The Philly Cheese Steak is an American treasure, perhaps one of the greatest sandwich accomplishments of all time.
Thinly sliced beef, topped with onions, peppers and maybe some mushrooms. Held between a lightly toasted Italian bun with cheese, okay, extra cheese! Dripping with flavor. Who can resist?
It’s a staple in its hometown of Philadelphia, where it originated in 1930, but you can now find philly style cheesesteaks on menus across the country, and even internationally.
Now, I’m not here to try to take the fun out of your PCS experience, but have you ever wondered, how many calories that philly cheese steak has?
I did, and so I broke it down and came up with a calorie count. Sorry folks! I promise it isn’t too bad!
Calorie Count – Philly Cheese Steak
Since there is no exact recipe one can follow, there are a few variables that come into play here.
Some like their PCS with mozzarella and others, like me, are steadfast provolone only. Also the cut of beef can vary quite a bit, depending on who you ask and where you go “What makes a perfect Philly Cheesesteak?”
Basically, you wont find a right way, or a wrong. But lets give this a try. I’ll break this down for us into 3 variations on the sandwich, and that should give us a pretty good idea!
The simple traditional philly cheese steak
| 4 oz sliced deli roast beef | 200 cal |
| 2 oz provolone cheese sliced | 200 cal |
| 1 oz sliced bell peppers | 10 cal |
| 1 oz sliced sweet onion | 10 cal |
| 8 inch hero-style roll | 270 cal |
| total calories | 690 cal |
So 690 calories isn’t that bad really, it is comparable to most hamburgers for sure. This table makes it easy to see where the calories come from. Of course our bread roll is the biggest calorie hitter, as well as the meat and cheese.
Switching it up, lets take a look at a slightly different version of Philly cheese steak.
The classy tenderloin philly cheese steak
| 4 oz beef tenderloin | 300 cal |
| 2 oz mozzarella cheese | 160 cal |
| 1 oz sliced bell peppers | 10 cal |
| 1 oz sliced sweet onions | 10 cal |
| 1 Italian roll | 290 cal |
| total calories | 770 cal |
Okay, so the beef tenderloin is awesome in the flavor department, but has significantly more calories than the traditional sliced roast beef. Worth it, or no? I’ll leave it up to you to decide!
On to our next cheesesteak!
The NY strip steak philly cheese steak
| 4 oz NY strip steak sliced | 132 cal |
| 2 oz mozza cheese sliced | 160 cal |
| 1 oz sliced bell peppers | 10 cal |
| 1 oz sliced sweet onions | 10 cal |
| 1 oz sliced mushrooms | 10 cal |
| 8 inch Italian roll | 290 cal |
| total calories | 612 cal |
It looks like the NY strip cheese steak is our lowest calorie count out of the 3, thanks to the leaner cut of beef and the lighter mozza cheese.