The healthiest Subway sandwich for most people is a 6-inch Grilled Chicken, Roast Beef or Subway Club: each has about 31 g of protein for 490 to 510 calories as Subway builds them, and roughly 200 calories less if you skip the cheese and mayo. If you want even more protein, a Protein Bowl drops the bread entirely, and the Subway Club bowl packs 45 g protein for 400 calories. Below, the best picks are ranked by protein, with the swaps that make the biggest difference.
Numbers come from Subway’s published U.S. nutrition information, cross-checked against nutrition databases that reproduce it. Menus, breads and recipes change and vary by location, so check the Subway app for your restaurant.
Healthiest Subway sandwiches at a glance
| Order (6-inch) | Calories as built | Plain: calories / sodium | Protein | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subway Club Protein Bowl | 400 | — | 45 g | Most protein, no bread |
| Grilled Chicken | 510 | 290 / 580 mg | 31 g | Best all-round pick |
| Roast Beef | 490 | 310 / 790 mg | 31 g | Beef lovers |
| Subway Club | 500 | — | 31 g | Mixed deli meats |
| Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki | 430 | — | 29 g | Lowest calories for 29 g+ |
| Steak Philly | 510 | 360 / 1,040 mg* | 28 g | A hot sandwich |
| Turkey & Ham | 460 | 280 / 850 mg | 27 g | Classic deli sub |
| Oven-Roasted Turkey | 470 | 270 / not listed | 26 g | Fewest calories with meat |
| Black Forest Ham | 480 | 280 / 860 mg | 25 g | Budget-friendly classic |
| Veggie Delite | 310 | 210 / 370 mg | about 16 g | Lowest calories and sodium |
The highest-protein subs (31 g)
Three 6-inch subs tie at the top for protein. They all sit around 500 calories as Subway builds them, which leaves plenty of room to trim.
1. Grilled Chicken
Per 6-inch as built: 510 calories, 31 g protein. Plain: 290 calories, 27 g protein, 580 mg sodium, 4 g fat.
My pick for the healthiest Subway sandwich overall. Ordered plain, it has the most protein per calorie of any 6-inch sub and the lowest sodium of the meat options. The default build adds Monterey cheddar and mayo, so ask for no mayo and a lighter sauce like yellow mustard or red wine vinegar, then pile on the vegetables. Like grilled chicken at home? Our guide to protein in chicken breast shows how much you get per ounce.
2. Roast Beef
Per 6-inch as built: 490 calories, 31 g protein. Plain: 310 calories, 25 g protein, 790 mg sodium.
Roast beef is lean and filling, and it’s the slightly lighter of the two 31 g subs as built. It comes with provolone and mayo; keep the cheese if you like it, but swap the mayo for mustard to save about 100 calories.
3. Subway Club
Per 6-inch as built: 500 calories, 31 g protein.
Turkey, ham and roast beef on Hearty Multigrain with American cheese and mayo. It’s a good choice if you want variety in one sandwich. Dropping the mayo is the easiest way to bring it closer to 400 calories.
Solid picks with 25 to 29 g protein
4. Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
Per 6-inch as built: 430 calories, 29 g protein, 11 g fat.
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The lowest-calorie sub with close to 30 g protein, and the lowest in fat of the meat subs as built, because it uses sweet onion sauce instead of mayo. The trade-off is sugar and sodium: the teriyaki glaze and sauce make it one of the sweeter and saltier options, so it’s a good occasional pick rather than a daily one.
5. Steak Philly
Per 6-inch as built: 510 calories, 28 g protein. With American cheese, no sauce: 360 calories, 26 g protein, 1,040 mg sodium.
Steak, peppers and onions make this the most satisfying hot option. Skip the mayo and it drops to about 400 calories, but sodium stays high, so balance the rest of your day if you order it.
6. Turkey & Ham
Per 6-inch as built: 460 calories, 27 g protein. Plain: 280 calories, 21 g protein, 850 mg sodium.
A classic deli combination that’s lighter than the Club. It comes with American cheese and mayo by default; swapping the mayo for mustard keeps it moist without the extra calories.
7. Oven-Roasted Turkey
Per 6-inch as built: 470 calories, 26 g protein. Plain: 270 calories, 22 g protein, 4 g fat.
Ordered plain, this is the lowest-calorie meat sub on the menu. Provolone and mayo together add roughly 190 calories, so those are the two things to cut. If you’re still hungry, ask for double meat rather than a bigger bread.
8. Black Forest Ham
Per 6-inch as built: 480 calories, 25 g protein. Plain: 280 calories, 20 g protein, 860 mg sodium.
Close to the turkey sub on calories with slightly less protein and a bit more sodium. It’s a fine choice, but turkey or grilled chicken gives you more for the same calories.
The lightest options
9. Veggie Delite
Per 6-inch as built: 310 calories, about 16 g protein. Plain: 210 calories, 10 g protein, 370 mg sodium.
The lowest-calorie and lowest-sodium sub, but also the lowest in protein, so it won’t keep most people full on its own. Treat it as a side or add a Protein Pocket (below) to round it out.
10. Protein Bowls and Protein Pockets
Subway Club Protein Bowl: 400 calories, 45 g protein. Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Protein Bowl: 480 calories, 42 g protein. Grilled Chicken Protein Bowl: 620 calories, 48 g protein.
Protein Bowls skip the bread and come with more meat than a 6-inch sub, which is why the protein jumps. The Club bowl is the standout. Protein Pockets are smaller: the Turkey & Ham Pocket is 320 calories with 21 g protein, and the Baja Chicken Pocket is 330 calories with 24 g protein.
High-protein Subway combos
- Subway Club Protein Bowl + Turkey & Ham Protein Pocket: 720 calories, 66 g protein.
- 6-inch Grilled Chicken (no cheese or sauce) + Baja Chicken Protein Pocket: 620 calories, 51 g protein.
- 6-inch Roast Beef (no cheese or sauce) + Turkey & Ham Protein Pocket: 630 calories, 46 g protein.
- Two 6-inch Oven-Roasted Turkey subs (no cheese or sauce): 540 calories, 44 g protein.
- Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Protein Bowl on its own: 480 calories, 42 g protein.
Combo totals don’t include chips, cookies or drinks. If you’d rather pack your own sub-style lunch, our lunch meal prep ideas hold up all week, and our healthy fast food guide has the best order at other big chains.
How to order healthier at Subway
- Ask for no mayo. A 6-inch portion of mayo is about 100 calories. Yellow mustard (10) or red wine vinegar (0) adds flavor for almost nothing.
- Watch the cheese. The default cheese portion on a 6-inch adds 80 to 109 calories, depending on the type.
- Pick a plainer bread. A 6-inch Hearty Multigrain is 201 calories and Artisan Italian is 207, while Italian Herbs & Cheese is 249.
- Load up on vegetables. Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions add volume and crunch for very few calories.
- Go bigger on protein, not bread. Double meat or a Protein Bowl adds protein without the extra bread a footlong brings.
How these picks were chosen
Every pick is on Subway’s regular U.S. menu. Subs were ranked by protein, then by calories, with sodium as a tiebreaker; tuna and Chicken & Bacon Ranch were left out because they’re higher in calories and fat. Calories and protein for the default builds come from Subway’s own menu pages and the nutrition databases that reproduce them; plain-build figures come from Subway’s standard-recipe nutrition data as reproduced by MyFoodDiary. Where sources disagreed, the number was left out. Combo totals were added up and double-checked. Lestta isn’t affiliated with Subway, and this isn’t medical advice; if you’re managing a health condition, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian.
