Carnitas 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 pork: “To make our Carnitas, we season the pork with an aromatic spice blend, then braise and shred it by hand. The result? Meat that’s fall-apart-in-your-burrito tender. We love how it tastes (obviously), but our Responsibly Raised pork has a special place in our hearts for another reason, too: it was Chipotle founder Steve Ells’ quest to find better pork in the early days that sparked Chipotle’s journey to be on the constant lookout for the best ingredients across the board. Guess you could say that without pork, we might not have ingredients to write home (or to the internet) about.” The statement for the carnitas names seven ingredients: Bay Leaf, Black Pepper, Juniper Berries, Pork, Salt, High Oleic Sunflower Oil and Thyme.

On 25 September 2026 the Carnitas Salad was listed at all 368 restaurants read, in 48 states and DC. That makes it a core item, on every open menu read.

Why the listing and the build differ

210 calories is the listing for the Carnitas Salad, and it is the protein alone: 4 oz of carnitas, with nothing else counted. This site prints that figure as the listing and never as the meal.

The classic build on this page comes to 710 calories: Carnitas (210 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 270 calories and loaded at 1,340 calories. Chipotle’s printed sheet gives a built salad as 420 to 910 calories; the classic build sits inside that range.

Protein runs 39 g across the classic build, 5.5 g per 100 calories, and sodium 2,265 mg, 98 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 $9.20 and $12.85 for pickup depending on the restaurant; $10.55 is the median across 368 menus, read on 25 September 2026. The same menus carry Chipotle’s own delivery price: $13.70 at the median, 29.9 percent above pickup, before the service fees the checkout adds. It sits between the Chicken Salad at $9.80 and the Steak Salad at $11.80 among the seven salads on the board. The carnitas premium over chicken is $0.75 at the median on this format.

The cheapest state median on the read date was Kansas at $9.93, the dearest New York at $11.90. 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 carnitas (double protein) adds $4.75 at the median, $4.10 to $5.85 across 368 restaurants. So the classic build on this page stands at $10.55 and the loaded build at $13.50, the entree plus $2.95 of add-ons at the national medians.

The figures against a day

The listed protein alone is 10 percent of a 2,000 calorie day by calories and 20 percent of the 2,300 mg sodium daily value. It carries 23 g of protein, 11 g per 100 calories, and 7 g of saturated fat (35 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 36 percent of a 2,000 calorie day and 98 percent of the sodium daily value. Carbohydrate runs 48 g with 11 g of fiber (39 percent of the 28 g daily value); fat 37.5 g, of which 14.5 g saturated.

Allergens and diets on this order

Chipotle’s allergens and special diets chart has a row for Carnitas: 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 (Carnitas rules it out).

“FOR THOSE WHO AVOID PORK: Our carnitas are made with pork.” 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 - Carnitas, $58.00 at the median for four to six people, $14.50 a head at four. For a child, the Carnitas Kid’s Build Your Own is $5.70 and Carnitas Kid’s Quesadilla is $5.20 at their medians. The same protein in the other formats: Carnitas Burrito at $10.55, Carnitas Bowl at $10.55, Carnitas Tacos (3) at $10.55 and Carnitas Quesadilla at $11.10.

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