A slice is not a slice.
Across five major chains, a single slice of cheese pizza barely moves on calories — but its sodium more than doubles, and the size of the slice itself quietly changes the whole comparison.
Across five major chains, one slice of cheese pizza runs 230–300 calories and 320–710 mg of sodium. Calories barely differ; sodium more than doubles from the lowest slice to the highest. And because slice sizes vary by up to 30 grams, the per-slice number can mislead — caloric density tells a fairer story.
- Sodium is the real spread. Papa John’s (710 mg) carries more than double Godfather’s (320 mg) in a single slice.
- Calories cluster tight. Just 70 calories separate the highest slice (Pizza Hut, 300) from the lowest (Godfather’s, 230).
- Slice size skews everything. Slices weigh 95–125 g, so a “lighter” slice is often just a smaller one.
- Per gram, the order flips. Little Caesars is the least calorie-dense; Pizza Hut the most.
- Protein is a wash. Every chain lands near 4 g of protein per 100 calories.
Every number, one table
One slice of a large cheese pizza, standard crust, as each chain publishes it. Tap a column to sort. The toggle switches between the slice as sold and the same nutrients normalized per 100 grams — watch the ranking change.
| Chain | Slice (g) | Calories ▾ | Fat (g) | Sat Fat (g) | Sodium (mg) | Carbs (g) | Protein (g) |
|---|
What actually varies
Sodium per slice
Calories per 100 g
Protein per 100 calories
Sodium, not calories,
is the variable
If you rank these five slices by calories, they finish within 70 of each other — a rounding error in a day’s eating. Rank them by sodium and the gap yawns open: 320 mg at the low end, 710 mg at the high end. One slice of the saltiest option is close to a third of the 2,300 mg daily limit before you’ve touched a second.
That matters because sodium is the number people rarely check and the one that compounds fastest. Two slices and a soda can clear a full day’s sodium while barely registering as “a lot of food.” Calories are the metric on every menu board; sodium is the one doing the quieter work.
Why the per-slice number misleads
A slice isn’t a fixed unit. Across these chains it weighs anywhere from 95 to 125 grams — a 30 percent swing — because pies are cut into different numbers of pieces and built on different crusts. So a slice that looks lighter on the label is frequently just a smaller piece of bread and cheese, not a leaner recipe.
Normalize to 100 grams and the leaderboard rearranges. The slice with the lowest per-slice calories is no longer the least calorie-dense; a denser recipe served in a smaller cut can read as “healthier” on the menu while delivering more calories per bite. Density is the honest way to compare recipes; per-slice is the honest way to count what you’ll actually eat. You need both, and they don’t always agree.
Protein is a wash
For all the talk of pizza as a protein vehicle, cheese slices are strikingly uniform here: every one lands near 4 grams of protein per 100 calories. No chain’s plain cheese slice is meaningfully more protein-efficient than another — the differences that show up on a fitness tracker come from toppings and portion, not the base slice. If protein is the goal, the topping does the work.
None of this is an argument against pizza. It’s an argument for knowing which number to watch. Calories are roughly a constant across these five; sodium is where the real variation lives, and slice size is the asterisk on every comparison.
Methodology & sources
- Domino’s — 14″ Large, Classic Hand-Tossed, cheese, 1 slice (108 g). Domino’s official nutrition (Cal-o-Meter). dominos.com/nutritional/cal-o-meter
- Pizza Hut — Large Hand-Tossed, cheese, 1 slice (~105 g). Pizza Hut label data via FastFoodNutrition. fastfoodnutrition.org/pizza-hut
- Papa John’s — 14″ Large, Original Crust, cheese, 1 slice (125 g). Papa John’s label data via CalorieKing. calorieking.com/papa-johns
- Little Caesars — Large Classic (round), cheese, 1 slice (~124 g). Little Caesars official nutrition. littlecaesars.com/menu/nutrition
- Godfather’s — Golden Crust, Large, cheese, 1/10 slice (95 g). Godfather’s 2024 Nutritional Guide (PDF). godfathers.com Nutritional Guide
Figures compiled from publicly available nutrition data for informational purposes and are not a substitute for professional dietary advice. Nutrition information can change without notice and vary by location. Data collected July 1, 2026.