In fact, you could enjoy a Deluxe Burger, BBQ Bacon Burger, Big Cheesey Bacon Burger, or literally any item on the slow-roasted beef menu and still technically enjoy a lighter meal than Arby's. The saturated fat content is also high, with 17 grams in the largest serving.