KFC Vs Chick-Fil-A: Which Serves A Healthier Classic Chicken Sandwich?

If you're looking for a healthy option for lunch or dinner, a classic chicken sandwich probably won't be top of your list. But if you do have a craving that nothing else will satisfy, it's not necessarily off-limits; it might just be about making the best choice. On paper, KFC and Chick-fil-A have fairly similar offerings: a fried chicken filet and a couple of pickle slices on a bun, with KFC opting for mayo, while the Chick-fil-A bun is buttered.

Despite this, there are some significant nutritional differences between the two. Before making your choice, you need to consider what makes food healthy or unhealthy? Generally speaking, healthy foods contain higher levels of beneficial nutrients such as protein and fiber and lower levels of saturated fat, sodium, or added sugar. Calorie count isn't necessarily an indicator of whether something is healthy or not, as long as you're not eating more calories than you need.

With scarcely a vegetable in sight, neither sandwich is a good source of beneficial fiber, with just 1 gram each. The protein offerings are much better, however: KFC has one of the highest protein fast food items with 34 grams of protein, while the Chick-fil-A has a decent 29 grams.

In terms of what you don't want, you're looking at a whopping 35 grams of total fat in the KFC option compared to 18 grams in the Chick-fil-A burger. The Colonel fares slightly better with sodium, with 1260 milligrams compared to 1460 milligrams for Chick-fil-A. Both clock in at 6 grams of sugar. Total calories is where you will find another big difference: KFC's sandwich contains 650 calories and Chick-fil-A's 420 calories.

If you're familiar with both sandwiches, you might recall that the classic chicken sandwich from KFC is somewhat larger than its Chick-fil-A counterpart –- around 223 grams versus 187 grams. So, when looking at the pure numbers you might assume that you're eating more calories, fat, and protein simply because you're eating a larger portion, but it's not strictly the case.

To get a better picture of the nutritional makeup, you need to compare equal portion sizes. Per 100 grams, the Chick-fil-A sandwich actually has more protein, at 16.3 grams, with the KFC sandwich slightly lower at 15.2 grams. The difference in calories aren't as dramatic with this calculation, a 100-gram portion of Chick-fil-A's sandwich has 249 calories, compared to 291 calories for 100 grams of the KFC sandwich.

Although the classic chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A is healthier than that from KFC against most measures, it isn't what you'd call a healthy option. The sodium content alone is more than half of your daily requirement. There's also no getting around the fact you're eating deep fried food. Although Chick-fil-A uses refined peanut oil, which is low in "bad" fats, you're still hitting around 25% of your daily fat and cholesterol intake in just one sandwich -– never mind if you want fries.

If you really want to reduce these numbers Chick-fil-A's grilled chicken sandwich is a leaner option, lower in calories and total fat compared to the fried version. Or you could just skip the math and enjoy a treat as part of a balanced diet -– both KFC and Chick-fil-A make the top five of our favorite fast food chicken sandwiches.