Indian Food Calorie and Protein Chart: 50 Common Foods

Most Indian diets are not low in calories; they are low in protein relative to calories. Roti, rice, poha and dal make up the bulk of the plate, and each gives only 2–7 g of protein per serving. This chart puts about 50 common Indian foods in one place, with realistic home serving sizes, so you can see where your calories and protein actually come from and decide what to add or swap.

How to Read This Chart

• Serving and grams are typical Indian home portions: a katori is about 150 ml, a roti about 40 g, a plate of poha about 180 g and upma about 200 g.
• Basis matters. Dals, chana and soya are shown as cooked servings or dry weight as labelled. Dry dal has 21–26 g of protein per 100 g, but a cooked katori has only 6–8 g because of the water.
• Ranges are real. Recipes, brands and how much oil you use change the numbers. Single-ingredient values come from IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) and USDA FoodData Central; mixed dishes (paratha, upma, chole, samosa) are typical home-recipe estimates.
• Linked foods go to a detailed page with more serving sizes and variations.

Indian Food Calorie and Protein Chart (50 Common Foods)

Calories for fried or gravy dishes can be much higher in restaurants, where a single serving of dal makhani, paneer butter masala or chole can carry 2–4 extra teaspoons of fat (about 90–180 kcal). If you want accurate numbers for your own cooking, weigh the raw ingredients once and divide by the number of servings.

Top 15 High-Protein Indian Foods

Ranked by protein in a realistic serving rather than per 100 g, because nobody eats 100 g of dry dal in one sitting.

Vegetarian (10)

1. Whey protein, 1 scoop: 22–25 g, ~120 kcal. Not a whole food, but the most efficient top-up. See the best protein powders in India.
2. Low-fat paneer, 100 g: 20–25 g, ~160–220 kcal.
3. Regular paneer, 100 g: 18–20 g, ~300 kcal. Full breakdown in protein in paneer.
4. Soya chunks, 30 g dry: ~15.5 g, ~105 kcal. The cheapest vegetarian protein; see soya chunks protein.
5. Hung curd or Greek yogurt, 1 katori: 13–15 g. See protein in curd.
6. Firm tofu, 100 g: 12–17 g, ~80–145 kcal. Compared in paneer vs tofu.
7. Chole, 1 katori: ~10 g. See protein in chana.
8. Besan chilla, 1 large: ~9 g.
9. Rajma or thick dal, 1 katori: 8–9 g (up to 12 g for a very thick dal). See protein in dal.
10. Milk, 1 glass (250 ml): ~8 g. Peanuts, 30 g: ~7.7 g, but at ~170 kcal.

Non-vegetarian (5)

1. Chicken breast, 100 g cooked: ~31 g, ~165 kcal.
2. Mutton (lean goat), 100 g cooked: ~27 g, ~143 kcal. Fattier cuts and curries are much higher in calories.
3. Prawns, 100 g cooked: ~24 g, ~99 kcal, one of the leanest proteins available.
4. Fish (rohu, katla, surmai), 100 g raw weight: ~16–20 g depending on the fish.
5. Eggs: 2 whole eggs give ~12.6 g for ~145 kcal; 4 egg whites give ~14.4 g for ~70 kcal.

A simple rule for vegetarians: aim for one food from the top seven of the vegetarian list at every main meal. That alone usually adds 40–60 g of protein to an ordinary dal-roti-sabzi day.

Lowest-Calorie Indian Staples

If you are cutting, these foods give you volume and satisfaction for relatively few calories:

The foods that quietly push calories up are rarely the staples themselves. They are the additions: a teaspoon of ghee on each roti (+45 kcal), two cups of sweet chai (+60–80 kcal of sugar alone, see jaggery vs sugar), fried snacks, and creamy restaurant gravies.

Roti, Rice, Idli, Dosa and Poha: Which Is Lowest in Calories?

Per typical serving, the everyday carb staples are closer than most people think:

• 2 rotis (80 g, no ghee): ~190–200 kcal, ~6 g protein. Details in calories in chapati.
• 1 katori rice (150 g cooked): ~195 kcal, ~4 g protein. See calories in rice.
• 3 idlis: ~165–195 kcal, ~6 g protein. See calories in idli.
• 1 plain dosa: ~110–140 kcal, more with oil or ghee on the tawa. See calories in dosa.
• 1 plate poha (about 180 g): ~300 kcal, ~4.5 g protein. See calories in poha.

None of these is a "bad" food. The question is portion and what you pair them with. Rice with a thick dal and curd is a well-balanced meal; rice with a thin dal and pickle is mostly carbohydrate.

How to Use This Chart to Hit Your Protein Target

Start with a target. Most active adults building or keeping muscle do well on about 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight; the protein calculator gives a personal number, and the calorie calculator sets your calorie budget.

Then build each meal around one protein-dense food and fill the rest with staples. Here is what that looks like for a 70 kg vegetarian aiming for about 100 g a day:

Non-vegetarians can swap the paneer for 100 g of chicken breast (about 12 g more protein and 135 fewer calories) or add two eggs at breakfast. For complete meal plans built this way, see our high-protein Indian meal prep guide or generate one with the meal plan generator.

A Note on Accuracy

Every number here is an average. Paneer can range from 14 to 25 g of protein per 100 g depending on how it is made; a katori of dal depends on how thick you cook it; a dosa depends on the size of your tawa and the hand pouring the oil. Use the chart to make better choices, and if you are tracking closely, weigh the foods you eat most often a few times so your estimates match your kitchen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) for Indian pulses, paneer, curd and cereals; USDA FoodData Central for rice, eggs, chicken breast, goat, shrimp, peanuts, almonds, banana, apple, potato and tofu; brand labels for soya chunks, packaged paneer and whey. Mixed dishes are typical home-recipe estimates and will vary.