Cook Out Calorie Calculator (2026)

How Many Calories Are in a Cook Out Meal?

A typical Cook Out meal — a Cookout Tray with one entree, two sides and a drink — has about 649 to 1,291 calories, depending on the entree, the burger style, the sides and whether you choose a soda, tea or a milkshake. A light tray built around the Char-Grilled Chicken sandwich comes in around 649 calories, while a Big Double “Cook Out Style” tray with fries, hushpuppies and a large Coke is about 1,291 calories.

The biggest calorie swings come from three choices: the drink (a large Coke is 210 calories, unsweet tea and Diet Coke are 0, a milkshake is 538–925), the burger style (toppings add 91–233 calories) and the sides (tray-size onion rings are 128 calories; a side of slaw is listed at 405).

How Does the Cook Out Calorie Calculator Work?

The calculator adds up Cook Out’s published nutrition values for every item you choose. Each item has calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat, sodium and sugars, and your totals update the moment you add or remove something.

• Burgers: choose the size (Small, Regular, Big Double or Huge), then the style. Cook Out publishes each style’s toppings as its own line, so the calculator adds burger + style.
• Sides: many sides come as a full order or a smaller tray-side portion. Pick the one you’re ordering.
• Drinks: every fountain drink has Small (12 oz), Regular (16 oz), Large (24 oz) and Huge (32 oz) values.
• Build a Cookout Tray: pick an entree, two sides and a drink (or a milkshake upgrade) and add the whole tray at once.
• Daily target: change the 2,000-calorie default to your own goal; protein, fat, saturated fat, carbs and sodium show as a percent of FDA Daily Values.
• Copy summary: copies your meal and totals so you can paste it into a food log or message.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Burgers?

A plain Cook Out burger ranges from 245 calories (Small) to 516 calories (Huge Hamburger), before toppings. The Regular Hamburger is 328 calories and the Big Double is 311. Your style choice then adds between 91 and 233 calories. This matrix shows every combination:

Cook Out Style means chili, slaw, onions and mustard. Of the five topping styles, Cheddar Style adds the most calories, and Steak Style and Everything add the fewest.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Chicken, BBQ, Hot Dogs and Wraps?

Most Cook Out chicken sandwiches are 376–446 calories; the Club and Cheddar styles and the Spicy Cheese Style are heavier at 534–634. The NC-style BBQ sandwich is 368 calories, a plain hot dog 260, and the wraps are about 500–520.

Sodium adds up fast in breaded and sauced items: 3-piece chicken strips list 2,130 mg and the BBQ plate 2,445 mg, compared with the FDA’s 2,300 mg daily value.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Sides?

Tray-size sides run from 128 calories (onion rings) to 347 calories (regular fries). Full orders are roughly double the tray portion. Hushpuppies are 300 calories as a tray side and 600 as a full order.

Cheese fries, chili fries and chili cheese fries are not in Cook Out’s current guide; their values come from older published data and may differ from today’s recipe.

Side-by-side guides: onion rings, chicken nuggets, hush puppies, fries, quesadillas, chicken strips and hot dogs.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Milkshakes?

Cook Out milkshakes range from 538 to 925 calories. Fruit flavors such as Fresh Banana and Peach are the lightest; candy, peanut-butter and cheesecake flavors are the heaviest. Cook Out sells one shake size, and each shake weighs roughly 31–35 ounces, so even the lightest flavor is about a quarter of a 2,000-calorie day.

Ordering a shake as your tray drink is the single biggest calorie add-on at Cook Out: it replaces a 0–250 calorie drink with a 538–925 calorie dessert. Coke and Cheerwine floats are about 400 calories.

How Many Calories Are in Cook Out Drinks?

A large (24 oz) Cook Out soda is about 209–238 calories; Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar and unsweet tea are 0. Large sweet tea is 248 calories and large Cheerwine 216. Values below are for the Large size; the calculator includes Small, Regular, Large and Huge.

What Are the Lowest-Calorie and Highest-Protein Items at Cook Out?

The lightest Cook Out entrees are the Corn Dog (220 cal), Chicken Nuggets (Full Order) (240 cal) and Small Hamburger (1/8 lb) (245 cal). For protein per calorie, grilled chicken and plain burgers lead.

10 lowest-calorie entrees

• Corn Dog — 220 cal, 5 g protein
• Chicken Nuggets (Full Order) — 240 cal, 16 g protein
• Small Hamburger (1/8 lb) — 245 cal, 14 g protein
• Hot Dog — 260 cal, 8 g protein
• Big Double Burger — 311 cal, 20 g protein
• Regular Hamburger (1/4 lb) — 328 cal, 22 g protein
• Cheese Quesadilla — 355 cal, 13 g protein
• BBQ Sandwich (Regular) — 368 cal, 29 g protein
• Char-Grilled Chicken, Barbeque Style — 376 cal, 25 g protein
• Char-Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich — 377 cal, 25 g protein

Best protein per calorie

• BBQ Sandwich (Regular) — 29 g protein in 368 cal
• Huge Hamburger (1/2 lb) — 40 g protein in 516 cal
• Regular Hamburger (1/4 lb) — 22 g protein in 328 cal
• Chicken Nuggets (Full Order) — 16 g protein in 240 cal
• Char-Grilled Chicken, Barbeque Style — 25 g protein in 376 cal
• Char-Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich — 25 g protein in 377 cal
• Char-Grilled Chicken, Cajun Style — 25 g protein in 377 cal
• Big Double Burger — 20 g protein in 311 cal

Lowest-carb entrees

• Chicken Nuggets (Full Order) — 12 g carbs, 240 cal
• Hot Dog — 22 g carbs, 260 cal
• Cheese Quesadilla — 24 g carbs, 355 cal
• Corn Dog — 26 g carbs, 220 cal
• Small Hamburger (1/8 lb) — 27 g carbs, 245 cal
• Regular Hamburger (1/4 lb) — 27 g carbs, 328 cal

Lowest-sodium entrees

• Small Hamburger (1/8 lb) — 309 mg sodium
• Big Double Burger — 334 mg sodium
• Regular Hamburger (1/4 lb) — 340 mg sodium
• Huge Hamburger (1/2 lb) — 410 mg sodium
• Corn Dog — 440 mg sodium
• Chicken Nuggets (Full Order) — 540 mg sodium

Highest-calorie entrees

• BBQ Plate — 976 cal
• Chicken Strip Club — 846 cal
• Chicken Strip Sandwich — 674 cal
• Chicken Strips (3 pc) — 660 cal
• Spicy Chicken, Cheese Style — 634 cal
• Char-Grilled Chicken, Club Style — 565 cal
• Char-Grilled Chicken, Cheddar Style — 534 cal
• Bacon Cheddar Hot Dog — 523 cal

What Is the Healthiest Meal at Cook Out?

The healthiest Cook Out meals pair a grilled chicken sandwich or a plain burger with a light side and a zero-calorie drink. These three meals each stay under 600 calories and keep protein high:

• Char-Grilled Chicken sandwich + large unsweet tea — 377 calories, 25 g protein, 576 mg sodium.
• Regular Hamburger, Everything Style + tray onion rings + large Diet Coke — 547 calories, 26 g protein, 984 mg sodium.
• Chicken nuggets (full order) + tray onion rings + large Coke Zero Sugar — 368 calories, 19 g protein, 880 mg sodium.

“Healthiest” depends on your goal: for fewer calories, skip the milkshake and fries; for less sodium, avoid breaded strips, wraps and the BBQ plate; for more protein per calorie, choose grilled chicken or a plain burger.

What Are the Best High-Protein Meals at Cook Out?

For 30+ grams of protein, build your meal around the Huge Hamburger (40 g), chicken strips (36 g for 3 pieces), the BBQ sandwich (29 g) or a grilled chicken sandwich (25 g), then add tray-size nuggets (10 g) as a side.

Milkshakes also carry 15–27 g of protein, but they come with 538–925 calories, so they are a treat rather than a protein source.

How Much Sodium Is in a Cook Out Meal?

A typical Cookout Tray has roughly 1,200–2,500 mg of sodium, which is about half to all of the FDA’s 2,300 mg Daily Value. The Big Double Cook Out Style tray in the table above has 2,259 mg. Single items with the most sodium include 3-piece chicken strips (2,130 mg), the BBQ plate (2,445 mg) and the wraps (about 1,100–1,300 mg each).

To cut sodium, choose a plain or Steak Style burger, skip chili and cheese toppings, pick onion rings or Cook Out Rounds as tray sides, and drink unsweet tea or water. The calculator shows sodium as a percent of the Daily Value as you build your meal.

How Accurate Are These Cook Out Calorie Counts?

Nearly every number in this calculator comes directly from Cook Out’s published nutrition guide, cross-checked against independent nutrition listings. Burger toppings are listed by Cook Out as separate “style” lines, which is why the calculator adds a burger and a style together instead of showing one combined number.

• Estimates are labeled: four newer milkshake flavors (Butterfinger, Peanut Butter Oreo, Oreo Cheesecake and Eggnog) are estimated from similar official flavors.
• Older data is labeled: cheese fries, chili fries and chili cheese fries are not in Cook Out’s current guide, so they use older published values.
• Some official values look unusual: for example, the side of slaw is listed at 405 calories. We show Cook Out’s published figures rather than guessing.
• Real portions vary: hand-made sandwiches, scoops and fry portions differ a little from store to store and order to order.

This page is an independent guide and is not affiliated with Cook Out. If you have a medical condition or strict dietary needs, confirm ingredients and nutrition with your local restaurant.

What Is the Lowest-Calorie Cookout Tray?

One of the lightest Cookout Trays is a Char-Grilled Chicken sandwich with tray-size onion rings and chicken nuggets plus unsweet tea, at about 649 calories. Here is how common trays compare, all calculated from the official values:

Rule of thumb: keep the drink at zero calories, choose onion rings, nuggets, Cook Out Rounds or cheese bites as tray sides, and pick a plain or Everything-style burger or a grilled chicken sandwich. That keeps most trays under 1,000 calories.

How Can I Eat Lighter at Cook Out?

• Swap the drink: a large Coke (210 cal) or sweet tea (248 cal) for unsweet tea, Diet Coke or Coke Zero (0 cal).
• Choose the style carefully: Everything or Steak Style adds 91 calories; Cheddar Style adds 233.
• Use tray-size sides: tray onion rings (128) and nuggets (144) are far lighter than fries (347) or a full order of hushpuppies (600).
• Share the milkshake or pick a fruit flavor (538–555 cal) instead of a candy or cheesecake flavor (850–925).
• Watch sodium: breaded strips, BBQ plates and wraps can pass 1,100–2,400 mg on their own.

Have food allergies? See the Cook Out allergen menu. For more detail on every item, read the Cook Out nutrition guide, the tray menu, the milkshake menu and the drinks menu, or browse the full Cook Out menu with prices.

Cook Out Calorie FAQs

Quick, data-backed answers to common Cook Out calorie questions.