I first wrote this guide in 2010 (!), and Subway’s menu has changed a lot since then. I’ve updated it with Subway’s current nutrition information. This time, I also dug into their ingredient lists, which changed a few of my picks.

Subway is one of my preferred stops when I’m on the road and need something fast. It’s so customizable, and it has more fresh options than most places. (Plus, it still pretty much completes the impossible triangle: Good, Fast, and relatively Cheap.)

However, Subway is not without its pitfalls. Although they have plenty of healthful options, they also have quite a few sandwiches that’ll set you back half a day’s calories (and an entire day’s worth of sodium). If you’re not careful on some of your choices, it’s easy to double the calories and sodium in your sandwich… without adding any extra nutrition (or all that much flavor).

Also, don’t fall for the “Health Halo.” Just because it’s Subway doesn’t mean it’s healthy. (The Protein Bowls are a perfect example. More on those below.)

The short version: what to order

The most healthful things at Subway are the Veggie Patty and the Veggie Delite, as a 6″ on Hearty Multigrain with all the veggies, and red wine vinegar instead of sauce. If you want meat, go with the rotisserie-style chicken or the tuna, built the same way. They’re the least processed meats on the menu. Skip the Protein Bowls, the Italian subs, and the limited-time specials.

How you build it matters as much as what you order

Subway is a build-your-own restaurant, so the same sandwich can be a pretty good lunch or a sodium bomb, depending on how you build it.

Take the 6″ Grilled Chicken. Order it the standard way, and it’s 510 calories and 830mg of sodium. Get it on Hearty Multigrain bread with all the veggies, and skip the cheese and sauce, and it drops to 300 calories and 570mg of sodium. (Subway calls this a “Fresh Fit” build.) Same sandwich, a lot less sodium.

That said, building it well can only do so much. Some of the meats are loaded with sodium (and über-processed) no matter what you put around them. So it really comes down to both: what you order, and how you build it.

Tips for a healthier order

Get a 6″ sandwich (or a salad!). A footlong is just two 6″ subs, so double everything. Even a footlong Veggie Delite is 620 calories, and most footlongs run 2,000-4,000mg of sodium. That’s a whole day’s worth, or more.

Build it “Fresh Fit” style. Hearty Multigrain bread, all the veggies, no cheese, no sauce (or just oil and vinegar). Subway’s numbers for these builds are listed below. Note that Subway’s named Fresh Fit sandwiches are a different story: some of them are surprisingly high in sodium.

Skip the soda (and get a free cup of water). Unsweetened iced tea is fine, too.

Skip the chips and cookies. Get the applesauce instead. It’s just apples and lemon juice. (One cookie has up to 19g of added sugar, which is more than a third of your day’s limit.)

Watch the sauce, or you’ll add hundreds of calories without even realizing it. Oil and vinegar is the best choice. And here’s a surprise: yellow mustard has more sodium than mayo (170mg vs. 65mg).

Load up the veggies. They’re low-cal and nutritious. If you’re watching sodium, though, consider skipping the pickles (160mg in 3 chips) and jalapeños (70mg in 3 rings).

Get spinach, not just iceberg. You get a similar crunch (and a better taste, in my opinion), and some bonus nutrients. (Spinach is one of the healthiest leafy greens, and iceberg is one of the least.)

Add sliced avocado. It’s real food, and it makes any sandwich more satisfying (especially a Veggie Delite). Get sliced, not smashed: sliced is just avocado; smashed has added salt (130mg).

What I order now

Before I get to the best/worst details, here’s my sandwich of choice. It’s delicious, with lots of great texture, crunch, and a bit of heat.

✅ 6″ Veggie Patty on Hearty Multigrain with spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, red onions, jalapeños, sliced avocado, red wine vinegar, and oregano.
About 420 cal · 2g sat fat · 745mg sodium · 13g fiber · 17g protein

(That’s my tally from Subway’s ingredient numbers. Skip the jalapeños and it’s about 675mg sodium.)

I used to get the Veggie Delite with cheese (cheese = my kryptonite). But the veggie patty makes this a much more substantial meal than a few slices of cheese ever did (13g of fiber!), and I don’t even miss the cheese.

You’ll notice there’s no meat in my order. I avoid factory-farmed meat pretty much everywhere I eat, and that rules it out at any fast food place with hundreds of locations. (Here’s more on how I think about meat and eggs.)

The other reason I’ve switched? I was surprised at how relatively good the veggie patty’s ingredient list is. Let’s take a look…

What’s actually in it?

Back in 2010, I started October Unprocessed, a month-long challenge to eat only unprocessed food, using the Kitchen Test to decide what counts. These days there’s a name for the most heavily processed stuff: ultra-processed food. And let’s be realistic: almost everything at a fast-food chain is processed to some degree. So the goal here isn’t perfection — it’s finding the least processed options on the menu.

For this update, I went through Subway’s ingredient guide, and some of what I found changed my picks. Here are the highlights. (The full ingredient guide has the rest of the menu.)

In this section, ✅ marks the best-of-the-best, ❌ marks the worst-of-the-worst, and ingredients highlighted in red are the most processed ones.

Proteins

Veggie Patty ✅

• Carrots, onions, green beans, oat bran, expeller pressed canola oil, zucchini, soybeans, peas, broccoli, corn, soy flour, spinach, red bell peppers, arrowroot powder, garlic, corn starch, corn meal, salt, methyl cellulose, parsley, black pepper

That’s mostly… vegetables! It’s not perfect, since strictly speaking it doesn’t all pass the Kitchen Test, but for a large chain restaurant, that’s about as good as it gets.

Grilled Chicken vs. Rotisserie-Style Chicken

If you want chicken, here’s the trade-off:

• Grilled Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breast with rib meat, water, contains 2% or less soy protein concentrate, modified potato starch, sodium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, maltodextrin, yeast extract, flavors, natural flavors, dextrose, caramelized sugar, paprika, vinegar solids, paprika extract, chicken broth
• Rotisserie-Style Chicken: Chicken, water, contains 2% or less of: salt, soybean oil, dextrose, seasoning (flavoring, acacia gum, onion powder), sodium phosphate, spice extractives. Seared in soybean oil and/or sunflower oil.

The grilled chicken has less sodium (210mg vs. 400mg per 6″), but it’s a lot more processed. That’s a long list of additives for a piece of chicken. The rotisserie-style chicken is the better choice.

Tuna

• Flaked tuna in brine (tuna, water, salt), mayonnaise (soybean oil, eggs, water, distilled vinegar, contains less than 2% of salt, sugar, spice, lemon juice concentrate, calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor)

Just one preservative! That makes the tuna the least processed meat on the menu. The catch is that it’s mostly mayo, so it’s high in fat: 23g in a 6″ portion.

Oven-Roasted Turkey

• Turkey breast, turkey broth. Contains 2% or less of vinegar, salt, dextrose, sodium phosphates, cultured dextrose, turkey flavor (contains polysorbate 60, mono & diglycerides, xanthan gum), corn maltodextrin, natural flavor

Turkey breast… with added “turkey flavor.” 😬

Roast Beef

• Beef, contains up to 10% of a solution: water, 2% or less of salt, dextrose, corn syrup solids, sodium phosphates, natural flavors, vinegar, cultured dextrose. Coated with: potato maltodextrin, cooked sugar, natural flavors, salt, sugar

Not the worst on the menu, but a lot more than just beef.

Shaved Steak

• Beef, water, contains less than 2% of salt, modified corn starch, dextrose, sodium phosphate, autolyzed yeast, dried tomato, flavoring, caramelized sugar, maltodextrin (corn, potato), citric acid, cultured sugar, natural beef type flavor (natural flavor, autolyzed yeast, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate), hydrolyzed corn protein, silicon dioxide, sodium hydroxide, soybean oil

One of the most processed proteins on the menu.

Cold Cut Combo ❌
Three different meats, each with its own ingredient list:

• Turkey bologna: Mechanically separated turkey, water, contains less than 2% of: salt, corn syrup solids, potassium lactate, dextrose, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, flavorings
• Cooked turkey salami (smoke flavor added): Dark turkey, mechanically separated turkey, water, salt, contains less than 2% of: potassium lactate, sugar, sodium tripolyphosphate, dextrose, spice and flavorings, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, smoke flavor, sodium nitrite
• Turkey ham (cured turkey thigh meat, chopped and formed, smoke flavor added with 7% water added): Cured turkey thigh meat, salt, contains less than 2% of: potassium lactate, brown sugar, sodium tripolyphosphate, dextrose, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, smoke flavor, sodium nitrite, water

A processed trifecta.

Cured meats ❌
Subway’s allergen guide has a column for “Added Nitrites/Nitrates,” which makes it easy to spot the cured meats: bacon, ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, pastrami, and the Cold Cut Combo (plus anything made with them, like the Spicy Italian). Which means… there’s no good pork option at Subway. Sorry!

Bread and wraps

Hearty Multigrain Bread

• Enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, whole wheat flour, yeast, wheat gluten, sugar, contains 2% or less of: rye sourdough (water, fermented rye flour), salt, soybean oil, brown sugar, whole oat groats, sunflower seeds, millet seed, flax seeds, dried molasses with wheat starch, cracked wheat, mono- and diglycerides, ascorbic acid, enzymes

It’s still the best bread at Subway (it has the most fiber and the least sodium), and it has oats, flax, sunflower seeds, and millet in it. But notice that the first ingredient is enriched (white) flour. So “multigrain” here means mostly white bread with some other grains mixed in. (Good news for those of you who commented on the old 9-grain bread: there’s no high-fructose corn syrup in this one. 🎉)

The Protein Pocket wrap ❌

• Tortilla flour (enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], malted barley flour, water, tortilla base (salt, mono- and diglycerides, sodium bicarbonate, enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], fumaric acid, sodium aluminum phosphate, calcium propionate [a preservative], sodium aluminum sulphate, potassium sorbate [a preservative], contains less than 2% of soybean oil, monocalcium phosphate, sodium metabisulfite [a preservative], enzymes [contains wheat], soy oil, calcium propionate [to preserve], gum blend (gums [guar, carboxymethylcellulose {CMC}, acacia], standardized with dextrose).

Yikes. Skip the Protein Pockets and order something better.

Cheese

Provolone ✅

• Cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes

Real cheese: just milk, salt, and enzymes.

Monterey Cheddar (shredded)

• Monterey Jack cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes), cheddar cheese (cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color), anti-caking blend (potato starch, tapioca starch), natamycin (a natural mold inhibitor)

Also real cheese, plus some starch to keep the shreds from clumping, and a mold inhibitor.

Parmesan (grated)

• Parmesan cheese (cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt, enzymes), powdered cellulose (added to prevent caking), salt, potassium sorbate (preservative)

Not ideal, but I guess it’s just a sprinkle (5 calories’ worth).

American ❌

• Milk, water, cream, sodium citrate, salt, cheese culture, sorbic acid (preservative), citric acid, enzymes, soy lecithin

Processed cheese.

Pepperjack ❌

• Milk, cream, water, sodium citrate, salt, jalapeno peppers, cheese culture, sorbic acid (preservative), jalapeno peppers*, enzymes, red bell peppers*, citric acid, soy lecithin, vinegar, natural flavor. *Dried

Surprise! This is processed cheese, too. It’s basically American cheese with peppers.

If you get cheese, provolone or the shredded Monterey Cheddar are the real-cheese options. Skip the American and the pepperjack.

The best and worst choices

In the lists below, ✅ marks the best-of-the-best, ❌ marks the worst-of-the-worst, and numbers highlighted in red are red flags (more than about a third of a day’s sodium, saturated fat, or added sugar).

Fresh Fit sandwiches

Subway’s “Fresh Fit” menu sounds like the healthy section, and the calories are reasonable. But Subway doesn’t list sodium for these four sandwiches in its full nutrition information. So I estimated it by adding up Subway’s numbers for each ingredient. (The calories and protein in my count match Subway’s numbers, so these should be close. But they’re my estimates, not Subway’s.)

Grilled Chicken & Avocado
450 cal · 35g protein · 6g fiber · about 800mg sodium (estimated)
The best of the four on the numbers, but it’s made with the more processed grilled chicken.

Seasoned Steak & Avocado ❌
430 cal · 35g protein · 6g fiber · about 1,000mg sodium (estimated)
Heavily processed steak, and lots of sodium.

Ham & Turkey Stacker ❌
290 cal · 20g protein · 4g fiber · about 1,000mg sodium (estimated)
Low in calories, but cured ham, and the yellow mustard adds 170mg of sodium.

Turkey & Ranch Delite ❌
380 cal · 26g protein · 5g fiber · about 1,100mg sodium (estimated)
Extra turkey plus the ranch sauce add up fast.

6″ sandwiches – best choices

All of these are “Fresh Fit” builds: Hearty Multigrain bread, all the veggies, no cheese, no sauce.

Veggie Patty ✅
390 cal · 2g sat fat · 680mg sodium · 12g fiber · 16g protein

Veggie Delite ✅
220 cal · 1g sat fat · 360mg sodium · 4g fiber · 10g protein
Light, but plenty for a lot of people. Add sliced avocado for more staying power (about 265 cal and 6g fiber).

Rotisserie-Style Chicken
310 cal · 2g sat fat · 750mg sodium · 4g fiber · 24g protein
The less processed of the two chickens.

Tuna
About 470 cal · 3g sat fat · 670mg sodium · 4g fiber · 22g protein
The fewest additives of any of the meats, though most of those calories come from the mayo. (Subway doesn’t list a Fresh Fit tuna, so these numbers are my math.)

These two are fine on the numbers, but they’re a lot more processed:

Grilled Chicken
300 cal · 1g sat fat · 570mg sodium · 4g fiber · 26g protein
Soy protein concentrate, modified starch, maltodextrin, yeast extract, and “flavors.”

Roast Beef
300 cal · 1g sat fat · 780mg sodium · 4g fiber · 25g protein
Corn syrup solids, sodium phosphates, “natural flavors,” and a maltodextrin coating.

6″ sandwiches – worst choices

Remember, getting a footlong will double these already-high numbers!

Big Hot Pastrami ❌
620 cal · 17g sat fat · 1,990mg sodium · 2g fiber · 27g protein

5 Meat Italian ❌
660 cal · 12g sat fat · 1,910mg sodium · 2g fiber · 39g protein

Meatball Pepperoni ❌
670 cal · 16g sat fat · 1,820mg sodium · 4g fiber · 32g protein

Spicy Italian ❌
660 cal · 15g sat fat · 1,660mg sodium · 3g fiber · 26g protein

Buffalo Chicken
460 cal · 7g sat fat · 1,650mg sodium · 2g fiber · 29g protein

All American Club
540 cal · 10g sat fat · 1,520mg sodium · 2g fiber · 28g protein

Subway Club
500 cal · 8g sat fat · 1,520mg sodium · 4g fiber · 31g protein

Cold Cut Combo
520 cal · 8g sat fat · 1,290mg sodium · 2g fiber · 24g protein

Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
430 cal · 5g sat fat · 1,250mg sodium · 4g fiber · 29g protein · 16g added sugar
Almost a third of a day’s added sugar, from the teriyaki sauce.

Interesting: the standard Veggie Patty sub is 470 calories and 1,100mg sodium, vs. 390 calories and 680mg when you build it Fresh Fit style. That’s why the build matters!

Limited-time specials – just skip them

Subway’s “Hot Honey Signature Swicy Collection” (fall 2026) is a good example of what to watch out for:

Hot Honey Italian ❌
Pepperoni, Genoa salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, jalapeños, and Hot Honey on Jalapeño Cheddar bread.

Hot Honey Turkey Italiano ❌
The same thing, plus oven-roasted turkey.

Doritos Hot Honey Nachos ❌
Doritos topped with chicken or steak, Monterey cheddar, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, Baja Chipotle sauce, and Hot Honey.

Subway doesn’t list nutrition for these in its full nutrition information. But adding up its numbers for the ingredients, a 6″ Hot Honey Italian comes to at least 515 calories, 1,460mg of sodium, and 8g of added sugar. The Turkey Italiano is more like 1,900mg of sodium. Two cured meats, the saltiest bread, and a squirt of sugar.

Limited-time specials like these tend to be gimmicky, and built from the saltiest, most processed stuff on the menu. Just skip them.

Salads – best choices

Salads include cheese (which is where most of the saturated fat comes from), but not dressing. Get the oil and vinegar, and consider skipping the cheese.

Veggie Delite ✅
140 cal · 4g sat fat · 290mg sodium · 4g fiber · 9g protein

Veggie Patty
300 cal · 5g sat fat · 810mg sodium · 12g fiber · 13g protein
A little over the sodium line, but 12g of fiber makes it a real meal.

Tuna
400 cal · 8g sat fat · 600mg sodium · 4g fiber · 21g protein
The least processed meat. Skip the cheese to cut the saturated fat.

The grilled chicken salad has similar numbers (450 cal, 9g sat fat), but it’s the more processed chicken.

Salads – worst choices

Buffalo Chicken ❌
540 cal · 13g sat fat · 2,590mg sodium · 4g fiber · 44g protein
That’s more than a whole day’s sodium — in a salad!

Big Hot Pastrami ❌
470 cal · 16g sat fat · 1,840mg sodium · 5g fiber · 23g protein

5 Meat Italian
600 cal · 13g sat fat · 1,660mg sodium · 4g fiber · 34g protein

Spicy Italian
600 cal · 16g sat fat · 1,410mg sodium · 4g fiber · 21g protein

Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
300 cal · 5g sat fat · 1,090mg sodium · 4g fiber · 23g protein · 19g added sugar

Protein Bowls – avoid them all

These sound healthy, but they’re made with a footlong-size portion of meat, and every single one of them is over 900mg of sodium. Most are well over 1,500mg.

Grilled Chicken (the “best” one)
620 cal · 15g sat fat · 950mg sodium · 3g fiber · 48g protein

Big Hot Pastrami ❌
870 cal · 32g sat fat · 3,270mg sodium · 4g fiber · 40g protein

5 Meat Italian ❌
930 cal · 23g sat fat · 3,110mg sodium · 3g fiber · 65g protein

Spicy Italian ❌
930 cal · 28g sat fat · 2,540mg sodium · 3g fiber · 37g protein

Protein Pockets – avoid them all

Between that wrap (see above) and the sauces, these just aren’t worth it. Order something better.

Bread – best choices

Hearty Multigrain ✅
200 cal · 0g sat fat · 350mg sodium · 3g fiber · 9g protein

Bread – worst choices

Italian Herbs & Cheese
250 cal · 2g sat fat · 580mg sodium · 2g fiber · 10g protein

12″ Wrap ❌
300 cal · 1g sat fat · 580mg sodium · 2g fiber · 8g protein

The rest (Artisan Italian, Artisan Flatbread) are in between: about 210-220 calories, 380mg sodium, and only 1g fiber.

Cheese – best choices

Provolone ✅
90 cal · 4g sat fat · 220mg sodium · 6g protein

Monterey Cheddar (shredded)
110 cal · 5g sat fat · 170mg sodium · 7g protein
The lowest-sodium cheese.

Cheese – worst choices

American ❌
80 cal · 5g sat fat · 420mg sodium · 4g protein

Pepperjack ❌
100 cal · 5g sat fat · 480mg sodium · 5g protein
Processed cheese, and the saltiest one.

Sauces – best choices

Red Wine Vinegar ✅
No calories · no sodium

Olive Oil Blend (a teaspoon)
45 cal · no sodium
Note: it’s mostly canola oil, with some olive oil.

Sauces – worst choices

Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Sauce
No calories, but 440mg sodium

Sweet Onion Teriyaki and Hot Honey
6-8g added sugar each

Mayonnaise, Roasted Garlic Aioli, Peppercorn Ranch, Baja Chipotle
60-100 cal each, mostly from oil

Sides – best choices

Applesauce ✅
70 cal · no sodium · 3g fiber · no added sugar

Sides – worst choices

Chicken Noodle Soup ❌
70 cal · 1,160mg sodium
Only 70 calories, but half a day’s sodium!

Cookies
200-210 cal · 10-19g added sugar each

Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Loaded Baked Potato Soup
200 cal · 910-960mg sodium

Breakfast – least-bad choice

Every breakfast sandwich at Subway is over 800mg of sodium. If you must:

6″ Egg & Cheese on Artisan Flatbread
440 cal · 6g sat fat · 810mg sodium · 2g fiber · 18g protein

Note: the regular egg patty contains hydrogenated soybean oil. Some locations offer cage-free eggs instead, so ask!

Breakfast – worst choices

Breakfast wraps ❌
740-900 cal · 1,440-2,060mg sodium

Kids’ mini subs

On mini multigrain bread with all the veggies.

Veggie Delite ✅
140 cal · 0g sat fat · 240mg sodium · 3g fiber · 6g protein

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Menu Mondays are my recommendations for the most healthful options at chain restaurants. Although it may be tough to find “perfect” options when eating out, it’s important to choose “better” whenever possible, and I hope these guides will help make that easier for you. Here’s how I decide.

✅ indicates the “best-of-the-best,” and ❌ indicates the “worst-of-the-worst,” more or less.

Sources: Subway’s nutrition information, ingredient guide, and allergen guide, all dated October 2026. The latest versions are on Subway’s nutrition page.

Photo by _BuBBy_.