How Much Sodium Is in a Falafel?

CAVA Nutrition Calculator: The Short Answer

The Highest-Sodium CAVA Items, Ranked

From the CAVA calculator. A sensible single-meal sodium target is roughly 700–900mg — about a third of the day — which is why items above 1,500mg deserve a deliberate decision rather than a default.

Ordering Low-Sodium at CAVA

Anchor on the low end: the Tomato & Cucumber has just 0mg of sodium, which proves a low-sodium build exists on this menu. Around that anchor, the rules are simple — one salty extra at most, sauces on the side, and fresh sides over pickled or processed ones.

The calculator makes this manageable because its sodium bar moves as you build: add items one at a time and watch which single addition does the damage. Swapping that one component, rather than abandoning the meal, is usually enough to bring a 1,800mg order back under 900mg.

• Lowest sodium: Tomato & Cucumber — 0mg
• Highest sodium: Falafel — 810mg
• Daily guideline: 2,300mg (FDA); many clinicians aim nearer 1,500mg

The Lowest-Sodium CAVA Items

A low-sodium order is built, not found. These are the lowest-sodium items in the CAVA calculator — combine two or three and the meal stays in the range a heart-conscious day can absorb.

What One Falafel Does to Your Day

Set against the standard 2,000-calorie reference day, one Falafel uses 18% of the day's calories, 12% of the protein target, 9% of the carb allowance and 33% of the fat budget. Its 810mg of sodium is 35% of the 2,300mg daily guideline — the figure that most often surprises people, because sodium concentrates in restaurant food far faster than calories do.

None of those percentages is a verdict on its own. A Falafel at 18% of the day's calories can be a sensible meal anchor; the same item plus a large side and a sweetened drink can quietly pass 60% of the day before dinner. The calculator's daily-value bars exist for exactly this check: build the whole order, not just the headline item, and read the day you are actually committing to.

• Falafel: 350 cal · 6g protein · 24g carbs · 26g fat
• Sodium: 810mg (35% of the daily guideline)
• Sugar: 2g of the 50g daily value · Fibre: 5g of 28g

The Full Nutrition Profile of the Falafel

Here is the complete panel for the Falafel, exactly as the CAVA calculator carries it, with each nutrient also expressed as a percentage of its daily value on a 2,000-calorie reference diet. Read down the percentage column rather than the grams: it is the fastest way to see which nutrient this item is really about. For the Falafel, the standout is sodium, at 35% of a full day in a single item.

Two cautions belong with any single-item panel. First, published values describe the standard build — your portion, your sauce quantity and your size can move every line. Second, percentages are shares of a whole day, not grades: an item at 45% of the day's sodium is a problem only in the context of what else the day holds, which is why the calculator totals the full order rather than judging items one at a time.

Where This Answer Sits on the Whole CAVA Menu

Zoom out and the CAVA menu tracked here spans 41 items across 6 categories, from the Tomato & Cucumber at 10 calories to the Falafel at 350 — a 35-fold spread inside one restaurant. The average item is about 132 calories, 0 items pass 700 calories, and 41 of 41 sit under 500. Any single number quoted from this menu means little until it is placed inside that spread.

That spread is also the opportunity. A menu this wide almost always contains a build for the goal you actually have — the protein target, the sodium ceiling, the 500-calorie lunch — provided the order is assembled deliberately rather than inherited from habit. The rankings in this article are the map; the calculator is where you test the route before you travel it.

• Menu range: 10 cal (Tomato & Cucumber) to 350 cal (Falafel)
• 35 items under 300 calories · 41 under 500 · average 132
• Most protein-dense: Baby Spinach at 15g protein per 100 cal

The One Swap That Changes the Answer

If the Falafel is your usual order and the numbers above are more than you wanted, the highest-value single change on this menu is the Baby Spinach: 20 calories against 350 (330 fewer), 3g of protein against 6g, and 70mg of sodium against 810mg (740mg less salt). One swap, repeated weekly, is worth more than a month of good intentions.

Not every swap has to be a downgrade in enjoyment: the pattern that works at CAVA is swapping the component, not the meal — the same style of order rebuilt around a lighter anchor, with the sauce, cheese or side demoted from default to deliberate. Price both versions in the calculator once and the better default usually picks itself.

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