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What should I order at Chipotle?

Chipotle is the easiest fast-food menu to order well from, because you build it yourself. Protein, beans and fajita veg — not rice, chips and queso.

Order a bowl, not a burrito, and build it on protein first: chicken, steak, barbacoa or sofritas, then black or pinto beans, fajita veg, salsa and lettuce. The tortilla, the rice, the chips and the queso are what turn a good order into a heavy one — and at Chipotle you are choosing each of them one at a time, out loud, which makes it the rare menu where the better call is genuinely easy.

Best choices

  1. 1Bowl with double chicken, black beans, fajita veg and picoDouble protein costs a little more and changes the plate more than any other single choice on the line — the bowl stops being rice with chicken on it
  2. 2Steak or barbacoa bowl, beans, lettuce, tomato salsaBoth are whole cuts rather than anything battered or breaded, and the salsas add flavour without adding much
  3. 3Sofritas bowl with beans and extra fajita vegThe plant option that still carries real substance — braised tofu plus beans is a genuine protein base, not a side dish pretending
  4. 4Salad bowl — the same build, lettuce instead of riceThe single swap that changes the order most, because rice is usually the largest thing in the bowl and the one nobody chose deliberately
  5. 5Half rice, if you want itThey will do it and it costs nothing — half is a real portion of rice rather than the default scoop

Watch out for

  • Queso, sour cream and cheese are three separate additions that each feel small on the line and are not small together
  • Chips and guacamole are a second meal, not a side — guacamole itself is fine, it's the bag of chips carrying it
  • A burrito is a bowl with a large flour tortilla wrapped round it; the tortilla is the difference between the two orders
  • The default rice scoop is generous and arrives before you have decided anything else — it is the easiest thing on the line to halve
  • Vinaigrette on a salad bowl is sweeter than it looks; salsa does the same job

Also asked

Is Chipotle actually healthy?

It can be, and unusually it's up to you rather than the menu. The ingredients are mostly whole — grilled chicken, steak, beans, peppers, lettuce, salsa — and nothing is battered or deep fried. What decides a Chipotle order is the build: the same bowl can be protein, beans and vegetables, or it can be a large scoop of rice with cheese, sour cream and queso on top and some chicken underneath. Order it as a bowl, lead with protein, and make rice, cheese and queso three separate decisions rather than defaults.

Bowl or burrito at Chipotle?

Bowl, if you're deciding on the food rather than the convenience. The fillings are identical — the burrito adds a large flour tortilla around them, and that tortilla is a substantial part of the finished thing rather than a wrapper. If you want a burrito because you're eating it walking, that's a fine reason; just know the tortilla is the difference, not the chicken.

What's the highest protein order at Chipotle?

A bowl with double meat and beans. Double chicken or double steak roughly doubles the protein in the bowl for a small extra cost, and black or pinto beans add more on top. Skip the rice or halve it and the bowl becomes mostly protein and vegetables — which is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to order at a counter in five minutes.

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