Calorie counts

How many calories, honestly.

Most calorie charts give one confident number per dish. That is convenient and slightly dishonest, because home cooking has no standard serving and the cooking fat varies enormously between kitchens. Everything here is a range, with a note on what actually moves it.

Indian staples

Paratha

200–300 kcal: 1 plain paratha (~55 g dough)

Plain rice

180–210 kcal: 1 katori, cooked (~150 g)

Biryani

500–750 kcal: 1 restaurant plate, chicken (~300 g)

Khichdi

280–380 kcal: 1 plate, plain (~250 g)

Puri

80–150 kcal each: 1 puri (~25 g dough)

Thali

700–1,200 kcal: 1 standard veg thali

Roti

70–110 kcal: 1 medium roti

Dals and curries

Dal

120–180 kcal: 1 katori, home-style with tadka (~150 ml)

Rajma

180–260 kcal: 1 katori, home-made (~150 g)

Chole

200–280 kcal: 1 katori, home-made (~150 g)

Chicken curry

250–450 kcal: 1 katori, home style (~150 g)

Mixed vegetable sabzi

80–200 kcal: 1 katori, dry sabzi

South Indian breakfast

Idli

55–75 kcal: 1 medium idli (~50 g)

Dosa

130–190 kcal: 1 plain dosa

Poha

250–330 kcal: 1 plate (~150 g cooked)

Upma

250–330 kcal: 1 plate (~150 g cooked)

Sambar

100–170 kcal: 1 katori (~150 ml)

Rasam

40–90 kcal: 1 katori (~150 ml)

Uttapam

180–300 kcal: 1 plain uttapam

Medu vada

130–180 kcal per vada: 1 medu vada (~50 g)

Besan chilla

150–220 kcal: 1 medium chilla (~40 g besan)

Street food and chaat

Pani puri

25–40 kcal per puri: 1 puri with filling and pani

Vada pav

290–400 kcal: 1 vada pav

Misal pav

550–750 kcal: 1 plate with 2 pav

Dahi vada

130–190 kcal per piece: 1 dahi vada with curd and chutney

Snacks and drinks

Samosa

200–280 kcal: 1 medium samosa (~65 g)

Chai

60–90 kcal: 1 cup (~150 ml), 1 tsp sugar

Pav bhaji

550–800 kcal: 2 pav with bhaji, street style

Lassi

250–400 kcal sweet: sweet lassi, 1 glass (~300 ml)

Dhokla

55–80 kcal per piece: 1 piece khaman dhokla (~35 g)

Sweets and mithai

Gulab jamun

130–180 kcal per piece: 1 medium gulab jamun (~40 g)

Jalebi

100–150 kcal per piece: 1 medium jalebi (~30–35 g)

Dairy and eggs

Paneer

260–300 kcal: 100 g, full-fat

Curd (dahi)

90–120 kcal: 1 katori, full-fat (~150 g)

Milk

120–135 kcal: 200 ml, toned cow milk

Boiled egg

70–80 kcal: 1 large boiled egg

Everyday staples

Banana

90–110 kcal: 1 medium (~100 g peeled)

Chicken breast

155–175 kcal: 100 g, cooked, no added fat

Oats

150–160 kcal: 40 g dry, plain

Almonds

70–85 kcal: 10 almonds (~12 g)

Bread (1 slice)

65–85 kcal: 1 slice white (~28 g)

Peanut butter

90–105 kcal: 1 tbsp (~16 g)

Ghee

~40 kcal per tsp: 1 teaspoon

Soya chunks

~170 kcal per 50 g dry: 25 g dry (a small handful)

Moong sprouts

90–120 kcal per katori: 1 katori home sprouts (~100 g)

How to use these

Look it up once, then stop.

A chart is useful for calibration: for finding out that your usual katori of dal is nearer 160 than the 90 you assumed. It is a terrible daily habit, because looking up six items per meal is exactly the friction that ends most people's tracking inside a fortnight.

Use these pages to correct your intuition a few times. After that, describe the meal in a sentence and let the estimate be an estimate.

The full Indian food calorie chart → · How to track calories fast →

Start today

Stop looking things up.

Describe the meal; BetterCal does the arithmetic. Free to start on iPhone and Android.