14 lowest-calorie takeaway orders, from 160 to 700 kcal

A takeaway does not have to be the night the week goes wrong. The difference between a 600 kcal order and a 2,000 kcal one is usually not the restaurant. It is the side dish, the sauce, the portion and the drink.

Every order below comes from the calorie breakdowns in this Journal, using the same figures, so you can follow each one back to the full numbers. They are sorted from lightest to heaviest, and every one is an order you can actually place.

The list at a glance

1. Café vegetable soup, no roll

Per order: 160 kcal · 4g protein

A 400ml bowl of a broth-based soup such as vegetable or minestrone. Broth soups run at 0.3 to 0.6 kcal per ml, and the bread roll that comes with it is often bigger than the soup: a buttered bakery roll is around 242 kcal on its own. Low in protein, so pair it with something if it is your whole lunch. (Soup calorie breakdown.)

2. Meal deal: ham salad sandwich, apple, water

Per order: 280 kcal · about 14g protein

The same British meal deal that comes to 769 kcal with an egg mayo sandwich, crisps and a cola. Swapping the drink for water is the biggest single change at 210 kcal, and it costs nothing. (Sandwich calorie breakdown.)

3. Salmon sashimi, miso soup and edamame

Per order: 310 kcal · 40g protein

Six pieces of salmon sashimi, a miso soup and a portion of edamame in their pods. Sushi is roughly 70% rice by calories, so taking the rice away is what makes this order so light while keeping the protein. (Sushi calorie breakdown.)

4. Chicken shish, salad and chilli, no bread

Per order: 382 kcal · 63g protein

About 200g of grilled chicken shish in a box with a large salad and chilli sauce. One of the best protein-per-calorie meals on any British high street, and most kebab shops will serve it this way without a second thought. (Kebab calorie breakdown.)

5. Small battered cod and mushy peas, no chips

Per order: 441 kcal · about 26g protein

A small battered cod at about 345 kcal with mushy peas at 96. In a regular fish supper, the chips are 720 kcal and the biggest part of the meal, so leaving them out keeps the part of the order that is actually fish. (Fish and chips calorie breakdown.)

6. Supermarket sushi box and a boiled egg

Per order: 475 kcal · 23g protein

A mixed 10-piece box at about 400 kcal, with a boiled egg or small pot of edamame alongside. The box on its own is fine on calories but light on protein, and the cheapest fix is something with protein in it. (Sushi calorie breakdown.)

7. 7 inch mini margherita pizza

Per order: 532 kcal · about 22g protein

A whole 7 inch pizza weighs about 200g. Ordering the small size and eating all of it is lighter than eating "a few slices" of a large, because a 14 inch pizza has more than four times the area of a 7 inch one. (Pizza calorie breakdown.)

8. California roll, salmon sashimi and edamame

Per order: 560 kcal · 32g protein

Eight pieces of California roll, six of salmon sashimi and edamame. It looks and feels like a full sushi dinner. The heavy rolls are the ones with spicy mayo, tempura or "crunch" in the name. (Sushi calorie breakdown.)

9. Tarka dal and one chapati

Per order: 565 kcal · about 28g protein

A 400g tarka dal is about 400 kcal, the lightest dish on most Indian menus at around 100 kcal per 100g, and one chapati adds about 165. It also brings a serious amount of fibre, which almost nothing else on the menu does. (Curry calorie breakdown.)

10. Three slices of a 12 inch thin and crispy margherita

Per order: 578 kcal · about 26g protein

Thin and crispy is about 240 kcal per 100g against 266 for classic crust, and a whole 12 inch thin pizza is about 1,540. Three of its eight slices is a proper dinner. Order a side salad rather than garlic bread. (Pizza calorie breakdown.)

11. Chicken shish in pitta, salad and chilli

Per order: 587 kcal · 70g protein

The proper kebab, in bread. Against a small doner with garlic sauce at 803, it saves 216 kcal and more than doubles the protein. The garlic sauce is the thing to leave off, at 141 kcal for a normal squeeze. (Kebab calorie breakdown.)

12. Small doner, half a pitta, sauce on the side

Per order: 616 kcal · about 29g protein

For the nights it has to be doner. Small doner meat, half the pitta, a heavy pile of salad and chilli, and the mayo-based garlic sauce on the side with a third of it used. It is 187 kcal lighter than the standard order. (Kebab calorie breakdown.)

13. Gyro with tzatziki

Per order: 673 kcal · about 31g protein

The Greek diner version of the doner: shaved meat in a thick pita with tzatziki, tomato and onion. It usually lands lighter than a British doner because tzatziki is yogurt-based, about a quarter of the calories of a mayonnaise garlic sauce. (Kebab calorie breakdown.)

14. Chicken jalfrezi with plain boiled rice

Per order: 700 kcal · about 40g protein

A 400g jalfrezi at about 440 kcal with 200g of plain boiled rice at 260, and no naan. The same evening with a korma, pilau rice, a garlic naan and poppadoms is about 2,045. The sides decide the order more than the curry. (Curry calorie breakdown.)

What makes the difference

Four rules account for almost every gap on this page.

Change the side before the main

A 350g tub of pilau rice is about 525 kcal and a garlic naan about 580. Takeaway chips are about 720 for a regular portion. In most takeaways, the side is as big as the main or bigger, and it gets ordered without thinking.

Choose grilled whole meat over pressed or battered

Chicken shish is about 165 kcal per 100g. Doner meat is about 270. Battered fish is mostly batter and oil by calories. Whole pieces of meat on a grill are the light end of every menu.

Put the sauce on the side

Mayonnaise-based sauces are around 470 to 680 kcal per 100g. A heavy pour on a kebab or burger is 200 kcal or more, which is often more than the bread. Chilli sauce, salsa and tzatziki are the light alternatives. The mayonnaise breakdown has the full sauce table.

Drink water

A 500ml cola is 210 kcal. In a meal deal it is the largest single item that nobody deliberates over.

The orders to recognise

These are the default versions of the same takeaways. None of them are off limits. They are worth recognising for what they are.

For scale, a 2018 BMJ study of UK chain restaurants found main meals averaged 977 kcal before sides or drinks. Every order in the list above sits under that, most of them well under.

How to use this list

Pick the two or three orders from your usual takeaways and remember them. The point is not to eat the lightest thing every time. It is to know which order is the 600 kcal version of your favourite place, so that a takeaway night can be a choice rather than a write-off.

If you want the protein to do more of the work, the sashimi, both shish orders and the California roll dinner carry the most protein per calorie. If you want the lightest possible order, items 1 to 5 are all under 450 kcal.

Pairs well with: high-protein snacks under 250 calories, high-protein dinners in 30 minutes, and portion sizes without a scale.