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What to Order at Chipotle to Bulk Up as a Skinny Guy

The best Chipotle orders to bulk up as a skinny guy: double-chicken burritos and bowls with 80 to 90+ grams of protein, the best toppings, and what to skip.

Reviewed by Menu Scan Editorial TeamLast reviewed 7 min read

Published

The short answer

To bulk up at Chipotle, order a burrito or bowl with double chicken, white or brown rice, beans, cheese and guacamole or sour cream. A double-chicken burrito built that way comes to roughly 1,300 to 1,400 calories and about 90 grams of protein, based on Chipotle's published nutrition. Chicken is the best meat for protein (32 g per 4 oz serving), and doubling the meat is the single biggest upgrade you can make.

Chipotle might be the best fast food spot in America for a skinny guy trying to bulk. The portions are huge, the ingredients are simple, and you build your own meal one scoop at a time. That also means it's easy to walk out with a 1,200-calorie burrito that has only 50 grams of protein.

The difference between a good bulking order and an average one comes down to a couple of choices. Here's exactly what to order, using Chipotle's own published nutrition numbers.

Is Chipotle good for bulking?#

Yes, it's one of the best options in fast food. You can push a single meal past 1,300 calories and 90 grams of protein without ordering anything weird. That's a big chunk of a bulking day.

For reference, a 2018 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that muscle gains from lifting leveled off at around 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 150-pound (68 kg) guy, that's about 110 grams a day. One well-built Chipotle order can cover most of it.

Which Chipotle meat has the most protein?#

Chicken, by a wide margin. Here's every protein option per standard 4 oz serving, from Chipotle's nutrition facts:

Protein (4 oz) Calories Protein Protein per 100 cal
Chicken 180 32 g 17.8 g
Barbacoa 170 24 g 14.1 g
Steak 150 21 g 14.0 g
Carnitas 210 23 g 11.0 g
Sofritas 150 8 g 5.3 g

Nutrition from Chipotle's published nutrition facts as of October 2026. Portions are scooped by hand and vary from order to order. Check Chipotle's site for current numbers.

All of the meats are solid. Chicken just gives you the most protein per scoop. Sofritas (tofu) is the weakest for protein, so if you're vegetarian, double it and lean on beans and cheese.

What's the best Chipotle order to bulk up?#

A burrito or bowl with double meat. One scoop of chicken gives you 32 grams of protein; doubling it brings the meat alone to 64 grams. Here are four builds, added up from Chipotle's per-ingredient numbers:

Order Calories Protein
Double Chicken Burrito: flour tortilla, white rice, black beans, double chicken, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, cheese, sour cream 1,285 93 g
Double Chicken Bowl with Guac: white rice, black beans, double chicken, fajita veggies, roasted chili-corn salsa, cheese, guacamole 1,140 88 g
Chicken and Steak Bowl: white rice, pinto beans, chicken, steak, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, cheese, sour cream, queso 1,055 79 g
Double Barbacoa Burrito: flour tortilla, white rice, pinto beans, double barbacoa, fresh tomato salsa, cheese, sour cream 1,245 76 g

Compare that to a regular single-chicken burrito with rice, beans, salsa, cheese and sour cream: about 1,085 calories and 60 grams of protein. Doubling the chicken adds roughly 180 calories and 32 grams of protein, the best upgrade on the menu.

Chipotle also has an official High Protein Menu. Its Double High Protein Bowl lists 81 grams of protein for 760 calories, which is a great lean-bulk option if you're putting on fat too quickly.

Burrito or bowl: which is better for bulking?#

The burrito, if you can finish it. The flour tortilla adds 320 calories and 8 grams of protein, which is exactly what a skinny guy with a small appetite needs: more calories without more volume on a plate.

A bowl is better if:

  • You want to save half for later. A bowl reheats and splits more easily.
  • You want both guacamole and sour cream. The bowl gives you room to pile on more.
  • The burrito feels like too much. An unfinished burrito is worse than a finished bowl.

Either way, a side of chips adds a lot. Regular chips are 540 calories and 7 grams of protein, and chips and guac together come to 770 calories.

Which Chipotle toppings are best for bulking?#

The best bulking toppings add calories without taking up much room. From Chipotle's nutrition facts:

  • Guacamole (4 oz): 230 calories, mostly healthy fats. The single biggest calorie booster.
  • Cheese (1 oz): 110 calories and 6 g of protein. Always say yes.
  • Sour cream (2 oz): 110 calories.
  • Queso Blanco (2 oz): 120 calories and 5 g of protein.
  • Rice (4 oz): 210 calories, white or brown. Ask for extra rice if you need more carbs.
  • Beans (4 oz): 130 calories and 8 g of protein, black or pinto. Adds fiber too.
  • Roasted chili-corn salsa (4 oz): 80 calories, the most of any salsa.

Fajita veggies (20 calories) and lettuce (5 calories) are fine for flavor and crunch, but they won't move the scale.

What should you watch out for at Chipotle?#

Sodium adds up fast. The Double Chicken Burrito above has about 2,700 mg of sodium, which is more than the 2,300 mg daily limit the FDA recommends for most adults. The biggest sources are the flour tortilla (600 mg), the chicken (310 mg per scoop), the fresh tomato salsa (550 mg) and the white rice (350 mg).

Easy ways to cut it without losing protein:

  • Swap white rice for brown rice (190 mg instead of 350 mg).
  • Swap fresh tomato salsa for tomatillo-green chili salsa (260 mg instead of 550 mg).
  • Get a bowl instead of a burrito to skip the tortilla's 600 mg.
  • Drink water with the meal and keep the rest of your day lighter on salty foods.

Also skip the regular soda. A 32 oz Coca-Cola is 380 calories of pure sugar. On a bulk, calories aren't the enemy, but those ones fill you up without building anything.

For more on sodium when eating out, see our guide to low-sodium restaurant orders.

How does a Chipotle meal fit into a bulking day?#

One Double Chicken Burrito covers over 40% of a 3,000-calorie day and most of your protein. The rest of the day just fills in the gaps:

  • Breakfast: eggs, a bagel with peanut butter and a glass of whole milk.
  • Lunch: Double Chicken Burrito at Chipotle.
  • Snack: Greek yogurt with granola and a banana, or a protein shake.
  • Dinner: salmon or ground beef with rice and vegetables.

Our list of the best foods to bulk up for skinny guys has more ideas for the rest of the day. If you're craving Chinese food instead, here's what to order at Panda Express to bulk up, and for other Mexican restaurants, see our high-protein Mexican restaurant orders. Cutting instead of bulking? Our Chipotle orders for weight loss flips the same menu toward fewer calories.

At a local taqueria without published nutrition, Menu Scan AI can help. Snap a photo of the menu and it estimates calories, protein, carbs and fat for each dish, then ranks them against a muscle-gain goal, so you can find the best bulking order on any menu.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the highest protein meat at Chipotle?#

Chicken, with 32 grams of protein and 180 calories per 4 oz serving according to Chipotle's nutrition facts. Barbacoa (24 g), carnitas (23 g) and steak (21 g) follow. Sofritas has the least, at 8 grams per serving.

How much protein is in a Chipotle burrito with double chicken?#

A double-chicken burrito with white rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, cheese and sour cream has about 93 grams of protein and 1,285 calories, based on Chipotle's published ingredient nutrition. Portions are scooped by hand, so your burrito may vary.

Is a Chipotle bowl or burrito better for gaining weight?#

A burrito has more calories, because the flour tortilla alone adds 320 calories and 8 grams of protein. If you can finish it, the burrito is the better bulking choice. If a burrito is too much food, a bowl with guacamole and cheese is easier to finish or split into two meals.

Is double meat at Chipotle worth it?#

For bulking, yes. Doubling the chicken adds about 180 calories and 32 grams of protein, which turns a regular burrito with about 60 grams of protein into one with more than 90. It's the most protein you can add to a Chipotle order for the calories.

What is in the Chipotle Double High Protein Bowl?#

Double adobo chicken, light white rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, Monterey Jack cheese and extra lettuce, for 81 grams of protein and 760 calories, according to Chipotle's High Protein Menu. For a bigger bulking meal, Chipotle lists the Double High Protein Burrito at 79 grams of protein and 840 calories.

Sources#

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