Besan ladoo calories
One besan ladoo of about 35 g has about 165 calories, and 2 ladoos about 330. A small 25 g ladoo is about 115. Ghee and sugar are about two thirds of it, and size matters most: a 60 g sweet-shop ladoo has close to twice this one. Sweet-shop ladoos run about 160 to 280.
Besan ladoo is gram flour roasted slowly in ghee until it smells nutty, then mixed with powdered sugar and cardamom and shaped into balls. It's a Diwali and festival sweet in most of north and west India, and it keeps for weeks.
A ladoo is about a fifth ghee by weight, so it's rich for its size.
Typical values for a home kitchen, for the portion named next to each number. Other sites often show bigger numbers because they count a bigger serving or a restaurant recipe. Your own katori, roti and oil change the number; Slate adjusts for them.
How many calories are in besan ladoo?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 small ladoo (25 g) about 25 g | 115 | 2 g | 14 g | 6 g |
| 1 ladoo (about 35 g) about 35 g | 165 | 3 g | 20 g | 8 g |
| 2 ladoos about 70 g | 330 | 6 g | 40 g | 16 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 470 | 9 g | 57 g | 23 g |
How does home besan ladoo compare with outside?
A peer-reviewed study bought a besan ladoo from a Delhi vendor and tested it: 33 g with 7.9 g of fat, almost the same as this home ladoo. Sweet-shop ladoos are often bigger; USDA's survey data lists a ladoo at 60 g.
The range below runs from that measured ladoo to a 60 g one made like this recipe.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 165 | 8 g |
| Sweet shop (measured and large) | 160 to 280 | 8 to 14 g |
What changes the calories in besan ladoo?
- Size is the main thing: a 60 g sweet-shop ladoo has close to twice a 35 g one.
- Ghee is about 40% of a ladoo's calories here. Each extra tablespoon in the batch adds about 110 calories.
- Motichoor ladoo, fried besan pearls in syrup, is lighter per gram, about 420 per 100 g, because the syrup brings water in with the sugar.
- Nuts and raisins mixed in add a little.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the gram flour ladoo in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 50 g of besan and 10 g of suji roasted in 30 g of ghee, mixed with 50 g of powdered sugar and cardamom, making 4, all the ghee counted, at IFCT 2017 values with besan taken as Bengal gram dal and sugar from USDA. Roasting drives off little, so the batch is the ingredients added together, about 140 g, and 470 calories per 100 g; one ladoo is a quarter, about 35 g and 165 calories, of which the ghee is about 40%. USDA's survey ladoo at 411 calories per 100 g is 12% below, within the 15% that would require a range, and the fat content matches the besan ladoo Gupta et al. analysed from a Delhi vendor in 2016, 23.8% against 23.4% here. That vendor ladoo sets the low end of the shop range and USDA's 60 g ladoo the high end. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Besan (ground Bengal gram dal) | 50 g | IFCT 2017 B001 |
| Semolina (suji, rava) | 10 g | IFCT 2017 A022 |
| Ghee | 30 g | IFCT 2017 T013 |
| Sugar, white powdered | 50 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Bengal gram dal (B001) as besan, semolina (A022), ghee (T013); values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. The Art & Science of Cooking recipe ASC343, gram flour ladoo
- Gupta et al., Unhealthy fat in street and snack foods, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2016. Measured besan ladoo weight and fat, Delhi urban slum
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Ladoo, round ball (2710351). 411 kcal per 100 g; 60 g per piece
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 besan ladoo?
About 165 for a 35 g ladoo, and about 115 for a small 25 g one.
How many calories are in 100 g of besan ladoo?
About 470. USDA's survey value for a ladoo is 411.
How much sugar is in a besan ladoo?
About 12.5 g of added sugar in a 35 g ladoo, about 3 teaspoons.
How much protein is in a besan ladoo?
About 3 g, from the besan.