Recipe Calorie Calculator
Add up the calories of a recipe's ingredients and divide by the servings, or by the cooked weight and your portion's weight.
Result…
How it's calculated
Total = sum of every ingredient's calories Per serving = total ÷ servings By weight: per serving = total × serving weight ÷ cooked weight · kcal = kJ ÷ 4.184
Enter each ingredient with the calories in the amount you put in, taken from its packet or a food composition database, and the total is shared out. Divide by the number of servings, or, for more even portions, weigh the whole cooked dish and your own serving: the calories per serving are the total times your serving weight divided by the cooked weight. Cooking drives off or adds water, which changes the weight but not the calories, so the cooked weight is the one to use. Labels in some countries give energy in kilojoules: choose kJ and it is converted at 4.184 kJ per kcal. This calculator does not look up foods, so it never guesses a calorie value. To fit the result into a day, use the calorie or meal calorie calculator.
Your numbers, step by step
About the Recipe Calorie calculator
This recipe calorie calculator adds up the calories of a home-cooked dish and tells you how many are in each serving. Type every ingredient with the calories in the amount you used, taken from its packet or a food composition database, one per line. Then divide by the number of servings, or, for portions that are not all the same size, by weight: weigh the whole cooked dish and your own serving, and it works out the calories in that serving and per 100 g. Labels in some countries show kilojoules, so you can enter energy in kJ instead of kcal. The calculator never looks up or guesses a food's calories; the answer comes only from the numbers you enter, and the steps show the sum and the division. To fit a serving into your day, see the meal calorie calculator or the calorie calculator.
How to use it
- In “Ingredients and their calories”, type one line per ingredient, like “Rice 700”, using the calories in the amount you put in.
- Choose “kcal (Calories)” or “kJ” under “Energy in” to match your labels.
- Under “Divide by”, choose “Number of servings” and enter the “Servings”, or “Cooked weight”.
- For cooked weight, pick grams or ounces, then enter the “Total cooked weight” of the finished dish and your “Serving weight”.
- Read the calories per serving, the total, and the values per 100 g and in kJ.
Worked example
Four ingredients with 900, 650, 500 and 350 kcal add up to 2400 kcal. Shared into 6 servings, that is 2400 ÷ 6 = 400 kcal (1673.6 kJ) each. By weight: the cooked dish weighs 1600 g, so it has 2400 ÷ 1600 = 1.5 kcal per gram, or 150 kcal per 100 g, and a 350 g serving holds 1.5 × 350 = 525 kcal, with about 4.57 servings of that size in the dish.
Updated
Questions people ask
How do I calculate calories per serving of a recipe?
Add up the calories of every ingredient in the amounts you used, then divide by the number of servings. 2400 kcal shared six ways is 400 kcal a serving.
Should I use the raw or the cooked weight?
Use the cooked weight of the whole dish when you divide by weight. Cooking changes the weight as water evaporates or is absorbed, but not the calories in the pot, so the cooked weight matches what you put on the plate.
Where do I find each ingredient's calories?
From the nutrition label, scaled to the amount you used, or from a national food composition database. The calculator does not supply food values, so the result is only as accurate as the numbers you enter.
How do I convert kilojoules to calories?
Divide kJ by 4.184 to get kcal. Choose “kJ” under “Energy in” and the calculator does it for you.
Why doesn't my result match an app's number for the same dish?
Different databases list different values for the same food, brands vary, and oil or fat left in the pan is hard to count. Treat the figure as an estimate; for a medical diet, follow the advice of a doctor or dietitian.