How many calories are in a paratha?
One plain paratha is about 260 kcal, more than twice a chapati made from the same flour. The layering is the whole reason: the dough is folded around fat and shallow-fried, so the flour barely moves while the fat does.
The plate, as served
Two parathas with a ladle of tempered dal and three tablespoons of raita.
Where the calories come from
| Nutrient | Grams | Calories | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | 21g | 84 | 12% |
| Carbs | 88g | 352 | 49% |
| Fat | 32g | 288 | 40% |
| Fibre | 11g | counted within carbs | |
The ring is sized by calories, not grams: protein and carbs are 4 kcal a gram, fat is 9. Drawn by grams, fat would look like a sliver of what it actually contributes.
What is on the plate
| Paratha x2One plain paratha, about 70 g | 520 kcal |
| Dal, temperedA ladle, about 150 g | 165 kcal |
| RaitaThree tablespoons, about 60 g | 45 kcal |
The same dish, several ways
This is where the calories actually move. Not the ingredient, the cooking.
- Brushed with ghee at the table820+90
A teaspoon each, which is how they are served at home. Ninety kcal.
- With a chicken curry instead of dal810+80
Nearly the same total, and 13 g more protein.
- Two parathas with a ladle of tempered dal and three tablespoons of raita.As served730
- A single paratha, on its own260-470
The figure people are usually looking for.
Where each number comes from
Composition tables list ingredients, not dinners. There is no row anywhere for this plate, so it is built from its parts, and the preparation assumed for each part is written next to it, because that assumption is usually worth more calories than the ingredient.
| Component | Portion and preparation | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Paratha x2 | One plain paratha, about 70 gLayered and shallow-fried in ghee or oil. This is the single biggest reason a paratha is not a chapati. | 520 |
| Dal, tempered | A ladle, about 150 gCooked toor or masoor dal with a tempering of oil, mustard seed and curry leaf. The tempering is most of the fat. | 165 |
| Raita | Three tablespoons, about 60 gWhole-milk yoghurt with cucumber. | 45 |
| Total | 730 | |
Sources: Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (ICMR-NIN). Every figure is an estimate with a range around it, and is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal rather than pretending to a precision that does not exist.
Why you will see 200 to 900 kcal quoted for this
Whether the figure is for one paratha or a plate of two, and whether ghee went on afterwards. One dry paratha and two ghee-brushed ones with dal are 560 kcal apart.
Which is why this page shows the sum instead of asserting a total. Build the plate you actually eat and the number is yours rather than an average of strangers.
Build your own plateCommon questions
- How many calories are in one paratha?
- About 260 for a plain one made from roughly 45 g of atta. Brush a teaspoon of ghee on it at the table and it is 305.
- Why is a paratha so much heavier than a chapati?
- Fat, not flour. A chapati from the same amount of atta is about 110 kcal. The paratha is folded around ghee or oil and cooked on a greased tawa, and that difference is 150 kcal a piece.
- Can you eat paratha and still lose weight?
- Yes, and it is usually a portion question rather than a paratha question. One paratha with dal and raita is under 500, which fits most days without any negotiation.
- What goes best with paratha if I want protein?
- A chicken curry. Two parathas with chicken curry and raita come to 810 kcal and 34 g of protein, against 730 and 21 g for the same plate with dal.
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Other plates
North Indian and Punjabi is one of twelve cuisines you can pick when you start. The coach works in any of them, and in none of them exclusively.