how much protein in chicken wrap

How Much Protein is in a Chicken Wrap?

Chicken wraps have become a popular lunch and dinner choice for many people looking for a convenient portable meal. Wraps are an easy way to get protein from chicken along with veggies cheese, sauces, and other fillings all wrapped up in a tortilla. But exactly how much protein is in a typical chicken wrap? Let’s take a closer look.

What is a Chicken Wrap?

A chicken wrap is basically a burrito or soft taco that encloses fillings in a tortilla or flatbread. The main fillings are usually chicken cheese, lettuce tomatoes, and a sauce or dressing. The chicken can be grilled, fried, or served cold after being roasted or rotisserie cooked. Shredded rotisserie chicken breast is a popular choice. Other variations include buffalo chicken with spicy buffalo sauce and ranch dressing. The wrap provides an easy way to combine protein, vegetables, and flavorful sauces into a handy hand-held meal.

Typical Chicken Wrap Nutrition Facts

How healthy a chicken wrap is depends a lot on the ingredients used, the size of the serving, and where you buy it. The following are the basic nutrition facts for a chicken Caesar wrap from a well-known restaurant chain:

• Calories: 810
• Total Fat: 40g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Cholesterol: 125mg
• Sodium: 1660mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 69g
• Dietary Fiber: 4g
• Sugars: 5g
• Protein: 44g

There are 44g of protein in each serving, as you can see. This provides 88% of the recommended daily value.

Factors Affecting Protein in Chicken Wraps

Several factors impact the protein content in a chicken wrap, including:

• Type of chicken: Dark meat chicken has slightly more protein than white breast meat. Fried or breaded chicken tends to have a bit less protein due to the added coating.

• How much chicken is in the wrap: More chicken means more protein. An overload veggies and sauce will lower the protein percentage.

• Tortilla size: Large 12-inch tortillas will have more room for chicken than smaller 8-inch wraps. Look for “gourmet” or “grande” sized tortillas.

• Different kinds of tortillas: corn tortillas have less protein than flour tortillas. Whole wheat tortillas offer slightly more protein than white flour.

• Added ingredients: Cheese, beans, hummus, nuts, and Greek yogurt will boost the protein. Stick to leaner ingredients like grilled veggies rather than fried or breaded add-ins.

• Restaurant vs homemade: Restaurant portions tend to be larger with more protein than homemade wraps using smaller tortillas and fillings.

• Cooking method: Grilled and roasted chicken retains the most protein. Fried chicken may lose a bit during cooking, but the difference is fairly small.

As you can see, the specific combination of ingredients can cause quite a bit of variance in protein from one wrap to another.

How Much Protein Should You Eat Each Day?

To determine if a chicken wrap provides a good amount of your daily protein needs, it helps to look at the recommended dietary intakes. These are:

• Women: 46g protein per day
• Men: 56g protein per day

Athletes, bodybuilders, and highly active people need about 25-30% more protein daily. People over age 65 also require higher intake to help preserve muscle mass.

As an example, here are some average amounts of protein in different chicken wraps:

• Roast chicken wrap (8” flour tortilla): 28-35g protein
• Grilled chicken wrap (10” flour tortilla): 35-40g protein
• Fried chicken wrap (12” flour tortilla): 40-50g protein
• Buffalo chicken wrap (8” whole wheat tortilla): 25-30g protein

Based on these figures, a large chicken wrap can provide around 50-90% of your total recommended daily protein intake. By also eating other protein-rich foods like Greek yogurt, eggs, fish, legumes, protein powder or milk, you can easily meet and exceed your needs each day.

If you require extra protein, consider ordering a double chicken wrap or adding extra meat. You can also boost the protein by requesting cheese, beans, hummus, nut butter, guacamole or other high protein items. Making your own custom wraps allows you to control the portions and ingredients to maximize the protein density.

What About Chicken Wrap Calories and Carbs?

With protein intake covered, it’s also important to look at the calories and carbohydrates in a typical chicken wrap. Large tortillas and high calorie ingredients like cheese and dressings can cause the numbers to climb quickly.

As a rough estimate, many standard sized chicken wraps provide around 600-800 calories and 50-70g of carbs. That’s about 1/3 of your daily calories and carbs in just one meal. To keep things more balanced, consider ordering a half wrap or small wrap when available. You can also skip sugary dressings and opt for lower carb fillings like lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Grilled chicken tends to be lower in calories than crispy fried versions. Going lighter on sauces will also provide calorie savings.

How to Get More Protein Throughout Your Day

To help you meet your optimal daily protein goals, focus on incorporating high protein options into your regular daily meals and snacks. Here are some easy ways to add more protein to your diet:

• Breakfast: Greek yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese, protein pancakes
• Lunch: Tuna, chicken, or egg salad. Beans or lentils.
• Dinner: Lean beef, chicken, fish, pork or plant-based meat substitutes.
• Snacks: Protein bars, shakes, jerky, roasted chickpeas or edamame.
• Dessert: Protein mug cakes, Greek yogurt ice cream, ricotta cheese with berries.

Protein is an important nutrient that helps build muscle, repair tissues, fight infection, and keep you feeling full. Getting enough protein daily provides a wide range of health benefits. Chicken wraps make for a tasty, convenient protein source any time of day. By picking your ingredients wisely and paying attention to portions, you can easily meet your needs. So go ahead and enjoy a satisfying chicken wrap!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION