What are my recipe calories?
List the ingredients with their amounts and say how many servings the dish makes. The recipe calorie calculator adds up the calories and gives the calories per serving.
- Calories per serving
- 276
The recipe has about 2,759 calories, or 276 per serving.
- Calories in the whole recipekcal
- 2,759
- Energy per serving in kilojouleskJ
- 1,154
- Weight of the ingredientsg
- 967
- Ingredient weight per servingg
- 96.7
- Calories per 100 g of ingredientskcal
- 285
- Calories by ingredient
- Banana, raw: 354 g, 315 kcal; Egg, raw: 100 g, 143 kcal; Butter, salted: 113 g, 810 kcal; Sugar, granulated: 150 g, 581 kcal; Other: 250 g, 910 kcal
Calories per serving: 276. The recipe has about 2,759 calories, or 276 per serving.
How to calculate
Adds up the calories of a recipe’s ingredients, from USDA SR Legacy values or values from a label, and divides by the number of servings, with the weight per serving.
Example with the default inputs (Servings 10, Ingredients [Ingredient Banana, raw, Amount 3, Unit portions; Ingredient Egg, raw, Amount 2, Unit portions; Ingredient Butter, salted, Amount 113, Unit g; Ingredient Sugar, granulated, Amount 150, Unit g; Ingredient Other (type calories per 100 g), Amount 250, Unit g, Calories per 100 g (optional) 364]): The recipe has about 2,759 calories, or 276 per serving.
Method: calories = Σ (kcal per 100 g × grams ÷ 100) over the ingredients; per serving = calories ÷ servings; grams = portions × portion weight, or the weight in g, oz, lb or kg.
- Energy values and portion weights are from USDA SR Legacy (April 2018) for 154 common foods; a value typed from a label replaces the table value.
- Ingredients are weighed as listed (raw unless the food says cooked). Cooking changes the weight, mostly water, but not the calories, so the calories are for the whole dish.
- Servings are equal shares of the whole dish.
- Calories are kilocalories (the Calories on a food label); 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ.
Worked examples
Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.
- Ingredients Banana, raw 3 portions; Egg, raw 2 portions; Butter, salted 113 g; Sugar, granulated 150 g; Other (type calories per 100 g) 250 g 364, Servings 10 gives Calories in the whole recipe 2,758.77, Calories per serving 275.877, Weight of the ingredients 967, Calories per 100 g of ingredients 285.291624, Energy per serving in kilojoules 1,154.269368.Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: 09040 Bananas, raw 89 kcal per 100 g, 1 medium = 118 g; 19335 Sugars, granulated 387 kcal (https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/, retrieved 2026-09-30)
- Ingredients White rice, cooked 2 portions; Chicken breast, roasted 8 oz, Servings 2 gives Calories in the whole recipe 785.013705, Calories per serving 392.506853, Weight of the ingredients 542.796185, Calories per 100 g of ingredients 144.624028.Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: 20045 Rice, white, long-grain, cooked 130 kcal per 100 g, 1 cup = 158 g; 05064 Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, roasted 165 kcal (https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/); NIST SP 811: 1 oz = 28.349523125 g
How it works
For each ingredient row (1 to 30 rows):
- grams = amount × portion weight, when the unit is portions (the food’s household portion in the table, such as 1 medium banana = 118 g); otherwise amount × grams per unit: 1 g, 1,000 g per kg, 28.349523125 g per oz, 453.59237 g per lb.
- kcal per 100 g = the value you type in "Calories per 100 g", when you type one; otherwise the table value.
- calories = kcal per 100 g × grams ÷ 100.
Then for the recipe:
- Calories in the whole recipe = the sum of the rows’ calories.
- Calories per serving = total ÷ servings. Energy per serving in kilojoules = calories per serving × 4.184.
- Weight of the ingredients = the sum of the rows’ grams; per serving = that ÷ servings. This is the raw weight, not the cooked weight.
- Calories per 100 g of ingredients = total × 100 ÷ weight of the ingredients (left out when the weight is 0).
- Calories by ingredient: for each row,
<food>: <grams> g, <calories> kcal, with grams and calories rounded half up to whole numbers, rows joined by semicolons. Other rows show as "Other".
Every step is exact on the table’s decimals and the numbers you type; only the display rounds, half up: calories and kilojoules to whole numbers, grams to one decimal place.
Rules
- An amount is from 0 to 100,000 and servings from 0.1 to 1,000.
- Other needs its calories per 100 g (0 to 900); without it there is no answer.
- Other has no portion size, so Other in portions has no answer; give its weight.
- A food number that is not in the list has no answer.
The foods
The list holds the same 154 foods as the food calorie calculator, with their energy per 100 g and portion weights from USDA SR Legacy; that page has the full table.
Worked examples by hand
Banana bread for 10. 3 bananas: 3 × 118 = 354 g × 89 ÷ 100 = 315.06 kcal. 2 eggs: 2 × 50 = 100 g × 143 ÷ 100 = 143 kcal. Butter: 113 g × 717 ÷ 100 = 810.21 kcal. Sugar: 150 g × 387 ÷ 100 = 580.5 kcal. Flour typed as Other at 364 kcal per 100 g from its label: 250 g × 364 ÷ 100 = 910 kcal. Total: 2,758.77 kcal, or 275.877 ≈ 276 per serving (1,154 kJ). The ingredients weigh 354 + 100 + 113 + 150 + 250 = 967 g (96.7 g a serving), so 2,758.77 × 100 ÷ 967 = 285 kcal per 100 g.
Rice and chicken for 2. 2 cups of cooked white rice: 2 × 158 = 316 g × 130 ÷ 100 = 410.8 kcal. 8 oz of roasted chicken breast: 8 × 28.349523125 = 226.796185 g × 165 ÷ 100 = 374.21370525 kcal. Total 785.01370525 kcal, 392.5 per serving; the ingredients weigh 542.796185 g.
Other questions people ask
How do I count the calories in a recipe?
For each ingredient, multiply its calories per 100 g by its weight in grams and divide by 100. Add the results for the whole dish, then divide by the number of servings. Three medium bananas (354 g at 89 kcal per 100 g) are 354 × 89 ÷ 100 = 315 kcal.
What if an ingredient is not in the list?
Pick Other and type its calories per 100 g from the Nutrition Facts label. If the label gives calories per serving, divide by the serving weight in grams and multiply by 100: 110 kcal per 30 g serving is 367 kcal per 100 g.
Does cooking change the calories?
Cooking mostly adds or removes water, which changes the weight but not the calories, so the dish’s total stays the sum of its ingredients. Frying adds the oil the food absorbs; count the oil you use as an ingredient.
How do I find the calories per serving by weight?
Weigh the whole cooked dish, then use the calories in the whole recipe ÷ the cooked weight × the weight of your portion. The page gives the weight of the raw ingredients, which is not the cooked weight.
Where do the calorie values come from?
From USDA SR Legacy (April 2018), the final release of the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, published in FoodData Central. It is public domain and no longer changes. A value you type from a label replaces it.
Are calories and kilocalories the same?
On food labels, yes: the Calories on a label are kilocalories (kcal). In kilojoules, 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ.