Is a Pizza or Burger Healthier?

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Perhaps you're someone who enjoys the occasional pizza and burger. The good news is you can incorporate these into your weekly diet while still maintaining a balanced, healthy meal plan. The key is to make informed decisions and smart swaps that reduce calories and fat, giving you the flexibility to enjoy your favorite foods without compromising your health. 

The pizza vs. burger debate has long reigned supreme for those who want to indulge in their favorite meals without increasing their calorie intake. But, the answer could be a little more complicated than originally thought — in fact, it all depends on healthy substitutions and alterations to these traditional American meals that are long-time favorites. 

What is Healthier, a Burger or Pizza?

Is a pizza or burger healthier for my weekly diet? It all depends. It really rests on the type of pizza, bread, carbohydrate intake, fat levels, meat choice, toppings, and other factors that can influence the macronutrients and micronutrients in the meal. 

A single slice of cheese pizza is healthier than a cheeseburger. A pizza contains fewer calories, healthy vitamins and protein in the tomato sauce and cheese, and low sodium levels. In comparison, a cheeseburger has higher fat content, white bread, and possibly high sodium levels with condiments. 

However, there are alternatives that can change the calorie count and macronutrient distribution of a slice of pizza and burger. For example, choosing a lean beef burger has 196 calories and 10 grams of fat, whereas regular ground beef has 230 calories and 13 grams of fat. In addition, taking off cheese, mayonnaise, or ketchup can reduce the fat intake, sodium levels, and saturated fat levels. Just one serving of mayo on top of a burger has 70% of a person’s daily saturated fat intake. 

Factors to Consider With Burgers

When it comes to burgers, there's a world of healthy options waiting to be explored. By making smart diet decisions, you can transform your burger into a lean source of protein, opening up a whole new range of flavors and textures to enjoy. 

Firstly, choose low-fat ground beef for your burger if you can. Although a fattier burger is juicier and tastier, lean beef can cut back on hundreds of fat-laden calories that add too much saturated fat to your diet. Reducing saturated fat reduces the chance of heart disease, lowers stroke risk, and minimizes calorie intake.

Secondly, eat a burger without a bun (like a lettuce wrap) or choose a whole-grain bun. A whole-grain bun can help cut back on processed sugars and additives found in white-bread buns, which add empty calories and don’t provide any fiber to keep you full. Whole-grain buns provide fiber, nutrients, and complex carbohydrates. 

Thirdly, you can also choose another type of meat with your burger for the most health benefits. Instead of choosing ground beef, try a grilled chicken, Beyond Meat vegetarian burger, Boca burger, or turkey burger to consume ample protein without the added fat. 

Lastly, consider choosing your toppings wisely. Although cheese, fried onions, onion rings, ketchup, and mayonnaise are tempting to add flavor and juiciness to your burger, they can all add hundreds of calories, tons of sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. Instead, opt for freshly cut vegetables, sauteed mushrooms, or spices like paprika, pepper, or chili powder. 

Factors to Consider With Pizza

Everybody loves having a Friday pizza and movie night with their family, right? You may want to go out to dinner and have pizza and a glass of wine. But, there are certain factors to consider that can help you avoid unnecessary calories that can derail your diet. 

First, start with a healthy crust for your pizza — or skip eating the edge of the crust altogether. Opt for a whole-grain pizza crust to increase fiber intake without ingesting empty white carbohydrates. 

Next, try to choose heart-healthy and low-fat sauces, like tomato sauce. We love adding a little olive oil for monounsaturated fats, tiny spoonfuls of pesto for heart-healthy fats, and tomato sauce to boost your vitamin C and K intake. 

In addition, reduce your cheese intake. Although some pizza slices will be loaded with cheese, you can take some off and still get the cheese-filled flavor. If you are selecting your pizza or making one at home, opt for low-fat cheese, part-skim mozzarella, or fresh mozzarella without additives. 

Lastly, add tons of veggies to the top of your pizza slice! Vegetables add vitamins, keep you full, and increase the flavor of every single bite. We love adding bell peppers for an added crunch, onions for more fiber, mushrooms for vitamin B, and olives for vitamin E. 

Is Pizza More Unhealthy Than McDonald's?

It all depends on what you get regarding pizza choices and McDonald’s.

You can make healthy pizza or choose healthy pizza options at a restaurant by reducing the cheese intake, choosing a healthy tomato-based sauce, adding veggies to every slice, and choosing a whole-grain crust.

McDonald’s’s calorie count and fat content vary widely depending on what you order. For those who want a small snack, the 4-piece chicken McNuggets have only 170 calories and 10 grams of fat. You can even add small fries for just 230 calories and 11 grams of fat. 

One of the ‘healthiest’ McDonald’s options is the hamburger, which has 250 calories, 9 grams of fat, 31 grams of carbohydrates, and 12 grams of protein. For lunch, this low-calorie option offers a beef patty without any artificial flavoring or preservatives. 

Rest assured, pizza is generally a healthier option than many fast food choices. It's a balanced meal that provides a good mix of nutrients without any additives and features whole foods like tomatoes, cheese, and whole grains. 

Is Pizza the Healthiest Fast Food?

Pizza isn’t considered extremely healthy, but it could be the healthiest fast food option. It all depends on the type of pizza you are eating. If you want to cut back on calories and make smart eating decisions, choose a pizza with tomato sauce, reduced-fat cheese, and a thin crust. This means the slice of pizza could come with a low-calorie count, ample vitamins in the sauce, and heart-healthy fats and protein in the cheese. 

Other healthy fast food options currently include ordering a customized burrito bowl or salad at Chipotle, where you can choose lean meat or vegetables, skip the cheese, skip the sour cream, add extra sauteed veggies, and put salsa on top for some extra flavor. Another healthy fast food option is Subway, where you can customize a salad, 6-inch, or footlong Subway with your choice of lean protein, vegetables, sauces, and cheese. 

How Many Calories In a Burger vs. Pizza?

According to online data sources, comparing a traditional cheese slice to a hamburger shows that both options have high sodium and saturated fat levels. 

In the fat comparison, pizza gets 51% of its fat from saturated fat, 30% from monounsaturated fat, and 19% from polyunsaturated fat. A hamburger has 46% of its fat from saturated fat, 50% from monounsaturated fat, and 3% from polyunsaturated fat. 

In addition, pizza has a higher amount of carbohydrates due to the dough and cheese. A slice of pizza has more starch, lactose, maltose, and galactose, whereas a burger has more glucose and fructose. 

Lastly, pizza has higher vitamin C, A, E, B1, K, and folate levels, whereas a burger has more B2, B3, B6, and B12 vitamins. 

Final Thoughts

Is pizza healthier, or is a burger best for a healthy, well-rounded dinner? Even though you may have thought that eating pizza was no longer allowed on your well-rounded meal plan, you could be surprised to discover that you can indulge in both pizza and a burger every week without derailing your diet. 

Making healthy swaps, changing the bread type, reducing condiments, choosing lean meats, and adding vegetables to burgers or pizza are the best ways to reduce calories, reduce fat levels, lower your sodium intake, and boost your protein and vitamin intake. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a cheeseburger healthier than fries?

There are many debates as to whether a cheeseburger is better than fries. Although a cheeseburger could have a higher calorie count, adding fries to your meal or having stand-alone French Fries often adds too much sodium to a well-balanced diet.

Although burgers contain more fat, protein, and carbohydrates, they are more well-rounded than just fries. Therefore, having a cheeseburger, or even two hamburgers, is often seen as healthier than having a burger and a side of fries.

A cheeseburger has an average of 535 calories, with 29 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 96 mg of cholesterol, 1176 mg of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, and 30 grams of protein. Some of the most alarming nutritional facts include extremely high saturated fat and sodium levels.

In comparison, fries have a lower calorie count per serving but very little nutritional value that can add to a whole-food diet. Fries have 365 calories, 17 grams of fat, 2.7 grams of saturated fat, 246 mg of sodium, 48 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein. 

A burger is typically considered healthier because it adds 30 grams of filling protein and complex carbohydrates, whereas the fries add almost no nutritional or mineral benefits. 

Is pizza worse than fried food?

Pizza is much healthier than fried food. For those who love having a mozzarella pizza at the end of a long workday, you will be relieved to find out that you can eat pizza without any guilt. 

Fried foods are extremely high in calories. When fried in oil instead of being sauteed or grilled, they hold onto excess fat, increasing the calorie count. For example, fries contain nearly 20 grams of fat, whereas a baked potato has less than 1 gram of fat — for the same food. 

Plus, fried foods are very high in trans fats. Trans fats are extremely difficult to break down, which can lead to long-term illnesses and diseases, like cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. 

Furthermore, fried foods are directly related to an increased risk of diabetes. Fried foods can lead to developing type 2 diabetes due to the prevalence of insulin resistance in those who eat fried foods at least once per week.

Lastly, fried foods are linked to higher obesity levels. Foods fried affect hormones, change appetite levels, and increase fat storage. 

Is a burger healthy or unhealthy?

When incorporating this ‘guilty’ food into your diet, you may be relieved that a burger patty can be quite healthy. Choosing lean meat or an alternative like turkey patties, vegetable-based patties, or grilled chicken can turn the meat from a fat-laden bite into a healthy food choice.

Plus, you can choose whole-grain bread, low-fat toppings, and sauces that don’t contain ample sodium levels. Eating one burger per week can help you reach your protein goals while still giving you the illusion of a ‘cheat meal.’

Main image credit: Ron Lach / Pexels

The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.