Pillsbury Vs Nestlé Toll House: Which Chocolate Chip Cookies Are Healthier?

When you reach for a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, you're not necessarily expecting a healthy experience, unless you make everything from scratch and are extremely particular about the ingredients. If we do take a closer look at the ingredients and nutritional components between Pillsbury and Nestlé Toll House cookie dough, the numbers tell us that Pillsbury is technically the healthier choice. It's worth noting that both chocolate chip cookies can be part of a healthy diet, but people who have specific dietary needs will want to keep certain aspects in mind.

In all honesty, the two brands share fairly similar nutritional facts per 19-gram cookie, only overshadowing one another by a matter of a few digits. Pillsbury's classic chocolate chip cookie (which we ranked as the best out of five Pillsbury ready-to-bake cookie dough flavors) has fewer calories than a Toll House cookie — 85 compared to 90. Pillsbury also contains less sodium than Toll House, with 67.5 milligrams per cookie compared to 85 milligrams. The famous "Dough Boy" brand also pulls a win in terms of cholesterol, with only 2.5 milligrams per cookie, whereas Toll House's chocolate chip cookie (which didn't fare well in our ranking of six Toll House cookie dough flavors) contains 10 milligrams. Consuming sodium in excess can lead to heart disease and strokes, and so can the overconsumption of cholesterol-high foods, which means cutting back wherever you can is always beneficial.

If we examine the sugar content in one Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie, we'll see that there are 7.5 grams, but one of Toll House's only contains 7 grams, giving it a slight edge. For protein content, both Toll House and Pillsbury cookies provide about an equal (albeit negligible) amount, with Pillsbury stating 0.5 grams per cookie and Toll House broadly specifying less than 1 gram. The fat content for both brands is also equal, at 4 grams per cookie. But when it comes to carbohydrates, Pillsbury takes the metaphorical cake, offering 12 grams to Toll House's 11 grams.

Pillsbury also has more iron, boasting 0.7 milligrams per cookie compared to Toll House's 0.1 milligrams. In Pillsbury's chocolate chip cookie, the iron comes from the use of enriched bleached flour, which also contains riboflavin and niacin. The exact makeup of Toll House's bleached wheat remains unspecified. Both riboflavin and niacin, also known as B-2 and B-3, support your gut biome and help your body break down food into energy, which is why some people take these vitamins as additional supplements. 

Toll House's cookie does contain more potassium, 30 milligrams compared to an unspecified amount from Pillsbury, perhaps explaining why we ranked Toll House higher in our list of 10 store-bought cookie dough brands. But even though the numbers are close, Pillsbury's chocolate chip cookie comes out on top in more categories, making it the healthier choice.