What to Eat at Braum's: Healthy Menu Choices and Nutrition Facts

What to Eat at Braums

Verywell / Christian Alzate

Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store is a family-owned restaurant chain headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It specializes in dairy products, like ice cream; you'll also find classic American fare, such as a variety of hamburgers, crispy chicken sandwiches, and chili. In addition to the restaurant, Braum's has a fresh market selling a selection of grocery items.

Braum's focuses on fresh foods. It sources locally made products, including its own dairy, bakery, and farm in Tuttle, Oklahoma. (You can even take tours of the farm, concluding with a sweet treat.)

What Experts Say

"Braum's is a family-owned restaurant and market located throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas that specializes in dairy products, such as milk and ice cream. If you are dining in or visiting the drive-through you will find calorically dense foods such as bacon cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and ice cream. Consider sharing these items and perhaps balancing it out with one of their salads. When shopping the marketplace, you'll find a variety of farm-fresh and healthy dairy products including buttermilk, yogurt, and milk from local herds. And of course, there is ice cream—more than 100 flavors. Balance out your ice cream and baked goods purchases with fresh fruits and vegetables from the marketplace."

Barbie Cervoni, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN

Navigating the Menu

At Braum's, you have a choice of foods for all three daily meals. Breakfast items include burritos, biscuits, and bagel sandwiches. For lunch and dinner, you can choose from various grill items like hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and crispy chicken sandwiches, or salads and a cup of Braum's signature Southwest chili.

What to Order & Avoid at Braum's
 Most Nutritious Options Least Nutritious Options
Fruit and Yogurt Swirl (Breakfast) Big Country Breakfast (Breakfast)
Cheeseburger (Hamburgers) Triple 1/4-lb. Cheeseburger (Hamburgers)
Chicken Filet Sandwich (Chicken) Chicken Strip Dinner (Chicken)
Garden Salad (Salads & Chili) Chicken Strip Salad (Salads & Chili)
Orange Sherbet (Ice Cream) Premium Peanut Butter Cup Gourmet Ice Cream (Ice Cream)
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt (Frozen Yogurt) Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Frozen Yogurt (Frozen Yogurt)
Fat-Free Milk (Dairy) Chocolate Milk (Dairy)
CarbWatch Bread (Bread) Raisin Nut Bread (Bread)

Most Nutritious Option

Since the grocery store has prepared foods and ingredients for home baking, it includes a wide selection of nutritious choices. For a restaurant meal, the garden salad, with lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, red cabbage, and spinach, offers plenty of veggies and fiber.

This salad is also served with a choice of salad dressings, and for texture, you can add croutons or crackers. For extra protein, you can add grilled chicken to the salad.

Note that Braum's does not publish nutrition information for its restaurant items, only its branded dairy products. Nutrition facts shown here are from other sources.

Breakfast

Braum's offers three choices for breakfast sandwiches: a burrito, bagel, or biscuit. These breakfast sandwiches come topped with cheese, protein, and eggs.

You will also find full-sized breakfast meals on the menu, such as hotcakes and sausage, biscuits and gravy, and the Big Country Breakfast, which features scrambled eggs, a buttermilk biscuit, hash browns, and your choice of protein. Be aware that these big plates contain large portions and are high in calories and sodium.

All breakfast items are served from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

✓ Fruit and Yogurt Swirl

The fruit and yogurt swirl comes with strawberries, almonds, and a banana and contains 280 calories, 5g fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 44g carbohydrates, 18g protein, and 60mg sodium. You'll also get some fiber and vitamin C from the strawberries and banana.

✗ Big Country Breakfast

The big country breakfast served with scrambled eggs, choice of meat, hash browns, biscuit, and jelly contains 1,129 calories, 62g fat, 18g saturated fat, 104g carbohydrates, 40g protein, and 2,480mg sodium. 

Hamburgers

All Braum's prepared hamburgers are made with 100% pure beef patties and come with your choice of toppings and cheese on a sesame seed bun.

Topping options include:

  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Cheese
  • Bacon
  • Pickles
  • Onions
  • Braum’s special sauce (a ketchup/mayo combo)
  • Mayonnaise

To reduce calories and fat on your burger, skip the cheese, mayonnaise, and special sauce.

✓ Cheeseburger

A cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions contains 530 calories, 28g fat, 12g saturated fat, 40g carbohydrates, 29g protein, and 1,420mg sodium. 

✗ Triple 1/4-lb. Cheeseburger

The triple 1/4-lb. cheeseburger features three burger patties and contains 1,040 calories, 64g fat, 27g saturated fat, 43g carbohydrates, 71g protein, and 2,020mg sodium.

Chicken

Most chicken sandwiches come topped with crispy chicken. Braum's also offers a chicken strip dinner with fried tenders, fries, and several dipping condiments, or you can order the chicken strips solo. You will find one grilled chicken sandwich, but it contains 702 calories with 21 grams of fat, and it is not necessarily the most nutritious chicken option.

✓ Chicken Filet Sandwich

The chicken filet sandwich contains 590 calories, 27g fat, 5g saturated fat, 60g carbohydrates, 28g protein, and 1,220mg sodium.

✗ Chicken Strip Dinner

The chicken strip dinner comes with fries, gravy, a dinner roll, and chocolate pudding. It provides 1,150 calories, 51g fat, 11g saturated fat, 134g carbohydrates, 37g protein, and 2,590mg sodium. Order the strips solo if you're craving breaded chicken to save on calories, carbs, and sodium.

Salads & Chili

Braum's has four types of salads on the menu and also offers seasonal specialty salad options. You can choose between grilled and crispy chicken as a protein and most salads are served with your choice of dressings, croutons, and crackers for crunch.

For chili lovers, Braum's has one choice available: the Southwest chili, which includes fresh greens and tomatoes. The entree-size chili contains 420 calories per bowl without any toppings. Adding cheese and sour cream will boost the total calorie count by 180.

✓ Garden Salad

The garden salad contains 170 calories, 10g fat, 6g saturated fat, 13g carbohydrates, 10g protein, and 240mg sodium.

✗ Chicken Strip Salad

If you opt to top your garden salad with chicken strips, the meal contains 795 calories, 47g fat, 13g saturated fat, 50g carbohydrates, 45g protein, and 440mg sodium.

 Ice Cream

The cows on Braum's farms are fed a vegetarian diet that contains no antibiotics and growth hormones. You'll find several Braum's-packaged ice cream and sherbet flavors at the grocery store and a variety of dessert choices at the restaurant, such as sundaes, malts, and shakes.

Braum’s also offers no sugar added ice cream, sweetened with allulose. The vanilla flavor only contains 120 calories and 6 g of sugar per serving; however, note that artificial sweeteners may cause gastrointestinal discomfort in some people.

✓ Orange Sherbet

A half-cup serving of orange sherbert contains 130 calories, 3g fat, 2g saturated fat, 26g carbohydrates, 1g protein, and 30mg sodium.

✗ Premium Peanut Butter Cup Gourmet Ice Cream

A half-cup serving of premium peanut butter cup gourmet ice cream contains 190 calories, 12g fat, 6g saturated fat, 18g carbohydrates, 4g protein, and 120mg sodium.

Frozen Yogurt

Braum’s also has 16 flavors of frozen yogurt. All are made with whole milk, fresh fruit, and natural flavors, are 94% fat-free, and have a higher protein content than the sherbets. 

✓ Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

One half-cup serving of vanilla frozen yogurt contains 120 calories, 4g fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 17g carbohydrates, 4g protein, and 60mg sodium.

✗ Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Frozen Yogurt

One half-cup serving of chocolate peanut butter cup frozen yogurt contains 180 calories, 10 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 19 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, and 120 mg sodium.

Dairy

Braum's started as a butter processing plant and today houses a dairy farm and processing plant, which is the heart of the Braum's operation. Braum's exclusively produces A2 milk, which it claims has up to 50% more calcium, protein, and other essential nutrients compared to other milk on the market.

You will find Braum's prepackaged cheese in flavors such as Colby and cheddar, made from the organization's dairy farm. Braum's also sells yogurt, cottage cheese, and various dips.

✓ Fat-Free Milk

One cup of fat-free milk contains 130 calories, 0g fat, 0g saturated fat, 18g carbohydrates, 13g protein, and 190mg sodium.

✗ Chocolate Milk

One cup of chocolate milk contains 210 calories, 8g fat, 5g saturated fat, 27g carbohydrates, 9g protein, and 200mg sodium.

Bread

The bakery department offers bread in a variety of flavors, including butter, whole grain, garlic, rye, and raisin nut. One slice of regular and artisan bread ranges in calories from 30 to 100.

✓ CarbWatch Bread

One serving, or two slices, of CarbWatch bread contains 60 calories, 2.5g fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 16g carbohydrates, 1g protein, and 310mg sodium.

✗ Raisin Nut Bread

One slice of raisin nut bread contains 80 calories, 2g fat, 0g saturated fat, 14g carbohydrates, 2g protein, and 95mg sodium.

Diet-Specific Options

Because of the wide variety of products at this store, you can stick to gluten-free, low-sodium, and vegetarian diets at Braum's, but you won't find many options for low-fat, low-carb, low-FODMAP, diabetes-friendly, or vegan diets.

Gluten-Free

Although well known for its bakery items, you can avoid gluten at Braum's. However, you should be aware that you could experience cross-contamination in the kitchen. Those with gluten intolerance should speak with a manager.

Gluten-free items include:

  • Garden salad
  • Grilled chicken salad
  • Strawberry chicken poppyseed salad
  • Ice cream (choose a flavor without baked goods, such as cookie dough or brownies)

For a nutritious gluten-free option, choose the garden salad. It packs in healthy vegetables for only 170 calories.

Low-Sodium

For customers following a low-sodium, heart-healthy diet, options include:

  • Garden salad
  • Grilled chicken salad
  • Sherbet freeze
  • Fruit and yogurt swirl
  • Vegetarian bagel omelette

Again, the garden salad is the top pick here, with only 240mg sodium.

Vegetarian

Although the majority of the prepared foods at Braum's contain meat (hamburgers, chicken, and chili), you can purchase a garden salad, choose from a number of breakfasts, and shop at the produce market for meatless products.

Vegetarian items include:

  • Garden salad
  • Vegetarian bagel omelette
  • Breakfast bagel
  • Fruit and yogurt swirl
  • Hotcakes
  • Hash browns
  • Cinnamon roll

For a filling and nutritious vegetarian meal, choose the vegetarian bagel omelette at breakfast time, or the fruit and yogurt swirl, which is available all day long.

Food Allergies and Safety

To protect yourself from food allergies while shopping and eating at Braum's, ask for modifications in your order. For example, if you can't eat seeds or nuts, ask for a different type of bagel than the "everything" bagel used on a number of breakfast orders.

Unfortunately, you won't find nutrition or allergen information on the Braum's website. You can see the main ingredients on each individual item, but not a comprehensive ingredient list. For example, a tortilla may have flour and egg in it, which isn't listed. Ask the manager for more information, or skip items you're not sure about.

Be aware of cross-contamination. All products could be made in the same kitchen and even on the same countertop. For example, if you have a dairy allergy, cheese could be chopped using the same knife as the vegetables.

A Word From Verywell

Braum's is a popular restaurant and fresh food market with locations in Oklahoma and other nearby states. Although the menu includes a number of high-calorie burgers, fried chicken sandwiches and tenders, and large plate breakfast offerings, you can still find options that meet your dietary needs.

Plus, If you prefer to prepare your own food, you can shop for produce and farm-fresh dairy products when you visit the restaurant's fresh market.

By Jennifer Purdie, M.Ed, CPT
Jennifer Purdie, M.Ed, is a certified personal trainer, freelance writer, and author of "Growth Mindset for Athletes, Coaches and Trainers."