What to Order at Panera on Ozempic or Other GLP-1s

Panera reads like the easy choice. Salads, broth soups, a menu that looks lighter than most. On a GLP-1 like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro, that reputation tends to do the ordering.

The numbers complicate it. The Shrimply Baja Salad carries 70 g of fat. The plain Greek Salad, with no chicken in it, is 630 calories and 59 g of fat. And nearly every protein-forward order on this menu comes with a sodium total worth checking first.

There are workable orders here. Below are four, along with the modifications that make the rest of the menu easier to fit.

What to prioritize when your appetite is small

There is no single meal formula that works for everyone taking a GLP-1. Tolerance can change depending on the medication, portion size, and whether your dose was recently increased.

At a restaurant, a practical starting point is a modest portion built around lean protein. It can be harder to get enough protein when you are eating less overall. Very high-fat meals can worsen nausea or prolonged fullness for some people.

The orders below favor higher protein and lower fat. They are not medical rules. Pay attention to what you tolerate, along with any guidance from your prescriber or dietitian.

The sodium situation at Panera

This is worth covering before anything else, because it affects nearly every recommendation below.

Many of the higher-protein orders combine seasoned meat with cheese, dressing, bread, or broth, and the sodium adds up quickly.

Chicken noodle soup is the surprising entry: a 180-calorie bowl contains 1,570 mg of sodium, roughly two thirds of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg.

Sodium needs vary from person to person, and none of this makes these items off-limits. But if you have been advised to limit sodium, it is worth checking before you order rather than after.

A few breakfast and Grab N Go items are substantially lower in sodium.

Eggs and Greek yogurt are among the lowest-sodium protein options in Panera's nutrition guide.

Two useful salad modifications

Dressing on the side.

Panera lists the Green Goddess dressing separately at 150 calories, 12 g of fat, 7 g of carbs, 4 g of protein, and 290 mg of sodium. If you order it on the side and do not use it, the Cobb salad comes to roughly 430 calories with 36 g of protein and 22 g of fat. Using some of it will put the real total somewhere between 430 and 580.

Note that the protein does drop, from 40 g to 36 g, because there is protein in the dressing itself.

The same applies across the menu, and some dressings cost more than others. The whole Greek dressing portion is 440 calories and 48 g of fat. The whole Caesar is 320 calories and 33 g of fat. The whole Poppyseed portion is 60 calories and is listed at 0 grams of fat.

Skip the nuts.

Removing the nuts saves 4 to 10 grams of fat while retaining most of the protein. Sodium stays the same in three of these examples and drops by 50 mg in the Farmhouse Crunch.

Four orders

Panera's lighter-looking options can still be high in sodium. Three of the four orders below run between 1,340 and 1,690 mg before you add a bread side, chips, or a drink. The first one is the exception.

Two items from the Grab N Go case and the sides menu. The Hard Boiled Eggs container is 150 calories with 13 g of protein and 125 mg of sodium. The Greek Yogurt with Berries is 250 calories with 16 g of protein and 80 mg of sodium.

Among the standard combinations reviewed here, the eggs and yogurt provide the strongest low-sodium protein option.

The highest-protein featured order here, though removing the dressing also reduces the protein from 40 g to 36 g. As served with the full dressing it is 580 calories and 34 g of fat.

The Grab N Go chicken wraps provide 30 to 32 grams of protein. The Green Goddess is the leanest at 18 g of fat, against 22 g for both the Chicken Caesar and the Frontega.

The half Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad without pecans is 150 calories with 13 g of protein and 2 g of fat. The Vegetarian Black Bean Soup cup adds 90 calories, 5 g of protein, and 12 g of fiber.

This is one of the lowest-fat combinations in the guide, but its 15 grams of fiber may also feel like a lot at once if you are not used to high-fiber meals. The other tradeoff is that 18 grams of protein is lower than the other three featured orders.

Some salads are higher in fat than expected

The plain Greek salad is the clearest example. With no chicken in it, it carries 59 grams of fat and returns 8 grams of protein.

Much of the fat comes from the dressing and toppings such as cheese, olives, avocado, bacon, and nuts. Ordering the dressing on the side can substantially reduce the calories and fat. On salads containing pecans or almonds, leaving off the nuts provides an additional reduction.

There is one especially lean salad option. The clearest lower-fat choice is the whole Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad without pecans: 310 calories, 25 g of protein, and 4 g of fat.

Half sandwiches are usually easier to fit

Whole sandwiches get large quickly, but five stay under 700 calories: the Mediterranean Veggie at 520, Tuna Salad at 590, the Chicken Roma Asiago Bagel Stack at 610, the Spicy Steak Asiago Bagel Stack at 630, and Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad at 690.

The two bagel stacks are worth noting because they provide 31 and 39 grams of protein respectively, though both still carry more than 1,100 mg of sodium. For the larger toasted sandwiches, a half portion is usually the more manageable starting point.

Among half sandwiches with at least 20 grams of protein, the Smokehouse BBQ Chicken is the lowest in fat at 11 g. Its carbs are high at 56 g and its sodium is 1,200 mg.

The Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad half is the low-sodium pick at 490 mg, though it carries 16 g of fat for 16 g of protein.

Chicken noodle is the most protein-dense soup

Homestyle Chicken Noodle has the best protein-to-calorie ratio among the soup bowls: 14 grams of protein for 180 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. The caveat is its 1,570 mg of sodium.

Broccoli Cheddar is one of Panera's best-known soups, but it is much higher in fat than the chicken noodle: 31 g in a bowl, for 12 g of protein.

The Vegetarian Black Bean Soup is worth a look if fiber has been an issue. A bowl is 140 calories with 8 g of protein, 2 g of fat, and 18 g of fiber, one of the highest-fiber individual items in the guide.

Mac and cheese sits in its own category. A bowl of Bacon Mac & Cheese is 1,050 calories with 71 g of fat and 2,620 mg of sodium.

Orders likely to feel especially heavy

A note on the Salad Stuffers. These put the salad inside bread, and the portions are not identical to the standalone salad. The Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Stuffer is 450 calories with 69 g of carbs and 21 g of protein. The whole standalone salad is 410 calories with 46 g of carbs and 27 g of protein. The Stuffer costs you 40 more calories and 23 more grams of carbs while providing 6 fewer grams of protein.

And the bagels. The Cinnamon Crunch Bagel is 430 calories with 78 g of carbs. A plain bagel is 280 calories and 59 g of carbs for 7 g of protein. On a smaller appetite, that is a large share of a meal for very little protein.

Building your own order

Use the Panera macro calculator to build any combination and see the full macros instantly.

For more medication-friendly builds at similar chains, see the Cracker Barrel GLP-1 guide.

Nutrition data from the Panera Bread Nutrition Guide, effective 6/17/2026, retrieved July 2026. Menu items, nutrition, and availability may change and vary by location. This article is informational and not medical advice. Always follow guidance from your prescribing provider.