The 12 Most Unhealthy Things You Can Order At Jollibee
Jollibee currently has 70 locations in North America and 1,300 restaurants around the world. Jollibee is growing and has plans of opening 500 more stores in North America. The franchise specializes in Filipino comfort food, combining fried chicken with a variety of other menu items. If you're watching your food intake and general health, it's vital that you look into the nutritional facts of any restaurant you're planning to patronize, including this growing fast food favorite.
Whether you already know and love Jollibee or have plans of trying it in the future, there are some unhealthy items on the menu that you might want to steer clear of. Much of the restaurant's food is fried, packed with carbs, smothered in gravy, and other red flags. Knowing in advance can help you make sensible and healthy decisions that protect your well-being. Here are a dozen of the most unhealthy menu items to be aware of when you make a Jollibee order.
1. Jolly Spaghetti and combos
Few meals are as satisfying, flavorful, and filling as a nice big plate of spaghetti. The mixture of noodles and savory sauce hit the spot and serve as proof that a meal doesn't have to be complex to tantalize the tastebuds. However, this could come at a cost to your health with Jollibee's sweet spaghetti dish. These potential health issues are compounded when you consider the restaurant's Jollibee spaghetti combo meals.
The spaghetti itself is a beast when you consider the high amount of sodium and sugar it contains. The American Heart Association recommends a daily limit of 36 grams of sugar for men and 25 grams for women. Jollibee spaghetti has 18 grams of sugar, delivering at least half the recommendation in a single item. This is in addition to 1,340 milligrams of sodium, which is well over half of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended 2,300-milligram limit for the entire day. Too much sodium contributes to heart disease and high blood pressure, which are all at staggering levels in the United States (via Centers for Disease Control).
2. Burger steaks
Jollibee offers unique menu selections that you're not going to get at other fast-food restaurants. The company hangs its hat on the succulent and juicy flavor of its burger steaks. With this selection, you're getting two to three burger steaks smothered in mushroom gravy. It's only sold as a family pack or as a combo, which comes with either one or two side items.
These steaks alone are super high in sodium. The sodium content of a 2-piece burger steak with rice is 1,010 milligrams. This is the smallest burger steak selection, and a combo with three burger steaks and rice contains a whopping 1,440 milligrams of sodium. Of course, your total sodium and calories increase when you switch your side items. Swapping out white rice with sides like adobo rice or mashed potatoes and gravy makes the combo even worse for your health. Considering how quickly these combos and their poor nutritional value can add up, it's best to skip the burger steaks.
3. Original Chicken Sandwich
Many fast food restaurants have engaged in the battle of the chicken sandwich in recent years. Jollibee's Original Chicken Sandwich enters the fray and delivers on taste, but may also come with health consequences when eaten in excess. It's a deep-fried chicken breast filet, umami mayo, and a toasted brioche bun. The result is a sandwich that is high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
Ordering the sandwich alone gives you a fat content of 34 grams, with 7 grams of that being saturated fat. According to Medline Plus, too much of this type of fat can damage your heart health, but it gets worse when you consider the cholesterol and sodium content. To top it off, the sandwich is fried, which can clog your arteries and increase inflammation, according to Harvard Medical School. This can put you more at risk for strokes and heart attacks.
If you enjoy the original chicken sandwich and don't mind a bit of kick, the spicy sandwich is a bit less unhealthy due to its lower fat content. Jollibee's spicy chicken sandwich has 28 grams of fat and 6 grams of saturated fat. It's also slightly lower in sodium as well, with 1,040 milligrams, compared to the original sandwich's 1,100 milligrams.
4. The Aloha Yumburger
Like most fast food spots, Jollibee also has a burger option that people gravitate toward. Jollibee's has a few burger options, with the Aloha Yumburger outranking the others as the unhealthiest. The Aloha Yumburger features two beef patties, pineapples, special Aloha dressing, lettuce, and bacon. This burger delivers 1,390 milligrams of sodium, contributing up to 60% of the daily allowance in a single item. Comparatively, the standard Yumburger has 880 milligrams of sodium, while the Big Yumburger has only slightly less than the Aloho version with 1,350 milligrams of sodium.
This major dose of sodium from the Aloho Yumburger can lead to uncomfortable swelling, bloating, and weakness (via WebMD). At worst, too much sodium can put you at higher risk for elevated blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). So, consider ordering these burgers in moderation and drink plenty of water to offset the salt content.
5. Mashed potatoes and gravy
Jollibee serves loads of mashed potatoes and gravy each day. It's a side item that you can order alone and as part of any of the company's many different combo meals. Mashed potatoes and gravy is a comfort food item that sticks to your ribs, as will its poor nutritional ramifications if you eat too much of it. It's also a dish that can be damaging to your health, largely because of its sodium content. Even though it's a side item, Jollibee's mashed potatoes and gravy's sodium content is on par with entrees.
The 6-ounce regular version of the mashed potato and gravy dish contains 730 milligrams of sodium. The 11.9-ounce large version contains double the sodium content, with 1,460 milligrams, over half the recommended daily allowance. Skip this one for the sodium content alone, and you should definitely think twice if you have existing blood pressure or heart issues.
6. Fried chicken combos
Fried chicken is the main event for most people when they stop at Jollibee. The restaurant serves its fried chicken in a variety of pieces and as part of different combinations. While it may be satisfying to sink your teeth into, you don't have to eat very much for the negative health aspects to start adding up. You're essentially sinking your teeth into a one-two punch of fat and sodium.
Aside from being fried, the biggest problem is that Jollibee also serves the unhealthiest parts of the chicken. According to Smart Street Nutrition, chicken breast has a higher protein content and lower fat, but Jollibee only serves drumsticks and thighs. A single drumstick of Jollibee fried chicken features 14 grams of fat and 3 grams of saturated fat. This is in addition to 270 milligrams of sodium.
These problems only get worse if you like your chicken spicy, or if your favorite part is the thigh. The spicy drumstick has a whopping 480 milligrams of sodium. A Jollibee chicken thigh has 28 grams of fat and 7 grams of saturated fat, with 400 milligrams of sodium. The spicy version has 21 grams of fat and 4.5 grams of saturated fat, with a staggering 720 milligrams of sodium. Since these are the numbers for just one piece of chicken, skip this dish and definitely bypass the chicken dinner meals.
7. The Pineapple Quencher
When you're dining out at a fast food restaurant, there are typically dessert pies, cookies, or other sweets that people enjoy as desserts. When you order these, you know you're having a treat, but you might not expect that when ordering a standard drink. However, Jollibee's flagship drink the Pineapple Quencher, contains more sugar than the majority of its dessert items, an astonishing 43 grams.
For reference, 43 grams is more than 10 teaspoons. The Pineapple Quencher comes in a reasonably sized 16-ounce cup, so you'd probably never expect it to contain that much sugar. This concentration of sugar makes this a sneakily unhealthy choice. Someone who doesn't read the restaurant's nutritional content may even assume they're making a healthy choice since the drink contains fruit juice. You would be sadly mistaken, since sugary drinks are the culprit behind several health issues, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and poor dental health (via Healthy Food America). While the restaurant calls this drink the "quencher", the reality is quite the opposite. Too many sugary drinks can worsen dehydration (via Medical News Today). When you order the Pineapple Quencher with a sodium-rich meal, it's a recipe for chronic dehydration, which can lead to lethargy, poor brain function, and blood pressure and heart rate issues (via Cleveland Clinic).
8. Chicken tenders with dipping sauces
Aside from offering whole pieces, people also routinely order chicken tenders from Jollibee. They are deep-fried, hand-breaded pieces of white meat chicken that are crispy and seasoned. You may enjoy the taste of these tenders, but they're unhealthy when you consider the cholesterol and sodium content, and that they are fried.
Though they are sold in three-piece, six-piece, 10-piece, and 16-piece varieties, the restaurant's nutritional guide breaks down information by the single chicken tender without dip. A single chicken tender has 30 milligrams of cholesterol. Health experts suggest that you limit your cholesterol to 300 milligrams daily, the amount in a 10-piece serving, according to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
Tenders are perfect for dipping and Jollibee sells a variety of flavorful sauces to add on, each with a lot of sodium. The pineapple BBQ sauce adds 310 milligrams of sodium while the ranch adds another 340 milligrams (plus 15 milligrams of cholesterol). The honey mustard adds 230 milligrams of sodium and the creamy sriracha dip adds 360 milligrams, nearly as much salt as an actual chicken tender.
9. Palabok Fiesta
The Palabok Fiesta is the most traditional Filipino meal item that you will see on the Jollibee menu. This dish combines noodles, eggs, shrimp, pork, and garlic sauce, along with a variety of spices. Ordering this is a unique break from the typical fast food fare, but it also comes with its own penalty to your health. You can eat a Palabok Fiesta either by itself or alongside other menu items in a combo. The dish itself has a whopping 115 milligrams of cholesterol and 950 milligrams of sodium. This is in addition to 49 grams of carbohydrates.
Further concerning is that this meal only has 1 gram of fiber. This brings the ratio of fiber to carbohydrates to 1:49, while health experts advise you to strive for 1:10, according to Harvard Medical School. Maintaining this ratio is better for your heart health, improves your digestion, and helps you feel satiated longer. The Palabok Fiesta also contains sulphite ingredients, which can have effects ranging from diarrhea and abdominal pain to sensitive people and even potentially life-threatening asthmatic complications (via the National Library of Medicine).
10. Adobo rice
Jollibee offers steamed white rice as a default to go with other menu selections, but many customers also enjoy the adobo rice. This is a type of seasoned rice that comes with bits of diced meat sprinkled throughout. The restaurant sells this as a side item and offers it with its combo meals. Adding a bowl of adobo rice to your meal may be satisfying to your stomach, but it comes with a variety of health implications long-term.
This rice comes with an 8-ounce container and delivers 230 calories per serving. It's a small serving, but you're also sinking your teeth into 4.5 grams of fat and a half-ounce of saturated fat. Plus, it includes 15 milligrams of cholesterol. Like most sides, the fact that you're adding this to meal items that are already fatty and salty makes it an easy skip when you're ordering from Jollibee. Swap this one out for steamed rice as a healthier alternative.
11. Jolly Crispy Fries
French fries are the most common side items that you'll order at any fast food establishment. The same applies at Jollibee, as customers like to order fries of different sizes to go with their burgers, chicken, and other main course menu items. But, these deep-fried frozen potatoes bring enough sodium, fat, and saturated fat to leave them alone.
Jolly Crispy Fries come in either the 4-ounce regular or 6-ounce large. The smaller regular serving comes with 560 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of fat, and 4.5 grams of saturated fat. A large serving of Jolly Crispy Fries has 830 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of fat, and 7 grams of saturated fat.
Anyone concerned with maintaining a healthy heart and avoiding diabetes and related health complications should avoid frequently adding these fries to their order. It's a small item that can be poor addition to already unhealthy combo meals. It gets worse if you add salt and ketchup to your fries – using a single packet of each adds 370 milligrams of sodium to your meal.
12. Baked Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese
Jollibee Baked Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese is a combination of dairy, fat, and sodium that isn't the best for your health. The Baked Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese is a new item that Jollibee rolled out recently, and it's one that has caught on with customers. It's a comfort food add-on that many people enjoy with their chicken and other items, but the value doesn't add up when you consider the health attributes.
This 6-ounce item has 230 calories, along with 12 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, and 420 milligrams of sodium. You may also not be totally satisfied with the Baked Cheddar Mac 'n Cheese since it has a fiber-to-carb ratio of 1:19. This menu item is a combination of salty and savory that may provide some comfort, but the nutritional value just isn't there for people looking for healthy and sensible options.