Quick answer: A standard Moe's chicken burrito . rice, black beans, cheese, pico . comes out to about 960 calories. Three hundred of those calories are the tortilla. A fully loaded steak burrito with guacamole, queso and sour cream can run past 1,200.
A Moe's burrito is a genuinely substantial meal. That's not a complaint . for a lot of people that's exactly the point. But it's also the kind of meal where the calorie count can catch you by surprise, especially if you've been loosely budgeting at 2,000 a day and didn't realize lunch was about to be half of that.
Here's what each component actually costs, what a full build looks like, and the handful of swaps that can cut 300+ calories without turning it into a different meal.
The Tortilla: Your 300-Calorie Starting Point
Before you add a single topping, the flour tortilla costs you 300 calories, 50g carbohydrates, 8g fat, and 480mg sodium. That's 31% of a 960-calorie burrito from the wrapper alone.
This is the core reason a bowl at Moe's can save you 300 calories at a single swap. The tortilla adds virtually no protein (8g) relative to its calorie and carb cost. If you're watching calories, carbs, or sodium, the bowl is the direct substitute that keeps all your fillings intact.
The burrito tortilla at Moe's is a standard large flour tortilla . the same type used across the fast casual industry. Nothing exotic about it nutritionally, just a high-carb, moderate-calorie base.
Calorie Range by Protein Choice
The protein choice is the second-biggest calorie driver in your burrito:
- Tofu burrito: starts at 300 + 120 = 420 cal before toppings
- Chicken burrito: 300 + 200 = 500 cal before toppings
- Pork burrito: 300 + 240 = 540 cal before toppings
- Steak burrito: 300 + 250 = 550 cal before toppings
- Ground Beef burrito: 300 + 280 = 580 cal before toppings
Add rice (210 cal), beans (130–140 cal), and cheese (110 cal) and you're at 960–1,010 calories for a "standard" burrito with those four components.
Complete Calorie Breakdown: Standard Chicken Burrito
Here's the exact math for the most common build . chicken, rice, black beans, cheese, pico:
| Ingredient | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flour Tortilla | 300 | 8g | 50g | 8g | 480mg |
| Chicken | 200 | 30g | 0g | 8g | 240mg |
| Cilantro Lime Rice | 210 | 4g | 42g | 3g | 420mg |
| Black Beans | 130 | 8g | 22g | 1g | 260mg |
| Cheese | 110 | 7g | 1g | 9g | 220mg |
| Pico de Gallo | 10 | 0g | 2g | 0g | 20mg |
| Total | 960 | 57g | 117g | 29g | 1,640mg |
This is a calorie-dense meal, but it's also genuinely nutritious: 57g protein, 10.5g fiber, and enough calories to sustain energy for 4–5 hours. For someone doing physical work or exercising heavily, these numbers are reasonable for lunch.
Build and verify any combination instantly with our Moe's burrito calorie calculator.
How Toppings Change the Calorie Count
Here's what each optional topping adds to your burrito base (tortilla + protein + rice + beans):
- Cheese: +110 cal (brings a standard burrito to ~950+ cal)
- Guacamole: +160 cal (most calorie-dense topping)
- Sour Cream: +60 cal
- Queso: +80 cal
- Pico de Gallo: +10 cal (essentially free)
- Lettuce: +5 cal (free)
- Jalapeños: +5 cal (free)
The most loaded possible Moe's burrito . steak, rice, pinto beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, queso, pico, jalapeños, lettuce . runs about 1,210 calories, 63g fat, and 2,100mg sodium. That's a full day's worth of sodium and a meaningful chunk of most people's daily calorie budget.
Is 960 calories "too much"?
Depends entirely on the rest of your day. A few honest answers:
If you eat roughly 2,000 calories a day, a 960-calorie chicken burrito is almost half of that, which is heavy for lunch. Most people who do this regularly end up eating a lighter breakfast and lighter dinner on Moe's days, or skipping breakfast altogether. That's fine if it works for you.
If you're an active person . runner, lifter, someone doing physical labor . 960 calories at lunch is proportionate. A 3,000-calorie day absorbs a 960-calorie meal without drama.
If you're tracking strictly and a full burrito just doesn't fit, the bowl version of the exact same fillings is 650 calories. All the same meat, beans, rice and toppings. The only thing missing is the tortilla, and you don't actually taste the tortilla after the first bite.
How to cut 300 calories without losing the experience
The biggest single cut is obviously the bowl swap, but if you want to keep the burrito form, here's the toolkit: chicken instead of steak saves 50 calories. Skipping rice saves 210 . this is the biggest in-burrito cut you can make. Skipping cheese saves another 110. Guacamole is 160 if you don't actually want it.
Combine the cuts and a chicken burrito with pinto beans, pico, jalapeños and lettuce . no rice, no cheese . comes in around 640 calories, 51g protein, 10g fiber. It's a legitimate high-protein meal in a burrito shape, and it's 320 calories lighter than the default build.
The one cut I wouldn't make: the beans. They're doing real work for both protein and fiber, and skipping them to save 130 calories is almost never worth it.
For more context on how different Moe's builds compare, see our guide on Moe's vs Chipotle nutrition, or explore building the healthiest Moe's bowl as a lighter alternative. Our About page explains how we calculate every number in this guide.