5 Scary High-Calorie Menu Items

Like many of you, I check the nutrition facts on menus when I’m out to eat. Every so often I come across such high calorie menu items that it makes me shake in my boots! Check out these 5 top pick plus see which restaurant wins our scariest calorie award!
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Photo by: Brand X Pictures

Brand X Pictures

Like many of you, I check the nutrition facts on menus when I’m out to eat. Every so often I come across such high-calorie menu items that it makes me shake in my boots! Check out these 5 menu items with frighteningly high calorie counts plus see which restaurant wins our scariest calorie award.

#1: IHop: Country Fried Steak & Eggs with Sausage Gravy

Nutrition Info: 1650 calories; 45 grams total fat; 14 grams saturated fat

This breakfast combo includes 8 ounces of fried beef steak smothered in sausage gravy, two eggs, hash browns and two buttermilk pancakes. Order this and you'll eat almost all your recommended daily calories before your day has begun. I love steak and eggs, but there’s a healthier way to serve them up.

#2: California Pizza Kitchen: Pesto Cream Penne with Chicken and Shrimp

Nutrition Info: 1620 calories; 105 grams total fat; 58 grams saturated fat

This dish has chicken, shrimp and pasta drenched in freshly made basil pesto cream sauce. Although the freshly made cream sauce sounds appetizing, drowning food in cream sauces racks up the calories and hides the flavor of all the other foods.

#3: Cinnabon: Caramel Pecanbon, 6 pack

Nutrition Info: 6480 calories, 303 grams total fat; 121 grams saturated fat

Although it’s a 6 pack, some folks will buy the entire package and share it or slowly snack on it themselves over several days. Snacking on ONE of these Pecanbons will set you back 1080 calories—over half your daily recommended total. The multi-pack just makes it easier to indulge in more than one.

#4: Cold Stone Creamery: PB&C Shake

Nutrition Info: 1750 calories; 118 grams total fat; 64 grams saturated fat

The PB&C shake is made from chocolate ice cream, milk and peanut butter. The largest size has an absurd amount of calories and will have you slurping close to your daily recommended amount in one fell swoop.

#5: Hurricane Grill & Wings: Obscenely Loaded Fries

Nutrition Info: 1370 calories (no other nutrition information provided)

These French fries are topped with chopped bacon, shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, jalapenos and buttermilk ranch dressing. Listed as a starter, it has more calories than many of the main dishes (which are also pretty hefty in calories).

Super Scary Award: Cheesecake Factory

After dining several times as Cheesecake Factory, I was floored by the calories in many of the dishes on their menu. A good handful of dishes were over 1,000 calories—with some being closer to 1,800. So why the super scary award? If you head to the Cheesecake Factory’s website, no nutrition information is currently found and a disclaimer can be found in their FAQ’s telling customers that they use the freshest and finest ingredients to maintain quality. It’s nice to hear that they use high-quality ingredients, but presented in huge portions any food can rack up the calories. The restaurants do provide the calories on the restaurant-only menu—which isn’t very useful if someone is trying to pre-plan their day. So please Cheesecake Factory, post your nutrition facts online so folks who are trying to keep to their healthy eating plan can properly plan. It’s a bit scary that this isn’t currently done.

TELL US: Which high calorie menu items scare you?

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