Calorie Content of Common Foods

Data

Source: USDA FoodData Central. Values represent typical raw or as-noted preparations per 100 g edible portion.

Note: What You Should Know About Calories

What exactly is a calorie?

A calorie is simply a unit of energy. In nutrition, when we talk about calories in food, we're really talking about kilocalories (kcal) — the amount of energy needed to warm one liter of water by one degree Celsius. For everyday purposes people drop the "kilo-" and just say "calories," but the numbers on food labels and on this page are kilocalories. So an egg at 155 kcal gives your body about 155 calories of usable energy. Your body "burns" these calories to power everything from breathing and pumping blood to walking, thinking, and lifting weights — even most of the energy ends up as body heat.

The classic lab method measures energy by burning a sample of food in a sealed chamber (a bomb calorimeter) and measuring the heat released. Modern databases like the USDA's FoodData Central (used on this page) combine this with chemical analysis of protein, fat, and carbs to give the accurate per-100 g figures you see above.

Calorie density vs. volume

The single most useful idea on this page is energy density — how many calories fit in a given weight or volume of food. Look at the chart: broccoli is only 34 kcal per 100 g, while the same 100 g of olive oil holds a staggering 884. You could eat a huge bowl of broccoli for fewer calories than a single tablespoon of oil. This is why vegetables, fruits, and water-rich foods are so filling for so few calories, while oils, nuts, and cheese are easy to overdo without feeling full.

• Water and fiber bulk up food without adding many calories — a big reason cooked white rice drops to 130 kcal while the dry grains would be far higher.
• Two foods of identical weight can differ 20-fold or more in calories, purely because of density.

Fats vs. carbs and protein: not equal per gram

• Fat ≈ 9 kcal per gram — the most energy-dense macronutrient, roughly double carbs and protein.
• Carbs ≈ 4 kcal per gram — the body's preferred, quickest fuel source.
• Protein ≈ 4 kcal per gram — same as carbs per gram, but it's the most satiating and supports muscle.
• Alcohol sneaks in at about 7 kcal per gram — nearly as dense as fat.
• This is why olive oil and butter top the table, and it's the "free calorie" trap of dressings, frying, and spreads.

Which foods are the calorie bombs?

• Pure fats and oils (olive oil 884, butter 717) — the densest foods of all.
• Nuts, nut butters, seeds, and chocolate (peanut butter 588, dark chocolate 546).
• Cheese and other full-fat dairy (cheddar 403).
• Dried fruit, granola, and processed snacks — water removed, calories concentrated.
• By contrast, lean protein, most veg, and fruit sit at the low end of the table.

How to read a nutrition label

• Check the serving size first — every number on the label refers to that portion, and it's usually smaller than you think.
• Look at calories per serving, then multiply by how many servings you actually eat.
• Compare the calories per 100 g (like this page) across products — it's the fairest way to judge energy density across different portion sizes.
• Balance the "calories in" with the "calories out" your body needs; a label only tells you what's in food, not what your body burns.

Daily intake context

A typical adult needs roughly 2,000 kcal per day, though that varies hugely with age, sex, height, activity, and goals — an active 6-foot man might need 3,000, while a small sedentary woman might be fine near 1,600. As a rough rule for weight, eat about the same calories you burn to hold steady, more to gain, and fewer to lose. Because the difference between maintaining and slowly gaining can be just a few hundred calories, small daily choices like a spoon of oil or an extra serving of rice really do add up.

Practical tips

• Swap spooning oil from the bottle for a measured pour or a spray — it's easy to add 100+ kcal without noticing.
• Use lower-density foods (veggies, fruit, broth soups) to fill up your plate and stomach first.
• Keep portions of nuts, cheese, and dark chocolate to a small handful — delicious, but concentrated.
• Watching add-ons (dressings, sauces, syrups, butter) can cut more calories than swapping whole foods.
• Don't fear fat or carbs — it's the quantity, not the nutrient, that usually tips the daily balance.
• Treat per-100 g numbers as a telescope, not a verdict: they compare foods fairly, but real servings differ.

Fun facts

• Because it's so dense, a single tablespoon of olive oil (~14 g) already packs over 120 kcal — nearly the calories of a whole banana but with none of the volume.
• Chewing food actually uses a little energy, and protein is tougher to digest — so the body nets slightly fewer calories from protein than the label suggests.
• "Calories on the label" are really kilocalories: a 2,000-calorie diet is in truth 2,000,000 tiny calories if you take the unit literally.
• Walking a mile burns roughly 100 kcal for the average person — about the same as one small boiled egg.
• The tray of 10 foods on this page spans a 26× range, from broccoli's 34 to olive oil's 884 — a perfect example of how wildly energy density can vary.