21 Of The Unhealthiest Fast Food Dipping Sauces

Dipping sauce can make or break a fast food joint. It can also turn a perfectly reasonable trip to the drive-thru into a costly one — costly for your health, that is. A 2019 study even found that eating fast food is fine as long as you avoid sauces and soft drinks. As we've found out, a great number of popular fast food dipping sauces are quite unhealthy for one reason or another.

We see you crossing your fingers and hoping your favorite specialty sauce isn't on this list. We hate to break it to you, but it probably is. Whether it's high in sodium, calories, fat, or sugar, there is almost always one problematic element that is giving your favorite sauce its extreme craveability. Not all fast food sauces will send you to an early grave, but if you are looking out for physical health and still want to indulge in your cravings, we recommend avoiding these 21 unhealthy fast food dipping sauces.

Taco Bell's Nacho Cheese sauce is not as unhealthy as you might think, but it still makes this list for a couple of reasons. At 60 calories per serving, it could be a lot worse, but there are some red flags, too. Namely, at 210 milligrams of sodium per serving, it makes up almost 10% of your daily recommended salt intake. Excessive sodium intake is a leading cause of high blood pressure, and in the long term, it can lead to heart disease and stroke, according to Harvard. The Food and Drug Administration recommends a diet of typically less than 2,300 milligrams per day. 

In addition to sodium, one tiny vat of cheesy goodness contains 4 grams of fat per serving. Which isn't terrible until you realize one serving is a tiny 1.4-ounce cup. If you dip your way through two or three cups of the golden stuff, you'll be in dangerous territory in no time. 

Ranch is going to be a series regular on this list. The dressing is naturally high in fat and calorie content, as it's typically made from sour cream, mayonnaise, and buttermilk, among other ingredients. This makes it typically richer than barbecue or mustard-based dipping sauces. A case in point is McDonald's Creamy Ranch Sauce.

Downing a cup of this McDonald's sauce will set you back 110 calories and 12 grams of fat, the latter of which is 15% of your daily value. The FDA recommends a daily intake of at most around 80 grams of fat, but the exact amount can vary. Still, this dipping sauce accounts for a large portion. Plus, if you're trying to consume around 2,000 calories per day, according to the FDA. Do you really want a dipping sauce accounting for 100 of those calories? 

The body needs some fat in the diet, but it's easier to go overboard when you don't think twice about dipping sauces like these. Harvard reports that consuming too many fats, especially a fast food meal rich in saturated fats, can bring up your total cholesterol level and lead to weight gain and obesity. High cholesterol can be a serious heart issue that leads to the clogging and hardening of your arteries, explains PennMedicine.

Buffalo sauce is the secret killer (not literally). But across the board, buffalo sauces can seem healthy until you know where to look. When it comes to fast food dipping sauces, buffalo consistently has the same red flag. And the name of that flag is sodium.

First up is the Spicy Buffalo Dipping Sauce from Carl's Jr., or Hardee's, depending on which you have in your region. The chain's buffalo contains a whopping 470 milligrams of sodium per serving. With such a large portion of your daily recommended intake of sodium, this barely feels worth it as a side to an already salty meal. But trust us, this is far from the worst fast-food dipping sauce you'll find.

Next up, we have a beloved favorite that holds a special place in the hearts of many. Most pizza places aren't known for their dipping sauces, but it's not Papa John's without a side (or two) of the chain's Special Garlic Dipping Sauce.

This signature mix of garlic and butter will set you back 140 calories per serving-sized cup. That is a high calorie count for a sauce, with 150 being the average upper limit contained in similar sauces in our research. For context, the FDA recommends a diet of around 2,000 calories per day. For a condiment for one of your three meals, 150 calories is pushing into the unreasonably high territory. Overeating, or eating too many calories per day, will lead to weight gain and increase risks for other chronic health issues, according to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Additionally, with 350 milligrams of sodium per serving, this dipping sauce is a major salt bomb. However, compared to other Papa John's sauces, this one is still not the most heart-attack-inducing one you can order. 

In general, mustards are among the healthiest condiments, although leave it to any fast food chain to change that. When it comes to unhealthy fast food mustards, Kentucky Fried Chicken's Honey Mustard takes the bacon, containing in a serving more calories than a strip of that salacious meat itself.

At 110 calories, 9 grams of fat (1.5 of these being saturated fats), and 120 milligrams of sodium, KFC's Honey Mustard is one of the chain's most unhealthy sauces and one of the worst fast food honey mustards you can get. It's not necessarily low on sugar or carbs either, with both of those values weighing in at 6 grams per serving.

This sauce is technically a sandwich sauce and not a dipping sauce, according to Jack in the Box's nutrition values chart. But considering how ubiquitous the Creamy Sriracha Sauce is at the burger chain — and the fact that it outranks most of the other Jack in the Box sauces in terms of calories, sodium, and fat content — we will fight for its inclusion here.

Regardless of how the chain categorizes it, the points stand that at 120 calories, 13 grams of fat, and 270 milligrams of sodium per serving, the Jack in the Box Creamy Sriracha Sauce is a doozy. This option has all the drawbacks of an egg and oil-based sauce, as well as the high sodium content found in hot sauces like sriracha.

Jollibee's fried chicken and gravy pairing is as close as fast food gets to being legitimate Southern comfort food. The chain's brown gravy is an excellent dipping accompaniment for your chicken and sides, but as you might have guessed, it comes with some health trade-offs.

One small-sized offering of Jollibee gravy will set you back 380 milligrams of sodium, which is quite a bit for the 2.7-ounce serving. If you're getting a large 8-ounce gravy, make sure you are sharing that bad boy. At 70 calories, 980 milligrams of sodium, and 14 grams of carbohydrates, a large Jollibee gravy isn't meant for just one person.

You would think that combining buffalo and ranch would give you the best of both worlds. But when it comes to nutrition, you only get the worst. When it comes down to it, KFC's Buffalo Ranch has both the issues of ranch and buffalo, making it unhealthy in a couple of key ways.

This creamy Buffalo Ranch is high in fat and sodium, taking on the most unhealthy traits of each of its namesake sauces. At 13 grams of fat, 290 milligrams of sodium, and 120 total calories, the Buffalo Ranch is a KFC sauce to avoid. We would also recommend avoiding KFC's regular ranch dressing due to its similar issues.

There are a few reasons to call Chick-fil-A a problematic fave, and this sauce is certainly one of them. Fans of the chicken chain will admit that the sauces are one of the main draws, but the next time you go to Chick-fil-A, maybe take it easy on the chain's signature sauce.

Chick-fil-A Sauce is not doing itself any favors in terms of nutrition. It contains 140 calories per serving, which is mighty high, as are the 6 grams of sugar. The sauce is made largely from egg yolks and soybean oil, making it highly fatty. With 13 grams of fat per serving, that's around 15% of your daily recommended fat intake in a single serving of this sauce.

If you're going to McDonald's — and there are plenty of reasons to — we strongly recommend you don't get the Spicy Buffalo Sauce. Not only is it among the worst sauces on the menu in terms of flavor and texture, but it also contains an absurd amount of sodium.

So far, we've seen hot sauces with sodium counts in the 400s, but those chains have nothing on old McDonald's. At 520 milligrams of sodium per serving, McDonald's Spicy Buffalo Sauce brings the salt to an already sodium-rich menu. You should skip this unhealthy sauce.

Listen, nothing hits quite like a cheese sauce in a time of dire need. Unfortunately, you're not going to find a healthy queso in the realm of fast food. What you will find at Sonic, though, might take the crown in terms of the least healthy cheese sauce we could track down.

At 110 calories per serving, Sonic's Signature Cheese Sauce nearly doubles the amount of calories found in Taco Bell's Nacho Cheese dipping sauce. Of these calories, 80 come from fat. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, fats should make up 20% to 35% of our total daily calories, which is also a good rule of thumb to employ on a per-item basis. But the real red flag here is the 580 milligrams of sodium, which is just too high even for an already indulgent dip.

Burger King's Zesty Onion Ring Dipping Sauce launched as a hearty dipping companion to the brand's onion rings. Nowadays, it's sometimes a little more difficult to come across and may not always be available at your local store. But if you can find this creamy, tangy dipping sauce at your local Burger King, we recommend you skip it.

The Burger King Zesty Onion Ring Dipping Sauce contains 15 grams of fat and 240 milligrams of sodium per serving. The biggest concern on the label is that of the 150 calories in a dipping cup of this sauce, 140 of those come from fat. That alone should be a warning to steer clear if you are at all looking out for yourself.

Midwestern regional burger and fried food extraordinaire Culver's isn't known for being the healthiest option around. It is supremely delicious, though, and most of its dipping sauces aren't too bad health-wise. The barbecue sauce is one of the exceptions.

Culver's makes no qualms about using Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce. Unfortunately, one serving of this popular barbecue sauce available at Culver's contains a whopping 450 milligrams of sodium and 28 grams of carbs per serving.

That carbohydrate value is extremely high. Medical News Today reports that consuming too many carbs can raise blood sugar levels, cause weight gain, and can increase the risk of diabetes. According to Mayo Clinic, the proper number of carbs to consume per day falls between 225 and 325 grams.

With that in mind, a serving of Culver's Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce could potentially be more than 10% of your carbohydrate intake. It's better to pass on this sauce and go for an extra cheese curd instead.

Chick-fil-A's take on a sweet and sour sauce is almost as popular as its signature sauce. Unfortunately, the brand's Polynesian Sauce is a tasty dip that is loaded with carbohydrates and sugars.

At 14 grams of carbs per serving, this sauce runs on the higher side of fast food sauces in this regard. And 13 grams of sugar is no slouch, either. Sugar is good for you in moderation, especially natural sugars found in fruits, but eating too many added sugars can lead to blood sugar problems and an increased risk of heart disease. According to the CDC, cutting down on added sugars will help Americans live longer and healthier lives on average.

As of 2020, the American Heart Association suggests a daily added sugar limit of no more than 24 grams for most adult women and no more than 36 for men. This means that the amount of sugar in Chick-fil-A's Polynesian sauce is over half the recommended daily serving for some people.

Additionally, Chick-fil-A's Polynesian Sauce has a history of leaking for no explainable reason. We also don't like that this sauce is especially prone to leakage.

Doritos has expanded beyond just Taco Bell items. While this item is available, we might as well dunk on it. But don't worry; it is well-deserved dunking since this limited-time Papa John's sauce is just as unhealthy as the name might indicate.

The Doritos Cool Ranch Sauce was introduced alongside the new Cool Ranch Papadia. When served with this dipping sauce, the Papa does not mess around. At 560 milligrams of sodium, 180 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 5 grams of carbs, a helping of this sauce constitutes a small meal on its own.

Everything good comes with a price these days. That's certainly the case with Raising Cane's signature Cane's Sauce, which is among the most beloved fast food dipping sauces. Yet, as you will see, Cane's Sauce is mighty unhealthy in some key areas.

For starters, 190 calories per 1.5-ounce serving of Cane's Sauce is the highest calorie count we found for any fast food sauce. The next sauces in line for the title were quite a bit behind, at 150 calories. Even more concerning are the 19 grams of fat you'll find in each serving. That's 20% to 25% of what you should consume in a day, and that's before you even take a bite of chicken.

It doesn't matter if you're eating at Checkers or Rally's; either way, you are getting crazy good food. At least that's what the slogan on the sign says. We won't say a word about its quality, but what we can speak to is the chain's Medium Buffalo Sauce, which is one of the most unhealthy fast food dipping sauces.

There are a few different Buffalo Sauce heat levels at Checkers and Rally's. Each of them is salty, but the Medium Buffalo Sauce is mach five when it comes to sodium. At 870 milligrams of sodium per serving, this sauce will bring your arteries to their knees.

This sauce is unique. Somewhere between a barbeque sauce and a buffalo sauce, Popeyes Sweet Heat is hot and sticky in most of the best ways. The downside here is that this sauce is bad for you.

The problem with the Popeyes Sweet Heat sauce is that it's pretty high in calories, sodium, carbs, and sugar. At 70 calories, it's not too bad, but the sauce also has 290 milligrams of sodium per serving, which is a bit on the high side. Higher still and more concerning are the number of carbs and sugars; 19 grams and 15 grams, respectively. If you are cutting down on carbs and sugars, you will want to avoid this one.

Chick-fil-A's Garden Herb Ranch ends up being more unhealthy than most of its competition. At 140 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 220 milligrams of sodium, the chain's Garden Herb Ranch is pretty high in fat and calories. Even if you opt for a salad instead of fries and a sandwich, the ranch will catch up with you.

The kicker here is that one packet of dressing for a salad comes with two servings of Garden Herb Ranch. So you'll actually get 280 calories, 29 grams of fat, and 440 milligrams of sodium if you aren't using it as a dipping sauce.

This should come as no surprise, but even compared to the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce, the cheddar cheese dip at Culver's is the unhealthiest sauce on the chain's menu. Even compared to many of its competitors, Culver's Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Sauce goes above and beyond (but mostly above) the numbers you might want in some key nutritional categories.

At 130 calories per serving, this melted cheese might seem like what you'd expect but look a little deeper to find the real culprits. Lurking in a single serving are 30 milligrams of cholesterol and 410 milligrams of sodium. According to UCSF Health, cholesterol levels shouldn't exceed 300 milligrams per day (200 if you have a heart condition), this sauce's cholesterol levels are at least 10% of your recommended daily intake. 

We've already outlined the perils of fast-food buffalo sauce. Repeat after us; it is salty as heck. Those sodium levels reach a peak with Papa John's Buffalo Dipping Sauce. For some reason, the pizza chain is allowed to sell a sauce that contains 900 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Without the risk of repeating ourselves, we want to emphasize that this is over a third of the recommended daily sodium intake in one cup of dipping sauce. Combine that with a couple of slices from Papa John's, and it won't take long for you to hit and exceed that limit. We recommend you simply say no to any of the sauces at Papa John's.