Roasted Wings with Blue Cheese Yogurt
Nachos with Chicken & Black Beans
Uno Chicago Grill’s Buffalo Wings
1,340 calories
108 g fat (25 g saturated)
3,530 mg sodium
Price: $9.99
Surprisingly, wings are often one of the best apps on any chain menu—they’re comprised primarily of protein, and while they’ve usually taken a dip in hot oil, their slight stature minimizes the deep-fried damage. Not so surprising? Uno Chicago’s version is the worst we’ve seen. The chain has a propensity for greasy grub, so we’re guessing the colossal calorie count of this chicken plate comes from an unnecessarily oily buffalo sauce. Either way, a few (unbreaded) wings are usually a safe bet at your favorite chain, and an even smarter choice at home, where you can roast them in the oven or crisp them up on the grill.
Eat This Instead!
Roasted Wings with Blue Cheese Yogurt (Check out our recipe!)
300 calories
23 g fat (7 g saturated)
540 mg sodium
Cost per serving: $1.31
Save! 1,040 calories and $8.68!
WORST DIP
Applebee’s Spinach and Artichoke Dip
1,570 calories
105 g fat (27 g saturated, 1 g trans)
2,720 mg sodium
Price: $7.99
Spinach: excellent. Artichoke: fantastic. Any restaurant dip combining the two: nutritional mayhem. To be fair, most chip dips are inherently corrupt. More often than not, their creamy texture depends on high-fat ingredients like cheese, sour cream, and mayo, and their semi-liquid state makes it easy to scoop up half a day’s calories without even realizing it. Add that to the fact that most chain dips are accompanied by a heap of deep-fried tortilla chips (we’re looking at you, Applebee’s), and it’s no surprise that this healthy-sounding starter will finish off your diet in one fell scoop.
Eat This Instead!
Spinach-Artichoke Dip (Check out our recipe!)
270 calories
10 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
520 mg sodium
Cost per serving: $2.07
Save! 1,300 calories and $5.92!
Ruby Tuesday’s Baja Chicken Quesadilla
1,604 calories
104 g fat (N/A g saturated)
4,744 mg sodium
Price: $7.99
Quesadillas rival nachos as the most treacherous Mexican-inspired offerings on America’s big-chain menus. Prodigious portions and greasy tortillas certainly don’t help matters, but the real perpetrator of the quesadilla’s undoing is the cheese. It takes a ton of queso to glue together otherwise-healthy fillers like veggies and lean meat, which results in disasters like this Tuesday’s offering, which derives nearly 60 percent of its calories from fat.
Eat This Instead!
Crispy Quesadillas (Check out our recipe!)
310 calories
16 g fat (5 g saturated)
730 mg sodium
Cost per serving: $3.11
Save! 1,294 calories and $6.88!
Cheesecake Factory’s Nachos with Spicy Chicken
1,930 calories
N/A g fat (61 g saturated)
2,944 mg sodium
Price: $11.95
Truth be told, we’ve never come across a plate of restaurant nachos worth the caloric investment, and this Factory option is the worst in the land. We get that this plate is meant for sharing, but even if you split it with three friends, you’re still taking in a meal’s worth of calories before your entrée hits the table. The bottom line: An appetizer should stimulate your appetite, not suffocate it with enough cheese and sour scream to feed a small Mexican village.
Eat This Instead!
Nachos with Chicken and Black Beans (Check out our recipe!)
330 calories
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
500 mg sodium
Cost per serving: $2.65
Save! 1,600 calories and $9.30!
WORST FRIES
Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries with Chili and Ranch
2,150 calories
144 g fat (62 g saturated)
6,080 mg sodium
Price: $8.29
Everything is bigger in Texas, they like to say, including calorie counts and fat content. Essentially a plate of nachos that replaces chips with fries, this appetizer is far and away the most offensive on the Chili’s menu, and one of the worst in the country. It dishes out the caloric equivalent of 22 of the chain’s deep-fried mozzarella sticks, and a sodium count that will give your blood-pressure reading the Lone-Star treatment to boot.
Eat This Instead!
Cheese Fries (Check out our recipe!)
300 calories
13 g fat (5 g saturated)
310 mg sodium
Cost per serving: $1.21
Save! 1,850 calories and $7.08!
You're lazy. But don't feel bad—we're lazy too. And the more we embrace our laziness, the better we're able to accommodate it. Many of the world's greatest innovations came from the desire to make life easier.
That's where the hand blender (or immersion blender, if you prefer) comes in. It's an instrument of ease, an understated luxury of the kitchen. If you call it the lazy person's blender, then you understand its function. The typical cleaning process amounts to little more than running it under water and stuffing it back into a drawer. Traditional blenders are bulky and messy, but hand blenders are ergonomic and easy to clean. And that makes us lazy people happy.
But there's more. The hand blender does more than just clean up easily; it also makes healthy dishes easier to prepare. Like a traditional blender, the hand blender whirs fruit into smoothies, beans into dips, and ice into the slush of a frozen cocktail. But unlike a traditional blender, you can submerge it directly into almost any vessel—whether a bowl filled with the ingredients for a salad dressing or a hot stockpot loaded with bubbling vegetable soup. If you've tried pouring hot vegetables into a blender jar, then you understand the challenge: The jar becomes painfully hot, and you have to work in several batches to blend the entire soup. Consider the hand blender your no-hassle remedy.
OUR PICK:
CUISINART SMART STICK HAND BLENDER
$34.95, Cuisinart.com
Some immersion blenders cost more than $100, but the extra cash goes toward odd-shaped blades and whisks that you'll never use. With a 200-watt motor and an easy-rinse detachable blade, Cuisinart's wand is the best value on the market.
Blender
SUPERPOWERS
For a hot-and-creamy soup, sauté carrots, onions, and celery in a bit of oil, then add your favorite vegetable (mushrooms, butternut squash, potatoes) and plenty of stock or water. Simmer until the vegetables are soft, then drop the blender into the pot and puree. Add salt, pepper, and whatever fresh herbs or spices you have on hand. Swirl in olive oil or yogurt for richer body before serving.
Combine a bunch of basil with 1 clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons pine nuts, ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, and ¼ cup olive oil. Blend until you have a smooth emerald-green sauce. Use for dressing pasta or salad, or as a dipping sauce for grilled chicken or fish.
A good hand blender can pulverize fruit into a creamy smoothie in a matter of seconds. Remember this ratio: 2 cups fruit (preferably frozen, which makes for a colder, creamier smoothie), ½ cup juice, and ½ cup Greek yogurt.
Roasted Wings
with Blue Cheese Yogurt
The deep fryer adds two very important things to chicken wings: crunch and calories. We will happily take the former, but not at the steep cost of the latter. Instead, we turn to a trick we first discovered from SeriousEats.com writer J. Kenji López-Alt, who found that the addition of baking powder and salt hours before cooking helps extract unwanted moisture from chicken skin, paving the way for a crispy oven-baked wing—the best of both worlds.
The global pantry holds the keys to opening new worlds of wing potential. Follow the same roasting technique for the wings, then toss them with any of the following combos just before serving:
• 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper, juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sriracha, juice of 1 lime
• ¼ cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon red curry powder, juice of 1 lime
You’ll Need:
2 lb chicken wings
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp Frank’s RedHot pepper sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
½ cup Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp crumbled blue cheese
How to Make It:
• Toss the wings with the baking powder and salt and spread out on a large baking sheet. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 2 hours, or up to 8 hours. (If pressed for time, this step can be skipped entirely.)
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roast the wings for about 35 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp.
• While the wings roast, combine the butter, hot sauce, and half of the lemon juice in a large sauté pan set over medium heat. Cook until the butter has fully melted and incorporated with the hot sauce to create a uniform sauce.
• In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, and remaining lemon juice. Stir in the blue cheese.
• Place the wings in a large bowl and pour the hot sauce over the top. Toss to thoroughly coat. Serve with the blue cheese yogurt.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Per Serving:
$1.31
300 calories
23 g fat (7 g saturated)
540 mg sodium
Nachos
with Chicken & Black Beans
We’ve never found a nacho worth recommending in the restaurant world. The sad truth is that the tortilla chips are rendered helpless vessels for thousands of calories of cheese, sour cream, and oily ground beef. And besides, who wants to dig through soggy nacho detritus in search of a chip crisp enough to bring from plate to mouth? This version ensures that every chip is evenly covered with protein-packed chicken and fiber-rich beans, plus enough salsa and lime-spiked sour cream to keep your mouth watering.
Nacho Architecture
The secret to a great nacho is balance. Put too much on and that little chip grows soggy and overburdened. Add too little and they're not really nachos, are they? To hit the sweet spot, spread a single layer of chips (the bigger, the better) on a baking sheet. Start with beans, followed by cheese, meats, and vegetables. Save all cold toppings (guac, salsa, etc.) for after the nachos emerge from the oven.
You’ll Need:
6 oz tortilla chips (round chips are preferable)*
1 can (16 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded chicken (preferably from a store-bought rotisserie chicken)
½ red onion, diced
Juice of 2 limes
½ cup light sour cream
Chopped cilantro
Salsa (either Pico de Gallo, or your favorite bottled salsa)
Thinly sliced jalapeños (optional)*
* We love pickled jalapeños, which have less bite than raw chiles. Soak jalapeños in white vinegar seasoned with salt and sugar for 30 minutes before serving.
* Want to boost fiber and lower the calorie content? Garden of Eatin' Black Bean are the best tortilla chips in America.
How to Make It:
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Arrange the chips in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spoon the beans evenly over the chips, then top with the cheese, chicken, and onion. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted and bubbling. Remove.
• Combine the lime juice, sour cream, and cilantro. Spoon over the nachos. Top with the salsa and jalapeños.
Makes 6 appetizer servings
Per Serving:
$2.65
330 calories
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
500 mg sodium
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
This classic dip is normally hijacked by a roguish team of full-fat mayo and cream cheese; somewhere, hidden within, lie token amounts of spinach and artichoke. Here, we turn that ratio on its head, plus use a flavorful olive oil-based mayo to cut calories and boost nutrition. Chiles bring some extra heat to the equation, while toasted wheat pitas work as super scoopers. Overall, this reimagined appetizer packs an amazing 14 grams of fiber.
Fresh spinach generally runs about $3 a bunch, and because spinach is made up of around 90 percent water, it cooks down to nothing as soon as it touches the pan. Frozen spinach not only costs less than half as much as fresh, but also, because it's precooked, yields significantly more actual spinach. Always keep a box in the freezer for this and other recipes that call for cooked spinach.
You’ll Need:
4 large whole-wheat pitas
½ Tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jar (12 oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
1 box (16 oz) chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1 can (4 oz) roasted green chiles, drained and chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil mayonnaise (made by both Kraft and Hellmann’s)
2 Tbsp whipped cream cheese*
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and black pepper to taste
* Whipped cream cheese has air beaten into it, making it lighter and easier to spread.
How to Make It:
• Cut the pitas into 6 to 8 wedges each and separate the layers. Spread on 2 baking sheets and bake at 400°F for 5 minutes or until crisp.
• Heat the butter in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the artichokes, spinach, chiles, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and lemon juice. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until hot. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the pita wedges.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$2.07
270 calories
10 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
520 mg sodium
Mexican Shrimp Cocktail
Mexican cuisine is all about the condiments and accoutrements, a philosophy exemplified in sophisticated and humble dishes alike. Take these crustaceans. Whereas Yankee shrimp cocktail consists simply of shrimp and sauce, Mexican palates demand más: cubes of creamy avocado, currents of hot sauce, bright notes of fresh herbs and citrus. It’s our favorite kind of move, one that boosts flavor and improves nutrition simultaneously.
You’ll Need:
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 small red onion, diced
1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup ketchup
Juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp Mexican hot sauce like Tapatío, Cholula, or Valentina
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste
12 oz (51 to 60 count) small cooked shrimp
Tortilla chips, crackers, or toasted corn tortillas for serving*
* Saltines are traditional with this dish, but we prefer Triscuits or tostadas. Make tostadas by baking corn tortillas in a 350˚F oven for 15 minutes.
How to Make It:
• Combine the cucumber, onion, avocado, cilantro, ketchup, lime juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire in a large mixing bowl. Stir and taste, adjusting the seasoning with salt, pepper, and more hot sauce if needed. Stir in the shrimp and let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.
• Serve in mason jars, drinking glasses, or wide-mouthed wine glasses (if you want to be a bit fancy) with crackers, chips, or tostadas. Garnish with extra cilantro and avocado if you like.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$2.84
250 calories
10 g fat (1 g saturated)
820 mg sodium
Cheese Fries
When we released our first list of the 20 Worst Foods in America back in 2007, Outback’s Aussie Cheese Fries occupied the top slot, packing an outrageous 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. While the steakhouse has managed to trim those numbers ever so slightly, the prospect of eating fried potatoes covered in cheese at a restaurant is as dangerous as ever. This easy home version keeps the calories low by baking the potatoes until crisp, applying just the right amount of cheese, and using a few hunks of crumbled bacon and a handful of pickled jalapeños to give the impression of decadence without the four-digit damage.
You’ll Need:
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼" fries*
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp smoked paprika (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
5 scallions, chopped
Pickled jalapeños or fresh jalapeños, thinly sliced
* The cut of the fry is critical. Slice off the lengths of the potato to create flat surfaces, then cut the potato into ¼-inch planks. Stack the planks and cut into ¼-inch fries.
How to Make It:
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, chili powder, smoked paprika (if using), and salt and pepper. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, until deep brown and crispy on the outside. Top with the cheese, bacon, and scallions, and return to the oven. Bake until the cheese is fully melted and beginning to brown. Garnish with pickled jalapeños.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$1.21
300 calories
13 g fat (5 g saturated)
310 mg sodium
7-Layer Dip
An emerging star in the American potluck scene circa 1985, the seven-story dip has proven to be a surprisingly enduring entertaining staple in the ensuing decades. Most versions pile one packaged good on top of another, resulting in a sludgy industrial stew that grows old after the first bite. This version lightens up matters with spicy ground turkey, fresh pico de gallo, and whole black beans, plus a spoonful of creamy Greek yogurt standing in for sour cream. You can serve this in one giant dish, but building separate layered servings in individual glasses makes for a dramatic presentation and allows for all the double-dipping one could want.
You’ll Need:
10 corn tortillas, cut into triangles
1 Tbsp canola oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp olive oil
8 oz ground turkey
1 tsp chili powder
⅛ tsp cayenne
Black pepper to taste
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp cumin
¼ cup Guacamole or store-bought guac
1 can (4 oz) diced roasted green chiles
½ cup Pico de Gallo or store-bought salsa
¼ cup 2% Greek yogurt
½ cup sliced or chopped black olives
How to Make It:
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Toss the tortillas with the canola oil and spread out across a baking sheet. (You may need two sheets to keep the chips from overlapping.) Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Season with salt once they come out of the oven.
• While the tortillas bake, heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the turkey and cook for about 5 minutes, until cooked through, seasoning with the chili powder, cayenne, and salt and pepper as it cooks.
• Combine the black beans with the lime juice, cumin, and salt and black pepper to taste.
• In a large ramekin or glass serving dish, build the dip: Spread the guacamole on the bottom, top with the black beans, then the turkey, chiles, pico de gallo, yogurt, and olives. Serve with the tortilla chips.
Makes 6 servings
Per Serving:
$1.38
280 calories
13 g fat (2 g saturated)
480 mg sodium
Stuffed Dates
Sometimes it’s truly astounding just how little effort it takes to make food taste great. This recipe, as much as any, proves that point. Sweet, salty, smoky, creamy—in a single bite, these tiny packages take you through the highest peaks of flavor country. Show up at a party or a potluck with these little gems and suddenly you—and your dates—will be inundated with invites to swanky soirees all across town.
STEP-BY-STEP: Stuffing dates
Stuffing dates isn't rocket science, as this recipe will teach you. Just be sure to wrap the bacon extra tight, and to only use just enough to cover the date once.
•STEP 1: Make a cut across the fruit; scoop out seed.
•STEP 2: Stuff with almond and a spoonful of cheese.
•STEP 3: Wrap very tightly with a single layer of bacon.
You’ll Need:
8 Medjool dates
8 almonds
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese*
4 strips bacon, cut in half widthwise
Black pepper to taste
* Some people are turned off by the funk of blue cheese, but it's nicely tempered here by the sweetness of the fruit and the smoke of the bacon. Still don't love it? Goat cheese and feta are good substitutes.
How to Make It:
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Using a sharp paring knife, make a slit along the length of a date so that the pocket in the fruit is exposed. Remove the small pit inside the date and replace with an almond. Spoon about ½ tablespoon of blue cheese into the pocket, so that it’s tightly stuffed but not overflowing with cheese. Place the date at the bottom of a bacon strip half and roll up as tightly as possible. Secure with a toothpick. Repeat with the remaining 7 dates.
• Place the dates on a nonstick baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, until the fat has rendered and the bacon is brown and crispy. Top each with a bit of black pepper and serve.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$1.76
220 calories
7 g fat (3 g saturated)
300 mg sodium
Crispy Quesadillas
with Guacamole
Next to nachos, quesadillas are the most perilous food to be found on a Mexican restaurant menu. Overstuffed with cheese and teeming with greasy toppings, quesadillas are all but guaranteed to pack quadruple-digit calories. Our quesadilla reverses the cheese-to-filling ratio, going long on the nutrient-dense vegetables and using just enough chorizo and cheese to make it feel like an indulgence.
Individually toasting the quesadillas in a cast-iron skillet yields the crispiest, tastiest results imaginable. But if you're making a round for the whole family and want to save time, try the broiler or even the grill (which adds delicious smoky notes to the quesadilla). Simply preheat either, assemble all of your quesadillas, and cook 6" under the broiler or directly on the grill grates for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until toasted on the outside and melted in the middle.
You’ll Need:
½ Tbsp canola oil
4 oz chorizo, casing removed
1 small red onion, sliced
4 oz white button mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
1 large poblano pepper, seeded, sliced into thin strips
Salt and black pepper to taste
1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 medium whole-wheat tortillas
How to Make It:
• Heat a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and chorizo; cook until browned, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat into smaller pieces. Remove from the pan and drain all but a thin film of the fat. Return to the heat and add the onion, mushrooms, and pepper; sauté, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are brown—5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
• Divide the cheese between 2 tortillas and top each with half of the vegetable mixture. Top with the remaining tortillas.
• Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray and cook each quesadilla individually, until the tortillas are brown and crispy and the cheese is fully melted. Cut into 4 or 6 wedges and serve with the guacamole.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$3.11
310 calories
16 g fat (5 g saturated)
730 mg sodium
Smoky Deviled Eggs
Have we mentioned our affinity for the egg? Beyond being a near-perfect nutritional substance (think: protein, healthy fat, and vital nutrients like lutein, which protects your eyes from degeneration), no other food is so versatile: It is capable of being fried, poached, baked, boiled, scrambled, and emulsified. And, of course, deviled. It might not be the healthiest way to eat an egg (that honor would go to boiling or poaching), but in terms of snacks and finger foods, it’s hard to beat this Southern specialty.
You’ll Need:
8 eggs
¼ cup olive oil mayonnaise
½ Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp canned chipotle pepper
Salt and black pepper to taste
Paprika (preferably the smoked Spanish-style paprika called pimenton)*
2 strips bacon, cooked and finely crumbled
* Spanish-style paprika adds more than just a visual pop; it brings a smoky note to the eggs that reinforces the smoke from the bacon and the chipotle.
How to Make It:
• Bring a pot or large saucepan of water to a full boil.
Carefully lower the eggs into the water and cook for 8 minutes. Drain and immediately place in a bowl of ice water. When the eggs have cooled, peel them while they’re still in the water (the water helps the shell slide off).
• Cut the eggs in half and scoop out the yolks. Combine the yolks with the mayo, mustard, chipotle pepper, and a good pinch each of salt and black pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly. Scoop the mixture into a sealable plastic bag, pushing it all the way into one corner. Cut a small hole in the corner. Squeeze to pipe the yolk mixture back into the whites. Top each with a sprinkle of paprika and a bit of crumbled bacon.
Makes 4 servings
Per Serving:
$0.70
220 calories
17 g fat (4 g saturated)
370 mg sodium