CAVA Nutrition Calculator: The Short Answer
The Sweet Potato & Chickpea contains 7g of sugar — the most of any item at CAVA. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item is about 14% of a day's sugar budget: the highest on this menu, though modest next to the sweet drinks at most chains.
Sugar at CAVA is concentrated, not spread out: most savoury items sit in single digits, and the total is driven by drinks, desserts and sweet sauces. The ranking below shows exactly where the sugar lives on this menu.
The Highest-Sugar CAVA Items, Ranked
From the CAVA calculator data. If you are managing blood sugar or simply cutting back, this table — not the calorie column — is the one to scan before ordering.
| Item | Sugar | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Potato & Chickpea | 7g | 210 | 6g | 34g | 350mg |
| Roasted Vegetables | 6g | 100 | 3g | 14g | 600mg |
| Pickled Onions | 4g | 20 | 0g | 5g | 0mg |
| Black Lentils | 3g | 260 | 17g | 37g | 520mg |
| Super Greens | 3g | 40 | 2g | 8g | 35mg |
| Harissa Honey Chicken | 3g | 260 | 26g | 7g | 680mg |
| Harissa Dip | 3g | 70 | 1g | 5g | 250mg |
| Fire-Roasted Corn | 3g | 45 | 2g | 5g | 110mg |
How to Keep Sugar Down Without Skipping the Visit
Three moves cover most of it. Make water or an unsweetened drink the default — sweetened drinks are the largest single sugar source on almost every fast-food menu. Treat the items in the table above as dessert, not as part of the meal. And when two similar items differ mainly in a sweet sauce or glaze, take the plainer build: the sugar difference is usually larger than the calorie difference suggests.
One caution against over-reading the numbers: sugar in a whole-food item (fruit, milk) arrives with fibre and protein that slow it down, while sugar in a sweetened drink arrives alone. The calculator's sugar column treats them identically because labels do — your judgement should not. Check your full build, drink included, before you order.
- Sweetest item: Sweet Potato & Chickpea — 7g sugar
- Reference points: FDA daily value 50g; AHA suggested limits 25g (women) / 36g (men)
- Savoury core of the menu: mostly 0–5g sugar per item
The Lowest-Sugar End of the CAVA Menu
The other end of the scale is where everyday orders should live. These are the lowest-sugar items in the CAVA calculator — the savoury core of the menu, where sugar is an ingredient trace rather than a headline.
| Item | Sugar | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avocado | 0g | 160 | 1g | 9g | 5mg |
| Pita Crisps | 0g | 90 | 2g | 10g | 35mg |
| Crazy Feta® | 0g | 70 | 4g | 1g | 220mg |
| Lemon Herb Tahini | 0g | 70 | 2g | 4g | 140mg |
| Roasted Eggplant Dip | 0g | 50 | 1g | 2g | 170mg |
| Kalamata Olives | 0g | 50 | 0g | 2g | 260mg |
| Crumbled Feta | 0g | 35 | 4g | 1g | 125mg |
| Yogurt Dill Dressing | 0g | 30 | 2g | 1g | 190mg |
Check It Yourself in the CAVA Calculator
Every figure in this article comes from the CAVA calculator on this site, and you can reproduce the answer in under a minute: open the calculator, add your meal with the drink included exactly as you order it — size, side, drink and sauce included — and read the live totals. Published menu numbers describe the standard build; your build is the one you actually eat, and the two diverge most often on drinks, sauces and portion upgrades.
If your total differs from the headline figure here, the difference is information, not error: it tells you which of your regular additions carries the calories. Change one component at a time and watch which single swap moves the total most — that swap, repeated, is worth more than any one-off light order.
The Full Nutrition Profile of the Sweet Potato & Chickpea
Here is the complete panel for the Sweet Potato & Chickpea, 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 Sweet Potato & Chickpea, the standout is dietary fibre, at 25% 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.
| Nutrient | Amount | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 210 | 11% |
| Protein | 6g | 12% |
| Carbohydrates | 34g | 12% |
| Total Fat | 6g | 8% |
| Dietary Fibre | 7g | 25% |
| Sugars | 7g | 14% |
| Sodium | 350mg | 15% |
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 Sweet Potato & Chickpea 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 210 (190 fewer), 3g of protein against 6g, and 70mg of sodium against 350mg (280mg 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.
People Also Ask
How Much Sodium Is in a Falafel?
The Falafel contains 810mg of sodium — 35% of the 2,300mg daily guideline, in a single item, before any side or drink. It is the saltiest item at CAVA, and the clearest example of why sodium, not calories, is this menu's quiet problem.
Can You Eat CAVA on a Keto Diet?
Yes — you can eat keto at CAVA, but only from a short list. The lowest-carb item in the CAVA calculator is the Garlic Dressing at 0g of total carbs (about 0g net), and a workable keto meal usually combines one or two of the lowest-carb items below while skipping breads, batters, sweet sauces and starchy sides entirely.
How Much Sugar Is in a The Hulk Strawberry?
The The Hulk Strawberry (20 oz) contains 120g of sugar — the most of any item at Smoothie King, and more than the American Heart Association's full-day suggested limit for women (25g) and men (36g) in a single serving. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item can cover most of a day's sugar budget before anything else is eaten.
How Much Sugar Is in a Blimey Limey?
The Blimey Limey (24 oz) contains 120g of sugar — the most of any item at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and more than the American Heart Association's full-day suggested limit for women (25g) and men (36g) in a single serving. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item can cover most of a day's sugar budget before anything else is eaten.