Chipotle's Smoked Brisket is the most calorie dense protein on the menu

Chipotle's Smoked Brisket is 360 calories per 4 ounce serving, which makes it the most calorie dense protein on the whole menu, double the chicken for the same scoop. It came back on November 5, 2026 for a limited time in the US and Canada, mesquite smoked for eight hours and finished with a smoky chili sauce, so a lot of people are about to order it for the first time in two years.

The protein is only part of the story. What lands in your bowl or burrito is the brisket plus rice, beans, cheese, salsa and maybe guac, and that's where a meal goes from 540 to over 1,200 calories. Below are the real builds, the numbers for every topping, and the fastest way I know to log the whole thing.

Quick disclosure: I'm Batu, I build Logma, a voice calorie tracker for iPhone, so I'm biased toward logging being easy. Every number here comes from a source you can check at the bottom.

How many calories is Chipotle brisket?

One scoop of Smoked Brisket is 360 calories. That figure is Chipotle's own published number, since the brisket is a limited time item and is not in the standard nutrition PDF yet. The macros below come from the third party databases that have measured it, so treat them as close rather than exact:

• Calories: 360
• Protein: about 22 g
• Fat: about 27 g, including 11 g saturated
• Carbs: about 6 g
• Sodium: about 390 mg

So it's a fatty cut, which is the point of brisket. You're paying roughly 180 extra calories over a scoop of chicken for the same amount of protein. Delicious, worth it sometimes, just not a lean protein you'd lean on every day.

Brisket vs the other Chipotle proteins

Here's where brisket sits next to every other protein, per 4 ounce serving, from Chipotle's nutrition info.

Brisket is the only protein over 300 calories, and it gives you less protein than chicken for twice the calories. If you're chasing protein per calorie, chicken still wins by a mile. If you want the thing you actually want to eat this week, brisket is the treat, and you log it honestly and move on. Not every meal has to be the efficient one.

What a brisket bowl really costs

A protein scoop never comes alone. Here are three real brisket bowls, built from Chipotle's own topping numbers, so you can see how fast the rice and the extras stack up.

The toppings that move the number most: white or brown rice is 210, black or pinto beans 130, cheese 110, sour cream 110, and guacamole 230. Fresh tomato salsa is only 25 and lettuce is basically free, so those are where you buy flavor cheaply. The same standard bowl built with chicken instead of brisket lands around 660, so the brisket is responsible for almost exactly the 180 calorie gap you'd expect.

What a brisket burrito costs

The burrito adds a flour tortilla, and that's a real 320 calories before anything goes inside it. A standard brisket burrito with white rice, black beans, cheese, sour cream and fresh tomato salsa comes to about 1,265 calories, and that's before chips. A side of chips is another 540.

None of this means don't get the burrito. It means know that a brisket burrito with chips is closer to 1,800 calories, which for a lot of people is most of a day in one sitting. If that's lunch and you know it going in, you can plan the rest of the day around it. The problem is never the meal you logged. It's the one you guessed at. The same logic applies to a fast food combo meal: the add ons do the damage.

How to order brisket and keep the calories sane

If you want the brisket without the 1,200 calorie bowl, a few swaps do most of the work:

• Go bowl, not burrito. Skipping the tortilla saves 320 right away.
• Pick rice or beans, not both, or skip the rice. That's 130 to 210 calories back, and fajita veggies at 20 fill the gap.
• Keep the fresh salsas. Fresh tomato, green or red chili salsa are 15 to 30 calories and add the most flavor per calorie on the line.
• Decide on guac on purpose. It's good fat and it's 230 calories. Worth it if you planned for it, a surprise if you didn't.
• Add a lean protein if you want the protein back. Some people get a half scoop of brisket and a half scoop of chicken for the taste plus the protein.

A lighter brisket bowl around 540 calories, heavy on brisket and veggies and salsa, is a genuinely high protein, satisfying meal. If you're building meals around protein, our list of high protein snacks under 200 calories pairs well with a day that already has a big Chipotle lunch in it.

How to log a Chipotle brisket meal in a few seconds

Chipotle is one of the easier places to track, because you build the plate yourself and you know every ingredient that went in. The slow part is turning that into an entry. In a search based app you'd search "brisket", then "white rice", then "black beans", then "cheese", picking the closest match each time.

In Logma you say the plate the way you ordered it:

"A Chipotle brisket bowl with white rice, black beans, cheese, fresh tomato salsa and guac."

It counts every item and logs the calories and macros in about 5 seconds. Type it instead if you'd rather not talk out loud in line. Because you naturally say the guac and the cheese out loud, the extras that usually go unlogged actually make it into the count. There's no account and your meals stay on your phone. The yearly plan starts with a 3 day free trial, then $49.99 a year, voice included.

Honest caveat: a brand new limited time item like this brisket won't be a saved entry in any app on day one. Whichever tracker you use, you may need to log it as a custom 360 calorie protein the first time. Logma just lets you say "brisket, about 360 calories" and move on.

Is the brisket worth the calories?

If you're ordering for taste, yes, it's a once in two years item and it's genuinely good. If you're ordering for body composition, chicken or steak give you more protein for far fewer calories, and you'd pick those most days anyway. The nice thing about actually tracking is you don't have to choose in the abstract. You see that a lighter brisket bowl fits your day and a brisket burrito with chips doesn't, and you order accordingly.

Chipotle is also running $0 delivery fees on brisket orders through November 18, 2026, which is the kind of nudge that turns a treat into a habit. Worth knowing before you order it three times in a week. If you're not sure what your daily number even is, the free calorie calculator gives you a target to measure these meals against.

FAQ

How many calories are in Chipotle brisket?

A 4 ounce scoop of Chipotle Smoked Brisket is 360 calories, with about 22 g of protein and 27 g of fat. That's Chipotle's own published calorie figure; the macros come from third party databases since the limited time item isn't in the standard nutrition PDF yet.

How many calories is a Chipotle brisket bowl?

A standard brisket bowl with white rice, black beans, cheese, fresh tomato salsa and lettuce is about 840 calories. Add guacamole and it's roughly 1,070. Skip the rice and go veggie heavy and you can get it down near 540.

Is Chipotle brisket high in protein?

It has about 22 g of protein per scoop, which is solid, but it's lower than chicken's 32 g for double the calories. Brisket is a treat protein, not the efficient high protein pick. Chicken, steak and barbacoa all give you more protein per calorie.

Is the Chipotle brisket bowl healthier than the burrito?

The bowl saves you the flour tortilla, which is 320 calories on its own, so a brisket bowl runs lighter than the same fillings wrapped in a burrito. The difference is almost entirely the tortilla and the chips people add on the side.

How long is Chipotle brisket available?

It returned on November 5, 2026 as a limited time item in the US and Canada, so it's a seasonal run rather than a permanent menu item. Chipotle is also offering $0 delivery fees on brisket orders through November 18, 2026.

What's the easiest way to track a Chipotle order?

Say or type the plate the way you built it, for example "brisket bowl with white rice, black beans, cheese and guac," and let the app total it. Logma logs that in about 5 seconds. Whatever app you use, logging the extras like cheese and guac is where the accuracy lives.

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Sources: Chipotle, Smoked Brisket (official) · Chipotle, Nutrition Calculator (official) · Restaurant News, Chipotle brings back mesquite smoked brisket (Nov 2026) · Mexican Grill Nutrition, Chipotle Smoked Brisket calories and macros (2026) · Mexican Grill Nutrition, Chipotle complete menu guide (2026). Numbers are approximate and can change; nothing here is medical advice.