Starbucks Chicken & Bacon Caesar Wrap

The Starbucks Chicken and Bacon Caesar Wrap costs £5.45 and carries 482 calories with 22g of protein and 1.2g of salt. Seared chicken breast and smoked bacon in a ranch style Caesar mayonnaise with lettuce in a tortilla.

At 482 calories it is the heaviest sandwich Starbucks sells, just ahead of the ham and cheese toastie at 489. The dressing is where most of it sits: 20g of total fat in a wrap with lean chicken and a little bacon points squarely at the mayonnaise, which is what a Caesar is built on.

Salt at 1.2g is the joint lowest of any sandwich on the menu, tied with the chickpea wrap and around half what the ham toastie carries. That is genuinely surprising in something containing bacon, and the explanation is quantity: bacon appears here in small pieces as a flavour rather than as a filling, in the same way chorizo does in the focaccia.

22g of protein is solid without being remarkable, behind the paninis and toasties but comfortably ahead of the chickpea wrap at 13g. Fibre is the weak point at 2.8g, since a white flour tortilla and lettuce contribute very little between them.

Ranch style Caesar is worth a note, because a traditional Caesar dressing contains anchovy and this one lists no fish. Ranch style points at a buttermilk and herb base instead, which is milder, sweeter and less savoury than the original, and it is why the wrap tastes creamy rather than sharp.

Wraps as a format hold together better than sandwiches and hold flavour worse, which is the trade being made here. A tortilla keeps the filling contained and travels well; it also contributes almost nothing of its own, where a good bread is half of what you taste. That is why the dressing in a wrap has to be stronger than a sandwich would need.

Allergens are egg, wheat, mustard and milk, with no dietary labels. Prices reach £6.40 on delivery. The chorizo focaccia is the lighter chicken option at 394 calories.