10 Restaurant Meals Get a Healthy Makeover

By , Alicia Capetillo, Staff Writer
One of the more difficult parts of sticking to a healthy eating plan is knowing that many old favorites and fast-food standbys can no longer be on the menu. Outrageous calorie counts, sodium levels that are through the roof and processed ingredients you can’t even pronounce put a lot of ooey, gooey, sugary and sweet foods on the no-no list. But you’re in luck, because with a few modifications and healthy substitutions, many favorite restaurant meals and sweet treats can easily find their way into your new meal plan.
 
Whether it’s a Chinese takeout favorite that you can’t live without or a seemingly healthy smoothie that really isn't, these 10 copycat recipes for some restaurant favorites cut the fat, but none of the flavor or fun. Indulge away!









Iced Coffee It will take more time to find and put on slippers to drive to your local café than it will to create this sweet, mildly chocolatey coffee drink. 





Sausage McMuffin with Egg Trim 26 grams of fat in your breakfast sandwich with this classic drive-thru re-do.





Chicken Tacos Skip the assembly line counter and the guac-is-extra guacamole and make these better-for-you spicy tacos at home instead. The homemade jalapeno-avocado based salsa will have your taste buds singing.


Sesame Chicken Erase two-thirds of the restaurant version’s calories and milligrams of sodium in this slimmed-down version of a Chinese takeout favorite.



Carolina Chicken Salad With more than 1,100 calories and a whopping 68 grams of fat, it’s hard to take the original restaurant salad seriously. This makeover offers the same citrusy flavor for a much more reasonable 205 calories and 9 grams of fat.

Southwestern Eggrolls Eliminate more than half the calories found in this popular appetizer by skipping the deep fryer. The new recipe packs in a colorful array of veggies, too.



Chicken Carbonara Date night just got more delicious with this healthy spin on an Italian favorite. With just 363 calories and 6 grams of fat per serving, this dish pulverizes the restaurant original, which clocks in with a whopping 1,570 calories and 113 grams of fat.

Lettuce Wraps Swapping the chicken in these restaurant favorite wraps for turkey is just one of the changes that will save you roughly 200 calories per serving.


Berry Smoothie Smoothies are guilty of masquerading as a health food, but most are packed with sugary juices or ice cream. Skip the fro-yo and use a frozen banana to create the same creamy texture right in your blender.


Frosty® Grab the kid’s size chocolate treat at the drive-thru and you’ll be tracking 200 empty calories, but make this version at home and you’ll indulge your sweet tooth for just 66 calories.