Beef Barbacoa Salad

What Chipotle says it is

Chipotle’s printed nutrition sheet describes a salad as: “Chopped romaine lettuce, baby kale and baby spinach, with choice of beans, meat, salsa, cheese and chipotle-honey vinaigrette.”

On the protein, Chipotle’s ingredients page says of the beef: “Our steak and Barbacoa always start with Responsibly Raised beef. Then, we achieve tenderness in two ways. First, we cook it sous vide, which locks in moisture by heating the beef at a precise, low temperature for a looong time. Then we marinate it overnight in our smoky, spicy chipotle pepper adobo, and finish it on the grill (for steak) or add aromatic spices like oregano, cloves, and bay leaf, braise it slowly at a low temperature until it’s mouthwateringly tender, then shred it by hand (for Barbacoa). Sorry, is our beef-geek showing?” The statement for the barbacoa names eleven ingredients: Bay Leaf, Beef, Black Pepper, Chipotle Chili, Cloves, Cumin, Garlic, Oregano, Salt, High Oleic Sunflower Oil and Water.

On 25 September 2026 the Beef Barbacoa Salad was listed at all 368 restaurants read, in 48 states and DC. That makes it a core item, on every open menu read. One of those menus marked it unavailable on the read day.

Why the listing and the build differ

The ordering menu lists the Beef Barbacoa Salad at 170 calories. That figure is the 4 oz of barbacoa alone: the tortilla, the rice, the beans, the salsas and the toppings are chosen on the line and are not in it. This site prints that figure as the listing and never as the meal.

The classic build on this page comes to 670 calories: Barbacoa (170 calories), Romaine Lettuce (supergreens salad mix, the salad base, 3 oz) (15 calories), Black Beans (130 calories), Fresh Tomato Salsa (25 calories), Monterey Jack Cheese (110 calories) and Chipotle-Honey Vinaigrette (220 calories). The other reference builds: light at 230 calories and loaded at 1,300 calories. Chipotle’s printed sheet gives a built salad as 420 to 910 calories; the classic build sits inside that range.

Protein runs 40 g across the classic build, 6 g per 100 calories, and sodium 2,345 mg, 102 percent of the 2,300 mg the FDA uses as the daily value. Press any part in the build above and the bars redraw from that part’s own record.

What the price buys

Between $10.45 and $14.10 for pickup depending on the restaurant; $11.80 is the median across 368 menus, read on 25 September 2026. The same menus carry Chipotle’s own delivery price: $15.35 at the median, 30.1 percent above pickup, before the service fees the checkout adds. It is the dearest of the seven salads on the board at the median, level with Steak Salad; the cheapest is the Chicken Salad at $9.80. The barbacoa premium over chicken is $2.00 at the median on this format.

By state median, Kansas was lowest at $11.18 and New York highest at $13.15. A state median stands on eight restaurants at most, so one dear or cheap restaurant moves it; the national range is the safer figure. Pick a state at the top of the page and every price on this site prints that state’s median.

The priced add-ons on a salad: Guacamole $2.95 at the median ($2.85 to $3.20, 368 restaurants), Queso Blanco $1.70 at the median ($1.40 to $1.80, 368 restaurants) and Cilantro Lime Sauce $1.00 at the median ($1.00 to $1.00, 368 restaurants). A second portion of barbacoa (double protein) adds $6.00 at the median, $5.35 to $7.10 across 368 restaurants. So the classic build on this page stands at $11.80 and the loaded build at $14.75, the entree plus $2.95 of add-ons at the national medians.

The figures against a day

The listed protein alone is 8 percent of a 2,000 calorie day by calories and 23 percent of the 2,300 mg sodium daily value. It carries 24 g of protein, 14.1 g per 100 calories, and 2.5 g of saturated fat (12 percent of the daily value). Cholesterol, which the calculator does not print, is 65 mg on the printed sheet’s row for the same portion.

The classic build is 34 percent of a 2,000 calorie day and 102 percent of the sodium daily value, which is to say more sodium than a day. Carbohydrate runs 50 g with 12 g of fiber (43 percent of the 28 g daily value); fat 32.5 g, of which 10 g saturated.

Allergens and diets on this order

Chipotle’s allergens and special diets chart has a row for Barbacoa: it contains none of the four chart allergens (dairy, soy, wheat and gluten, sulphites); the row marks it keto and paleo. The classic build on this page contains dairy and sulphites, by the rows for its parts; it is not vegetarian (Barbacoa rules it out).

Every row on the chart carries the same two cautions: “Individual foods may come into contact with one another during preparation, which is not reflected on this chart.” “Although we do not use eggs, mustard, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, or fish as ingredients in our food, Chipotle cannot guarantee the complete absence of these allergens in its restaurants.”

Where else the protein turns up

The same protein feeds the Family Meal - Beef Barbacoa, $64.00 at the median for four to six people, $16.00 a head at four. For a child, the Beef Barbacoa Kid’s Build Your Own is $5.70 and Beef Barbacoa Kid’s Quesadilla is $5.20 at their medians. The same protein in the other formats: Beef Barbacoa Burrito at $11.80, Beef Barbacoa Bowl at $11.80, Beef Barbacoa Tacos (3) at $11.80 and Beef Barbacoa Quesadilla at $12.35.

Guides and comparisons that mention it

• Does Chipotle have BOGO deals?
• Chipotle delivery: prices, fees and the rules
• Dairy free
• Gluten free
• Keto
• Menu by calories
• Paleo
• Price change log
• Under 500 calories
• Under 700 calories