Cook Out Chicken Strips — Calories, Sauces & Best Trays (2026)

Does Cook Out Have Chicken Strips?

Yes. Cook Out sells chicken strips as a three-piece order served with a dipping sauce, as a Cookout Tray entree, and built into two sandwiches: the Chicken Strip Sandwich and the Chicken Strip Club. A three-piece order has 660 calories and 36 g of protein before sauce, according to the Cook Out official nutrition PDF.

Cook Out’s store menus call them “Homemade Style Chicken Strips,” and the strips sit beside the char-grilled chicken breast, the crispy spicy chicken fillet and the burgers as one of the main entrees you can pick for a tray. Cook Out store menu listings on SinglePlatform describe the order as three strips “served with choice of sauce,” and at least one Tennessee store lists a Jr. Tray with two chicken strips. Sauce choices vary by store; one listing names Cook Out Sauce, BBQ, honey mustard, Polynesian and ranch.

Strips are available at the roughly 370 Cook Out restaurants in 11 states on Cook Out’s store locator in October 2026, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Florida. Most stores open around 10:30 AM and stay open until about 3 AM Sunday through Thursday and 4 AM on Friday and Saturday, so strips are an easy late-night chicken order. Hours vary by store; check the Cook Out hours guide.

• Chicken Strips (3 pc): 660 calories, 36 g protein, 60 g carbs, 2,130 mg sodium, sauce not included.
• Chicken Strip Sandwich: 674 calories, 28 g protein; lettuce, tomato, honey mustard and mayo.
• Chicken Strip Club: 846 calories, 39 g protein; bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo.
• On a tray: three strips plus two sides and a drink, usually about $7.39–$7.99 depending on the store.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Chicken Strips?

Three Cook Out chicken strips have 660 calories, 33 g of fat, 36 g of protein and 2,130 mg of sodium, without dipping sauce. The Chicken Strip Sandwich has 674 calories and the Chicken Strip Club has 846, per the Cook Out official nutrition PDF.

The official figure covers the three-piece order. If you order a Jr. Tray with two strips, a straight two-thirds share works out to about 440 calories, 24 g of protein and 1,420 mg of sodium; that 440-calorie figure matches the calorie count printed on a Cook Out store’s Jr. Tray listing. One strip therefore runs roughly 220 calories, 12 g of protein and 710 mg of sodium, at an average of about 78 g per strip.

How much of your day is that?

Against the FDA Daily Values used on U.S. nutrition labels (78 g fat, 20 g saturated fat, 300 mg cholesterol, 2,300 mg sodium, 275 g carbohydrate, 28 g fiber, 50 g protein):

Sodium is the headline. Three strips alone carry 2,130 mg, about 93% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, before any sauce, side or drink. The club passes the full-day figure on its own at 2,539 mg (110%). Protein is the upside: three strips cover nearly three-quarters of the Daily Value.

By label math (9 calories per gram of fat, 4 per gram of carbohydrate or protein), fat supplies about 297 calories of the strips, carbohydrate about 240 and protein about 144. The breading is substantial: 60 g of carbs is five times the 12 g in a full order of nuggets. For the whole menu, see the Cook Out nutrition guide or Cook Out calories.

Are Cook Out Chicken Strips High in Protein?

Yes in total, less so per calorie: three strips deliver 36 g of protein, the most of any single Cook Out chicken item except the Strip Club, but only 5.5 g per 100 calories. The char-grilled chicken sandwich and the nuggets both give you more protein for every calorie.

All numbers come from the Cook Out official nutrition PDF; the per-100-calorie, per-gram and sodium-percentage columns are simple division.

Strips vs nuggets vs char-grilled chicken

• Same calories, more protein with nuggets. 660 calories of nuggets is 2.75 full orders, which works out to 44 g of protein and 1,485 mg of sodium, versus 36 g and 2,130 mg for three strips. See the Cook Out chicken nuggets guide.
• Char-grilled is the lean pick. The plain char-grilled chicken breast sandwich has 25 g of protein in 377 calories and 575 mg of sodium. Two of them (754 calories) would give 50 g of protein with 1,150 mg of sodium, roughly half the sodium of three strips.
• Strips win on single-item protein. If you want one entree and the biggest protein number, three strips (36 g) beat every sandwich except the club (39 g), and they carry 0 g of sugar.

How to make a strip meal more protein-dense

• Pick nuggets (10 g protein, 144 calories) or cheese bites (8 g, 150 calories) as tray sides instead of hushpuppies (2 g, 300 calories).
• Choose a zero-calorie drink so every calorie you add is food, not sugar.
• Use a lighter sauce (BBQ or honey mustard at about 60 calories) instead of ranch (about 140).
• Order a Jr. Tray with two strips (about 440 calories and 24 g protein) and add a nugget side to reach about 34 g of protein for 584 calories.

What Is on the Cook Out Chicken Strip Sandwich and Strip Club?

The Chicken Strip Sandwich puts breaded chicken strips on a bun with lettuce, tomato, honey mustard and mayo; the Chicken Strip Club swaps the honey mustard for bacon and cheese, with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Those builds appear on the Cook Out official nutrition PDF and on Cook Out store menu listings.

The club’s extra 41 g of bacon and cheese adds 172 calories and 11 g of protein but also 735 mg of sodium and nearly triples the saturated fat. Its slightly lower sugar comes from dropping the honey mustard.

Cook Out does not state how many strips go on each sandwich. The Strip Sandwich’s 28 g of protein sits between our two-strip estimate (24 g) and the three-piece order (36 g), so treat the strip count as something that can vary by store.

Sandwich or strips?

• For protein: three plain strips (36 g) beat the Strip Sandwich (28 g) for 14 fewer calories.
• For sodium: the Strip Sandwich (1,804 mg) is lower than three strips (2,130 mg), and the club is highest (2,539 mg).
• For a full meal on a bun: the sandwich already includes its sauce; the strips do not, so add 60–140 calories for a dipping cup.
• Customizing: like burgers, Cook Out sandwiches can usually be ordered with toppings left off; skipping mayo is the easiest trim. The official numbers above are for the standard build. The Cook Out secret menu guide has more custom-order ideas.

What Dipping Sauces Come With Cook Out Chicken Strips?

Cook Out strips come with your choice of dipping sauce, and the choices depend on the store; one Cook Out menu listing names Cook Out Sauce, BBQ, honey mustard, Polynesian and ranch. An older listing for nuggets names ranch, BBQ, honey mustard and sweet and sour.

Ask at the speaker which sauces your location carries, and whether an extra cup costs more. Sauce is not included in the 660-calorie figure for three strips, so the cup you pick changes the total.

Sauce values are approximate figures from third-party nutrition listings for a 1 oz (28 g) cup; the Cook Out official nutrition PDF does not list dipping sauces, so treat them as estimates. Cook Out Sauce and Polynesian have no published data we could verify.

• Lightest: honey mustard and BBQ at about 60 calories each. BBQ is fat-free but has the most sugar (about 11 g).
• Heaviest: ranch at about 140 calories and 15 g of fat, more than twice the others. Two ranch cups add about 280 calories, pushing three strips to roughly 940.
• Sodium tip: any sauce takes three strips to about 2,250–2,360 mg of sodium, at or above the full-day 2,300 mg Daily Value, before sides.
• Already sauced: the Chicken Strip Sandwich includes honey mustard in its official 674-calorie figure.

Are Cook Out Wraps Made With Chicken Strips?

Cook Out’s chicken wraps are made with crispy chicken, cheese and lettuce in a tortilla, but Cook Out does not say the chicken is the same strip it serves on its own, so we do not assume it. The three chicken wraps on the official nutrition PDF are Cajun, Ranch and Honey Mustard, each with 25 g of protein.

A Cook Out store menu listing describes the Ranch Wrap as crispy chicken with ranch, cheese and lettuce, the Cajun Wrap as crispy chicken with Cajun seasoning, cheese and lettuce, and the Honey Mustard Wrap as crispy chicken with honey mustard, cheese and lettuce. The Bacon Ranch Wrap is different: it is bacon with lettuce and cheese, no chicken, and is the “bacon wrap” many people pick as a tray side.

Values are from the Cook Out official nutrition PDF. The Bacon Ranch Wrap’s published 41 g serving looks low for 419 calories, so treat that serving weight with caution. The wrap figures are for the full wrap as listed; some menus offer wraps as tray sides, and the tray-side portion may differ.

• Wrap vs three strips: a chicken wrap has about 140–160 fewer calories than three strips (501–522 vs 660) and about 850 mg less sodium, but 11 g less protein.
• Lightest chicken wrap: Cajun, at 501 calories.
• Wrap as a side: if your store offers a chicken wrap as a tray side, pairing it with strips makes a very high-protein but very salty tray; check the Cook Out sides menu.

How Do You Order Chicken Strips at Cook Out?

Order a Cookout Tray and name chicken strips as the entree, pick two sides and a drink, and tell them your sauce. You can also order three strips, the Strip Sandwich or the Strip Club on their own.

Which strip order fits you?

Older online menu listings showed three strips for about $2.99 to $3.39 and the club for about $3.39, but those prices are years old and Cook Out stores set prices locally, so trust your store’s menu board and expect tax on top. The Cook Out tray menu explains every tray entree.

Tips for better strips

• Eat them first. Breaded strips soften as they steam in a closed bag; open the bag in the car if you have a drive.
• Order at busy times. Faster fryer turnover usually means fresher strips.
• Check the bag for your sauce cup before you pull away.
• Delivery: fried chicken holds up better than onion rings over a short ride; see the Cook Out delivery guide.

What Are the Best Cook Out Trays With Chicken Strips?

For the most protein, a three-strip tray with nuggets and cheese bites and unsweet tea gives 54 g of protein for 954 calories; for the lightest strip tray, a two-strip Jr. Tray with onion rings, nuggets and unsweet tea comes to about 712 calories. Every total adds official Cook Out figures item by item; sauces are excluded unless listed.

Sides are Cook Out’s tray-side portions; drinks are regular 16 oz fountain sizes, and drink sodium is included. Honey mustard is the approximate third-party figure from the sauce table.

What the math shows:

• Sodium is the real limit. Every three-strip tray here lands above the 2,300 mg Daily Value, because the strips alone are 2,130 mg. If sodium matters, the Jr. tray or a char-grilled chicken tray is the better call.
• The sides decide protein. Swapping hushpuppies (2 g protein, 300 calories) for nuggets (10 g, 144 calories) adds 8 g of protein and saves 156 calories.
• The drink is the easiest cut. Regular sweet tea adds 236 calories and regular Cheerwine 144; unsweet tea, Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar add none. See the Cook Out drinks menu.
• For comparison: a char-grilled chicken Original Style sandwich (393) with onion rings, nuggets and unsweet tea is 665 calories, 38 g of protein and 1,277 mg of sodium, less than half the sodium of the lean strip tray.

Build your own version in the Cook Out calorie calculator, which adds an entree, two sides and a drink the same way.

Are Cook Out Chicken Strips Gluten-Free, Low-Carb or Keto?

No on all three: the strips are breaded and fried, with 60 g of carbohydrate per three-piece order, and Cook Out publishes no gluten-free claim for them. They are, however, sugar-free at 0 g before sauce.

• Low-carb and keto: 60 g of carbs in three strips is more than most keto plans allow in a day. Lower-carb chicken options at Cook Out are the nuggets (12 g per full order) or a char-grilled chicken breast eaten without the bun.
• Gluten and wheat: breaded chicken coatings typically contain wheat, and fried items usually share fryer oil. Anyone with celiac disease or a wheat allergy should ask the manager and read our Cook Out allergen guide.
• Other allergens: breadings and sauces can contain egg, milk or soy; ranch and honey mustard are commonly egg-based. Confirm ingredients at your store.
• Sodium-restricted diets: three strips equal 93% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. A sodium-conscious eater is better served by the char-grilled chicken breast sandwich (575 mg).
• Vegetarian and vegan: not suitable. See the vegan menu guide.
• Kids: a two-strip Jr. Tray (about 440 calories for the strips) with unsweet tea or water is a sensible kid-size meal.

Fiber is modest at 3 g for three strips, so pair them with a side that adds some, such as onion rings or Cook Out Rounds (2 g each per tray side), if you want a more filling tray.

Where Can You Find More Cook Out Chicken and Nutrition Guides?

Start with the calorie calculator to total a strip tray, then compare the nuggets and the sides before you order. These guides cover the items most often ordered with chicken strips.

Comparing chains? Read Cook Out vs McDonald’s. To find a store open late near you, use the Cook Out locations finder, and for everything else see the full Cook Out menu.

Cook Out Chicken Strips FAQs

Answers to the questions people ask most.