Comparisons
Casual Dining Pasta Entrees, Compared by the Numbers
Pasta is the cornerstone of Italian-American casual dining, and it is also the category where calorie counts vary most wildly between chains. Two superficially similar dishes — a classic fettuccine alfredo at chain A versus a baked ziti at chain B — can differ by a thousand calories or more once cream sauces and cheese ratios enter the picture.
The heaviest pasta entries we tracked
- Louisiana Chicken Pasta — The Cheesecake Factory (2370 cal, 2790 mg sodium)
- Pasta Carbonara with Chicken — The Cheesecake Factory (2290 cal, 3210 mg sodium)
- Cajun Jambalaya Pasta — The Cheesecake Factory (2240 cal, 3210 mg sodium)
- Pasta da Vinci — The Cheesecake Factory (1640 cal, 1980 mg sodium)
- Four-Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken — Applebee's (1610 cal, 2890 mg sodium)
- Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara — Olive Garden (1600 cal, 3110 mg sodium)
- Queensland Chicken & Shrimp Pasta — Outback Steakhouse (1490 cal, 3070 mg sodium)
- Chicken Alfredo — Olive Garden (1480 cal, 1810 mg sodium)
- Jerk Chicken Pasta — Bahama Breeze (1480 cal, 2810 mg sodium)
- Lobster Carbonara — Maggiano's Little Italy (1480 cal, 2810 mg sodium)
Two patterns show up consistently across the data. First: cream sauces add roughly 300-500 calories versus a tomato-based sauce on the same pasta. Second: any pasta dish that includes a meat add-on (chicken, shrimp, sausage) crosses the 1,000-calorie line more often than not.
If you want pasta when eating out and you also want to stay under 800 calories, the reliable move is a tomato-based sauce, no add-on protein, and a side salad with vinaigrette on the side rather than the bread basket.