Costco’s Rotisserie Chicken Chef Salad packs more protein than any other item on the company’s food court menu. Yet a registered dietitian nutritionist cautions that its headline grabbing protein count does not automatically make it a healthy choice.

The salad, which Costco highlighted among its new food court offerings this year, contains 59 grams of protein. It also carries 840 calories, a figure that may matter to shoppers looking for a lighter meal.

Priced at $7.99, the salad combines rotisserie chicken, cooked eggs, bacon bits and shredded cheddar cheese. Those ingredients sit on romaine lettuce with tomatoes and creamy peppercorn ranch dressing.

Jamie Lee McIntyre, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Florida, told Fox News Digital that protein represents only one consideration when consumers decide what to eat. A large protein number, she explained, does not provide a complete picture of a meal’s nutritional qualities.

“That's just a nutrition attribute,” McIntyre said of the protein total. She added that “a food can be high in protein, but it can also still be high in sodium, saturated fat or calories.”

For this particular salad, McIntyre pointed to the chicken and eggs as whole food sources of protein. She also noted the presence of vegetables and described those elements as useful building blocks for the meal.

The calorie count, however, complicates the salad’s image as a potentially light choice. McIntyre said that for many people, 840 calories could be more than they want from a light lunch.

The Rotisserie Chicken Chef Salad narrowly leads another salad on Costco’s food court menu. The Chicken Caesar Salad contains 58 grams of protein, only one gram less than the newer chef salad.

Costco’s Chicken Bake also provides a substantial amount of protein. According to the menu information cited in the report, the Chicken Bake contains 53 grams.

Those totals place several Costco food court offerings near one another in protein content. Still, the Rotisserie Chicken Chef Salad remains at the top with its 59 gram total.

Responses from Costco shoppers online have not been uniformly enthusiastic. Some people praised the salad’s flavor, while others criticized the proportions of its ingredients and the amount of lettuce included.

“Tons of toppings, not enough lettuce,” one Reddit user wrote. The same user described the salad as salty, said the portions seemed off and complained that assembling it required too much effort.

Another Reddit user had a far more positive reaction, particularly to the peppercorn ranch dressing. “Someone bought me one, and I went back 2 days later to buy another,” the user wrote.

The enthusiastic shopper also said, “I am not a salad person, but I love this dressing.” The user expressed interest in learning which company produces the peppercorn ranch served with the salad.

The contrasting reactions show that the salad’s appeal is not limited to its protein count. Flavor, ingredient proportions, saltiness, preparation and dressing all shaped how individual shoppers described the experience.

McIntyre’s warning focuses attention back on the entire nutrition profile rather than a single figure. While the salad includes chicken, eggs and vegetables, its 840 calories remain an important part of the decision for consumers considering it as lunch.

The salad’s position as Costco’s most protein rich food court item gives shoppers a striking number to consider. McIntyre’s assessment, however, makes clear that 59 grams of protein should be weighed alongside calories, sodium and saturated fat.