Panda Express Dietary Information: Calories, Allergens & Healthiest Picks

Panda Express dietary information is spread across one long official table, so this guide pulls it together: every main dish’s calories, protein and sodium from Panda Express’s own Nutrition & Allergen Information page (pandaexpress.com/nutritioninformation), read October 27, 2026, plus the allergen notes and the lightest ways to order. All figures below are for the full portions Panda lists — a standard entrée serving or a full side — and Panda itself notes that handcrafted, small-batch cooking means your order may vary slightly.

The short answer: a Panda Express Bowl — one entrée plus one side — runs from 360 calories at the lightest to 1,170 calories at the heaviest. A Plate, with two entrées and one side, starts around 550 calories and can pass 1,650. The side you pick matters as much as the entrée: every full side except Super Greens is 520 calories or more.

How a Panda Express plate adds up

Panda sells three main formats: a Bowl (1 entrée + 1 side), a Plate (2 entrées + 1 side) and a Bigger Plate (3 entrées + 1 side). The maths below uses the Bowl, because it is the easiest way to compare dishes fairly — and because a Bowl is already a full meal.

• Lightest Bowl: Mushroom Chicken (180) + Super Greens (180) = 360 calories.
• Classic Bowl: The Original Orange Chicken (560) + Chow Mein (520) = 1,080 calories.
• Heaviest Bowl: The Original Orange Chicken (560) + Fried Rice (610) = 1,170 calories.
• Two-entrée Plate: Orange Chicken + Beijing Beef + Fried Rice = 560 + 480 + 610 = 1,650 calories.

The pattern is simple: fried, sweet-glazed dishes sit at the top, grilled and vegetable-heavy dishes at the bottom, and the side can add more calories than the entrée itself.

Entrées: calories, protein and sodium

Figures are per full entrée serving as listed by Panda Express. Dishes marked * are regional or limited-time items, so they may not be at your location. Panda’s own “Wok Smart” badge marks dishes with 300 calories or less and at least 8 g of protein — Mushroom Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Black Pepper Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, String Bean Chicken Breast and Black Pepper Sirloin Steak all carry it.

Entrée	Calories	Protein	Sodium
The Original Orange Chicken	560	19 g	1,000 mg
Broccoli Beef	190	17 g	600 mg
Kung Pao Chicken	270	20 g	1,300 mg
Beijing Beef	480	14 g	600 mg
Honey Walnut Shrimp	340	13 g	790 mg
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken	280	38 g	610 mg
Mushroom Chicken	180	13 g	820 mg
Black Pepper Chicken*	200	15 g	1,070 mg
Black Pepper Sirloin Steak	200	17 g	560 mg
SweetFire Chicken Breast*	360	15 g	370 mg
String Bean Chicken Breast	210	15 g	600 mg
Honey Sesame Chicken Breast	420	16 g	540 mg
Eggplant Tofu*	310	8 g	350 mg

Two things stand out. First, Grilled Teriyaki Chicken is the protein leader by a wide margin at 38 g — more than double most other entrées — which is why it is the best pick if protein is your priority. Second, sodium is high across the board: Kung Pao Chicken alone carries 1,300 mg, more than half the 2,300 mg daily limit Panda itself quotes from the Dietary Guidelines, and Black Pepper Chicken is not far behind at 1,070 mg.

The Original Orange Chicken is the dish most people ask about: 560 calories, 19 g protein and 1,000 mg sodium per serving, with 24 g of sugar in the glaze. It is the same sweet, battered style as the takeout classic covered in our Orange Chicken guide, and it sits in the same ballpark as General Tso’s chicken — a treat dish, not an everyday order.

Sides: the side can cost more than the entrée

Figures are per full side serving as listed by Panda Express. Super Greens is the only light side — and it is the only side under 500 calories.

Side	Calories	Protein	Sodium
Super Greens	180	8 g	660 mg
Chow Mein	520	14 g	1,040 mg
White Steamed Rice	570	11 g	0 mg
Chow Fun*	580	13 g	1,570 mg
Quinoa Fried Rice*	600	15 g	740 mg
Fried Rice	610	15 g	810 mg

Note two honest gaps in the current official list: there is no brown rice side (steamed rice here means white rice only) and no plain “mixed vegetables” side; Super Greens, a broccoli, kale and cabbage mix, is the vegetable option. Chow Fun is also the single saltiest item on the whole menu at 1,570 mg of sodium — more than two-thirds of the 2,300 mg daily limit in a side dish alone.

Allergens and dietary notes

Panda’s allergen table covers nine major allergens — eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, sesame (sesame oil), shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat — and the pattern is blunt: soy and wheat show up in almost every entrée and in every side except White Steamed Rice. That makes White Steamed Rice the only base that is free of both soy and wheat on paper.

• Peanuts: only Kung Pao Chicken contains peanuts.
• Shellfish and tree nuts: only Honey Walnut Shrimp contains shellfish (shrimp) and tree nuts (walnuts).
• Egg: Orange Chicken, Fried Rice, Quinoa Fried Rice, Honey Walnut Shrimp and Hot & Sour Soup contain egg.
• Milk: Beijing Beef, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Chow Fun and the Cream Cheese Rangoon contain milk.
• Sesame oil: used in most entrées, including Orange Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken; SweetFire Chicken Breast and Honey Walnut Shrimp are among the few entrées without it.
• Fish: none of the entrées or sides on the current list contains fish.

The important caveat is Panda’s own: food is prepared fresh using shared cooking equipment, preparation areas, serving utensils and storage areas, so major allergens “may be present in any menu item,” and Panda states it cannot guarantee that any menu item is free from major allergens. In plain terms, there is no certified gluten-free menu here — even a dish that contains no wheat on paper is cooked in shared areas, so anyone with coeliac disease or a severe allergy should treat the allergen table as a guide, not a guarantee, and check with the restaurant.

The healthiest picks, added up

These are the lightest Bowl combinations (one entrée + Super Greens as the side), with the addition shown:

• Mushroom Chicken + Super Greens = 180 + 180 = 360 calories, 21 g protein (13 + 8) — the lightest Bowl on the menu.
• Broccoli Beef + Super Greens = 190 + 180 = 370 calories, 25 g protein (17 + 8).
• String Bean Chicken Breast + Super Greens = 210 + 180 = 390 calories, 23 g protein (15 + 8).
• Grilled Teriyaki Chicken + Super Greens = 280 + 180 = 460 calories, 46 g protein (38 + 8) — the best protein-per-calorie plate on the menu.

Swapping Super Greens for Chow Mein adds 340 calories (520 − 180); swapping it for Fried Rice adds 430 (610 − 180). That single swap is the biggest lever on a Panda order. For why the 38 g of protein in Grilled Teriyaki Chicken stands out, see our guide to calories in protein.

The heaviest combinations to watch

The heaviest single-entrée Bowl is The Original Orange Chicken with Fried Rice: 560 + 610 = 1,170 calories, with 1,810 mg of sodium (1,000 + 810) — nearly four-fifths of the 2,300 mg daily limit in one bowl. A two-entrée Plate pushes further: Orange Chicken + Beijing Beef + Fried Rice = 560 + 480 + 610 = 1,650 calories. Add a sugary fountain drink and an appetizer and a single meal can pass 2,000 calories before dessert.

None of this makes Panda Express off-limits — it just means the battered, sweet dishes are best as an occasional order, while the Wok Smart dishes work as regulars.

How to order lighter at Panda Express

• Pick a Wok Smart entrée (300 calories or less) and Super Greens as your side.
• If you want rice, White Steamed Rice (570) is lighter than Fried Rice (610) and has no sodium at all — but it is still a big portion, so ask for a half portion if you can.
• Skip the fried appetizers: a Chicken Egg Roll adds 200 calories and a Vegetable Spring Roll 240.
• Drink water or an unsweetened tea instead of a fountain soda.
• Ask for sauce on the side where possible; a portion of Teriyaki Sauce alone is 70 calories and 380 mg sodium.

Panda Express dietary information boils down to one rule: the entrée sets the tone, but the side sets the total. Choose a grilled or vegetable-heavy entrée, pair it with Super Greens, and a Panda Bowl can be a genuinely light 360–460 calories. Choose Orange Chicken with Fried Rice and the same Bowl is 1,170. The official table is the final word — check pandaexpress.com/nutritioninformation before you order, since menus and recipes change.