How the calculator works
Every food has a calories-per-100-grams figure. To find what your portion cost, divide that by 100 and multiply by the grams you ate. That single operation is the whole tool.
A 180 g chicken breast at 108 calories per 100 g is 108 ÷ 100 × 180 = 194 calories. A 30 g handful of almonds at 579 is 174 calories. The almonds weigh a sixth as much and cost almost as much, which is the entire reason people misjudge their intake.
Underneath, those per-100 g figures are built from the food's macros using the Atwater factors: protein 4 calories a gram, carbohydrate 4, fat 9, alcohol 7.
If you want the full derivation, including why food used to be burned in a steel chamber to work this out, how calories are calculated covers it. To cost a whole dish rather than a single food, the recipe calorie calculator totals every ingredient and divides by servings.
Calories in common foods
The densest foods in each category, per 100 g, from USDA FoodData Central. Read it once and you will stop being surprised by your own calorie count.
| Food | Category | Per 100 g | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayonnaise | Condiments | 680 kcal | 0.96 g | 0.57 g | 74.85 g |
| Dark chocolate | Condiments | 598 kcal | 7.79 g | 45.9 g | 42.63 g |
| Cumin | Condiments | 375 kcal | 17.81 g | 44.24 g | 22.27 g |
| Rosemary, dried | Condiments | 331 kcal | 4.88 g | 64.06 g | 15.22 g |
| Curry powder | Condiments | 325 kcal | 14.29 g | 55.83 g | 14.01 g |
| Bay leaf | Condiments | 313 kcal | 7.61 g | 74.97 g | 8.36 g |
| Vanilla extract | Condiments | 288 kcal | 0.06 g | 12.65 g | 0.06 g |
| Chilli powder | Condiments | 282 kcal | 13.46 g | 49.7 g | 14.28 g |
| Butter, salted | Dairy | 717 kcal | 0.85 g | 0.06 g | 81.11 g |
| Butter, unsalted | Dairy | 717 kcal | 0.85 g | 0.06 g | 81.11 g |
| Parmesan, grated | Dairy | 420 kcal | 28.42 g | 13.91 g | 27.84 g |
| Cheddar cheese | Dairy | 403 kcal | 22.87 g | 3.37 g | 33.31 g |
| Cheese, provolone | Dairy | 351 kcal | 25.58 g | 2.14 g | 26.62 g |
| Cream cheese | Dairy | 350 kcal | 6.15 g | 5.52 g | 34.44 g |
| Cream, double | Dairy | 340 kcal | 2.84 g | 2.84 g | 36.08 g |
| Mozzarella | Dairy | 299 kcal | 22.17 g | 2.4 g | 22.14 g |
| Lard | Fats and oils | 902 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Coconut oil | Fats and oils | 892 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 99.06 g |
| Olive oil | Fats and oils | 884 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Rapeseed oil | Fats and oils | 884 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Sesame oil | Fats and oils | 884 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Sunflower oil | Fats and oils | 884 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Vegetable oil | Fats and oils | 884 kcal | 0 g | 0 g | 100 g |
| Butter oil (ghee) | Fats and oils | 876 kcal | 0.28 g | 0 g | 99.48 g |
| Desiccated coconut | Fruits | 660 kcal | 6.88 g | 23.65 g | 64.53 g |
| Raisins | Fruits | 299 kcal | 3.3 g | 79.32 g | 0.25 g |
| Dates | Fruits | 277 kcal | 1.81 g | 74.97 g | 0.15 g |
| Dried apricots | Fruits | 241 kcal | 3.39 g | 62.64 g | 0.51 g |
| Banana, raw | Fruits | 89 kcal | 1.09 g | 22.84 g | 0.33 g |
| Grapes, raw | Fruits | 69 kcal | 0.72 g | 18.1 g | 0.16 g |
| Cherries, raw | Fruits | 63 kcal | 1.06 g | 16.01 g | 0.2 g |
| Kiwi fruit | Fruits | 61 kcal | 1.14 g | 14.66 g | 0.52 g |
| Pecans | Nuts and seeds | 691 kcal | 9.17 g | 13.86 g | 71.97 g |
| Pine nuts | Nuts and seeds | 673 kcal | 13.69 g | 13.08 g | 68.37 g |
| Walnuts | Nuts and seeds | 654 kcal | 15.23 g | 13.71 g | 65.21 g |
| Hazelnuts | Nuts and seeds | 628 kcal | 14.95 g | 16.7 g | 60.75 g |
| Tahini | Nuts and seeds | 592 kcal | 17.4 g | 21.5 g | 53.01 g |
| Sunflower seeds | Nuts and seeds | 584 kcal | 20.78 g | 20 g | 51.46 g |
| Almonds | Nuts and seeds | 579 kcal | 21.15 g | 21.55 g | 49.93 g |
| Pumpkin seeds | Nuts and seeds | 574 kcal | 29.84 g | 14.71 g | 49.05 g |
| Peanut butter | Proteins | 598 kcal | 22.21 g | 22.31 g | 51.36 g |
| Bacon, raw | Proteins | 393 kcal | 13.66 g | 0 g | 37.13 g |
| Chickpeas, dry | Proteins | 378 kcal | 20.47 g | 62.95 g | 6.04 g |
| Lentils, dry | Proteins | 352 kcal | 24.63 g | 63.35 g | 1.06 g |
| Egg yolk, raw | Proteins | 322 kcal | 15.86 g | 3.59 g | 26.54 g |
| Pork sausage, raw | Proteins | 290 kcal | 13.9 g | 2.97 g | 24.26 g |
| Lamb mince, raw | Proteins | 282 kcal | 16.56 g | 0 g | 23.41 g |
| Pork mince, raw | Proteins | 263 kcal | 16.88 g | 0 g | 21.19 g |
| Breadcrumbs, dry | Staples | 395 kcal | 13.35 g | 71.98 g | 5.3 g |
| Icing sugar | Staples | 389 kcal | 0 g | 99.77 g | 0 g |
| Oats, rolled | Staples | 389 kcal | 16.89 g | 66.27 g | 6.9 g |
| Sugar, white | Staples | 387 kcal | 0 g | 99.98 g | 0 g |
| Egg noodles, dry | Staples | 384 kcal | 14.16 g | 71.27 g | 4.44 g |
| Cornstarch | Staples | 381 kcal | 0.26 g | 91.27 g | 0.05 g |
| Sugar, brown | Staples | 380 kcal | 0.12 g | 98.09 g | 0 g |
| Couscous, dry | Staples | 376 kcal | 12.76 g | 77.43 g | 0.64 g |
| Sun-dried tomatoes | Vegetables | 258 kcal | 14.11 g | 55.76 g | 2.97 g |
| Avocado | Vegetables | 160 kcal | 2 g | 8.53 g | 14.66 g |
| Garlic, raw | Vegetables | 149 kcal | 6.36 g | 33.06 g | 0.5 g |
| Olives, black | Vegetables | 116 kcal | 0.84 g | 6.04 g | 10.9 g |
| Sweet potato, raw | Vegetables | 86 kcal | 1.57 g | 20.12 g | 0.05 g |
| Tomato purée (paste) | Vegetables | 82 kcal | 4.32 g | 18.91 g | 0.47 g |
| Ginger, raw | Vegetables | 80 kcal | 1.82 g | 17.77 g | 0.75 g |
| Peas, frozen | Vegetables | 77 kcal | 5.22 g | 13.62 g | 0.4 g |
Three patterns fall out of that table, and they explain most calorie mistakes.
Fats and oils sit alone at the top. Every one of them is between 700 and 900 calories per 100 g, several times anything else on the list. This is not a moral fact about fat, it is arithmetic: fat carries 9 calories a gram where protein and carbohydrate carry 4.
Dry staples read alarmingly high and are not. Rice at 365 and pasta at 371 look enormous next to a chicken breast at 108, but you eat them cooked, and they roughly triple in weight with water. Cooked rice is 130.
Vegetables are almost free, and are not the lever. Most sit between 15 and 45. You cannot eat enough broccoli to matter. The oil you roast it in, however, absolutely does.
Do you need a food calorie calculator app?
Probably not, and it is worth being honest about when you do.
An app is genuinely better if you are logging every meal for months. A barcode scanner, a saved food history, and a streak you do not want to break are real advantages, and no web page replaces them.
A web calculator is better for the thing most people actually want: checking what is in a meal, sanity-testing a portion, or planning a day. It takes thirty seconds, asks for no account, and collects nothing about you.
This tool bundles its food database into the page rather than fetching it from a server, so once the page has loaded it works with no connection, and nothing you type is ever sent anywhere. That is not a marketing claim, it is a consequence of how it is built.
Using a food calorie calculator to gain weight
Gaining is the same arithmetic pointed the other way. Set the target above your maintenance calories, then build a day that reaches it.
The problem is never willingness, it is volume. Most people trying to gain are already full before they are anywhere near the number. The fix is calorie density: the same calories in less food.
| Food | Per 100 g | Protein | Fat | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 884 kcal | 0 g | 100 g | Very high |
| Walnuts | 654 kcal | 15.23 g | 65.21 g | Very high |
| Peanut butter | 598 kcal | 22.21 g | 51.36 g | Very high |
| Almonds | 579 kcal | 21.15 g | 49.93 g | Very high |
| Cheddar cheese | 403 kcal | 22.87 g | 33.31 g | High |
| Oats, rolled | 389 kcal | 16.89 g | 6.9 g | High |
| Rice, white, raw | 365 kcal | 7.13 g | 0.66 g | High |
| Dates | 277 kcal | 1.81 g | 0.15 g | High |
| Banana, raw | 89 kcal | 1.09 g | 0.33 g | Moderate |
Look at the top of that table. A tablespoon of olive oil stirred into a meal you were eating anyway adds around 120 calories and no bulk at all. Two tablespoons of peanut butter adds roughly 190. That is a 300-calorie surplus without eating a single extra meal.
To find the target itself, the weight gain calculator works out how far above maintenance to go, and the muscle gain calculator splits it so the gain is more muscle than fat.
Where the numbers come from
All 202 foods come from USDA FoodData Central, the reference database behind most of the nutrition figures you have ever read.
Every entry in this tool stores the USDA record id it came from, so any number here can be checked against the source. Nothing was typed from memory, which sounds like a low bar and is not: most calorie databases on the web cannot tell you where a single figure came from.
The values are averages for a typical example of that food. They are good estimates, not measurements of the specific thing on your plate.
Getting the portion right
The database is the accurate part. The portion is where your count actually goes wrong.
Weigh it, do not eyeball it. People routinely underestimate their own portions, and the error grows with the calorie density of the food. Nobody misjudges lettuce. Everybody misjudges peanut butter.
Weigh raw, not cooked. Rice and pasta roughly triple in weight as they take on water. The calories do not change, so weighing cooked pasta and using the dry figure will multiply your count by three.
Count the oil. At 9 calories a gram, the fat in the pan is often the single biggest number in a meal and the one nobody writes down.
Now you know what is in the food. The other half is how much you should be eating: the free calorie calculator gives you a daily target in about thirty seconds, the maintenance calorie calculator tells you what holds your weight steady, and the calorie deficit calculator sets the target for losing. Cooking Indian food? The Indian food calorie calculator covers roti, dal, biryani, and butter chicken.
Frequently asked questions
Look up the food's calories per 100 g, divide by 100, and multiply by the grams you ate. A 180 g chicken breast at 108 calories per 100 g is 108 divided by 100, times 180, which is 194 calories. The calculator on this page does it for 202 foods and keeps a running total for the day.
Yes. This one runs in your browser, needs no account and no download, and works offline once the page has loaded, because the food database is bundled into the page rather than fetched from a server. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
For logging every meal for months, a dedicated app with a barcode scanner and a saved history is genuinely better. For working out what is in a meal, checking a portion, or planning a day, a web calculator does the same job with no sign-up and no data collection. Use the tool that matches the job.
Set your daily target above your maintenance calories, usually by 300 to 500, then build a day that reaches it. The practical trick is to lean on calorie-dense foods: olive oil at 884 calories per 100 g, peanut butter at 598, and nuts at around 600 do far more for a surplus than volume of vegetables ever will.
They are good estimates, not measurements. The values are averages for a typical example of that food, and your own portion, the specific product, and how it was cooked all shift the real number. Being consistently a little off in the same direction is still enough to track progress, which is what matters.
Raw, and look up the raw figure. Cooking changes weight without changing calories. Rice and pasta roughly triple in weight as they absorb water, so 100 g of dry pasta at 371 calories becomes about 300 g of cooked pasta with the same 371 calories in it.
These figures are estimates for general educational purposes only and are not medical or nutritional advice. Individual needs vary. Consult a qualified healthcare professional or registered dietitian before making significant changes to your diet.