Bhatura calories
One bhatura from about 27 g of maida, deep-fried, has about 185 calories, and 2 bhature about 370. With a katori of chole, 2 bhature make a plate of about 635. Size matters most: a bhatura from 40 g of maida has half as much again. Street bhaturas tested in a lab came to about 90 to 185.
Bhatura is a leavened maida bread, kneaded with curd and sometimes a little baking powder, then deep-fried until it puffs into a large round. It's almost always eaten as chole bhature, a Punjabi dish found from Delhi's street stalls to restaurant breakfasts.
A bhatura takes up a lot of oil in frying. In this page's numbers, oil is close to half its calories, and the maida most of the rest.
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 bhatura?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half a bhatura | 90 | 1 g | 10 g | 5 g |
| 1 bhatura (about 27 g maida) | 185 | 3 g | 20 g | 10 g |
| 2 bhaturas | 370 | 6 g | 41 g | 20 g |
| 3 bhaturas | 555 | 9 g | 61 g | 30 g |
How does home bhatura compare with outside?
A peer-reviewed study bought bhaturas from street vendors in Delhi and a nearby village and tested them in a lab. The Delhi bhatura weighed 52 g with 10.2 g of fat, much like the home bhatura here. The village one was smaller, 33 g, and held much less fat.
Restaurant bhaturas for chole bhature can be bigger than either. We found no measurement of those, so the range below covers the two street bhaturas only.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 185 | 10 g |
| Street stall (measured) | 90 to 185 | 3 to 10 g |
Calories in bhatura as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 bhature with chole | 635 | 15 g | 67 g | 32 g |
What changes the calories in bhatura?
- Size is the biggest variable. A bhatura rolled from 40 g of maida has half as much again as this one.
- Oil uptake depends on the heat and the oil. A bhatura fried in cooler or much-used oil soaks up more.
- Curd and a pinch of sugar in the dough add very little, about 5 calories a bhatura.
- A 200 ml katori of chole is a separate dish, and a fried green chilli and onion on the side add a little more.
How were these numbers worked out?
The bhatura is the one in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 80 g of maida and 20 g of curd with a pinch of sugar, deep-fried into 3, with IFCT 2017 values and curd and sugar from USDA. The databank counts all the frying oil as eaten, far too high, and no lab has measured a home bhatura, so this page takes the fat content Gupta et al. measured in a Delhi vendor's bhatura in 2016, 19.6%, as typical: about 10 g of oil taken up per bhatura. No cooked weight is used; one bhatura is a third of the batch, 185 calories, and its raw dough plus oil, about 52 g, matches the 52 g Delhi bhatura. No second analysed value for bhatura exists, so there is no separate cross-check. The street range is calibrated to the two vendor bhaturas Gupta et al. analysed, one of which held far less fat. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour, refined (maida) | 80 g | IFCT 2017 A018 |
| Curd (dahi), whole milk | 20 g | USDA FDC 171284 |
| Sugar, white a pinch | 1 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
| Water to make a soft dough: an assumption, no calories | 25 g | no calories |
| Groundnut oil Taken up in frying: a stated assumption, so a bhatura is about 20% fat | 29 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Wheat flour, refined (A018), oil; 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 ASC143, bhatura
- Gupta et al., Unhealthy fat in street and snack foods, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2016. Measured bhatura weight and fat, village and Delhi urban slum
- USDA FoodData Central, Yogurt, plain, whole milk (171284). Curd in the dough
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar in the dough
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 bhatura?
About 185 for a bhatura made with about 27 g of maida and fried in fresh oil. Half a bhatura is about 90.
How many calories are in 2 bhature?
About 370 for two, before the chole.
Is bhatura made of maida?
Usually, yes. The textbook bhatura is maida with curd. Some homes mix in atta or semolina, which changes the number a little.
How much fat is in a bhatura?
About 10 g in this home bhatura. Street bhaturas tested in a lab held between 3.3 g and 10.2 g, depending on size and the oil.
How many calories are in chole bhature?
Two bhature with a 200 ml katori of chole come to about 635 calories, with about 15 g of protein.