Subway’s Highest Protein Per Dollar Item

Subway Logo

Subway is the largest restaurant chain in America. Many of my friends who are anti-McDonald’s happen to be very pro-Subway, citing its healthy menu. What I’ve personally noticed is that those who eat Subway really, really love it. They would get one every few days.

Anyways, I am going to do another Protein Per Dollar analysis on Subway. Can their signature menu such as the Roasted Chicken or Tuna Club rival against McDonald’s? Let’s find out.

Prelude:
A. Because your sub is highly customizable, we are going to assume a couple of defaults: You only order footlong subs as they are the best value. You will add a cheese option for any sub you order (either Swiss/Chedder as they give the most protein). You will add all condiments. Who doesn’t like everything anyways?

B. I did some tests and found out that Subway’s nutritional information may be inaccurate. For example, the Steak and Cheese gives the footlong as over 100 grams of protein which is blatantly false.

C. All prices are based on local Ontario restaurant and nutritional information is from Subway Canada website.

5. Select 12″ Oven Roasted Chicken (7.29 g/$)

Subway Select Oven Roasted Chicken
Price: $7.00
Total Protein: 51 grams

This $7.00 sub takes claims 5th place with 51 grams of protein, 750 calories, 1900 mg of sodium, and 19 grams of fat. With just 19 grams of fat, this sub is definitely one of lowest fat/calorie options.

4. Signature 12″ Steak and Cheese Sub (7.43 g/$)

Subway Steak and Cheese
Price: $8.75
Total Protein: 65 grams

According to Subway’s Canada website, this footlong sub has a colossal 65 grams of protein, 1800 calories, 4800 mg of sodium, 54 grams of fat. That is so unbelievable that I am inclined to believe Subway Canada made a mistake of doubling it’s nutritional information. Thus, I am assuming it’s 6″ statistic is the actual footlong statistic, giving it fourth place. However, with 7.14% protein, it takes first place for being the highest protein to calorie ratio.

3. Classic 12″ Cold Cut Combo (7.64 g/$)

Subway Classic Cold Cut Combo
Price: $5.50
Total Protein: 42 grams

This $5.50 sub takes claims bronze with 42 grams of protein, 1000 calories, 2550 mg of sodium, and 51 grams of fat.

2. Classic 12″ Egg Salad (7.82 g/$)

Subway Classic Egg Salad
Price: $5.50
Total Protein: 43 grams

This $5.50 sub takes claims silver with 43 grams of protein, 960 calories, 1790 mg of sodium, and 45 grams of fat

1. Classic 12″ Meatball Marinara (9.27 g/$)

Subway Classic Meatball Marinara
Price: $5.50
Total Protein: 51 grams

The meatball Marinara takes Gold with 51 grams of protein, 1080 calories, 2390 mg of sodium, and 46 grams of fat. This sub is also the heaviest per dollar (127 grams/$) and most calorie dense per dollar (200 cal/$) so you are also getting the maximum worth for the price. In fact, if you add 2 dressings, which most people do, such as Chipotle Southwest and Honey Mustard, it balloons to 139 g/$ and 243 cal/$!

Honorable Mention: Healthiest Item- Oven Roasted Chicken Salad (12.5% protein; 120 cal)

Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Salad
If you ordered this without any salad dressing, it would be amazingly healthy. At 12.5% protein, it rivals many home cooked meals!

The following is the complete list for those who want to know the protein per dollar for the rest of the menu:

Sandwiches:

Name
Price
Protein
Protein / $
Weight (g)
Weight / $
Calories (cal)
Calories / $
Protein / Cal
Classic 12" Meatball Marinara$5.50519.27700127.271100200.004.64%
Classic 12" Egg Salad$5.50437.82606110.18960174.554.48%
Classic 12" Cold Cut Combo$5.50427.64564102.551000181.824.20%
Signature 12" Steak & Cheese$8.75657.4358366.63910104.007.14%
Select 12" Oven Roasted Chicken (6 g fat)$7.00517.2955078.57750107.146.80%
Classic 12" Ham (6 g fat)$5.50397.0953597.27700127.275.57%
Select 12" Tuna$7.00497.0057081.431090155.714.50%
Classic 12" B.L.T$5.50386.9145883.27750136.365.07%
Select 12" Spicy Italian$7.00486.8654077.141090155.714.40%
Classic 12" Pizza Sub with Cheese$5.50376.7352395.09920167.274.02%
Select 12" Italian BMT$7.00466.5755078.57950135.714.84%
Signature 12" Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt$8.75576.5159067.431020116.575.59%
Signature 12" Chicken Pizziola Melt with Cheese$8.75566.4061670.40900102.866.22%
Select 12" Turkey Breast (6 g fat)$7.00426.0053576.43700100.006.00%
Select 12" Roast Beef (6 g fat)$7.00426.0053576.43710101.435.92%
Signature 12" Sweet Onion & Chicken Teriyaki (6 g fat)$8.75525.9460469.0383094.866.27%
Select 12" Turkey Breast & Ham (6 g fat)$7.00415.8653576.43700100.005.86%
Signature 12" Subway Melt$8.75475.3756664.6978089.146.03%
12" Turkey Breast & Ham with Avocado & Spinach$8.50455.2962473.4184098.825.36%
Signature 12" Subway Club (6 g fat)$8.75465.2656464.4673083.436.30%
12" Subway Club with Avocado*$10.25484.6854653.2774072.206.49%

Salads:

Name
Price
Protein
Protein / $
Weight (g)
Weight / $
Calories (cal)
Calories / $
Protein / Cal
Signature Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt Salad$7.45222.9539953.5643057.725.12%
Classic Meatball Marinara Salad$5.25152.8640977.9031059.054.84%
Signature Steak & Cheese Salad$7.45202.6835247.2520026.8510.00%
Select Oven Roasted Chicken Salad$6.00152.5033455.6712020.0012.50%
Select Tuna Salad$6.00152.5034457.3331051.674.84%
Signature Subway Melt Salad$7.45182.4237049.6620026.859.00%
Select Spicy Italian Salad$6.00142.3332954.8330050.004.67%
Select Italian B.M.T. Salad$6.00132.1733455.6723038.335.65%
Signature Sweet Onion & Chicken Teriyaki Salad$7.45162.1539252.6222029.537.27%
Classic Cold Cut Combo Salad$5.25112.1034164.9526049.524.23%
Select Turkey Breast & Ham Salad$6.00122.0033656.0012020.0010.00%
Classic Ham Salad$5.25101.9032762.2911020.959.09%
Select Roast Beef Salad$6.00111.8332754.5011018.3310.00%
Select Turkey Breast Salad$6.00111.8332754.5011018.3310.00%
Signature Subway Club Salad$7.45131.7434145.7712016.1110.83%
Classic B.L.T Salad$5.2591.7128854.8613024.766.92%

Menu Prices:

Subway Menu
Subway Menu

2 thoughts on “Subway’s Highest Protein Per Dollar Item”

  1. Are you insane? Do you see the sodium content of those sandwiches – 4800 mgm, 2550 mgm, 2390 mgm. To avoid high blood pressure and not have to take any blood pressure medicine, I keep my sodium at 1500 – 1600 mg a day. Normal people can eat between 2,000 and 2400. Who cares how much protein they’re getting? They’re going to have a stroke from high blood pressure and kill themselves from the sodium! Very irresponsible to focus on one item, like protein, and ignore the extreme health problem of excess sodium.

    1. That’s fair…

      However my post is sort of just saying, “hey if you have to eat a high protein meal at subway, you might as well get this for the best value for your dollar.”

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