Dal makhani calories
A 200 ml katori of home dal makhani has about 200 calories. A textbook bowl from 40 g of dry dal and rajma is about 290. Butter and cream matter most: a teaspoon of butter adds about 35 and a tablespoon of cream about 30. A restaurant katori, finished with both, runs about 265 to 335.
Dal makhani is whole black urad with a little rajma, simmered for hours with tomato, ginger and garlic, then finished with butter and cream. It was made famous by Moti Mahal in Delhi and is on almost every north Indian restaurant menu, often as the richest dal on it.
At home it's usually made with less butter and cream than in restaurants. The dal and beans give it body; the fat decides how far the number climbs.
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 dal makhani?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) about 150 g | 150 | 6 g | 13 g | 9 g |
| 1 katori (200 ml) about 200 g | 200 | 7 g | 17 g | 11 g |
| 1 katori (250 ml) about 250 g | 255 | 9 g | 21 g | 14 g |
| 1 textbook bowl (40 g dry dal and rajma) about 285 g | 290 | 11 g | 24 g | 16 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 100 | 4 g | 8 g | 6 g |
How does home dal makhani compare with outside?
Restaurant dal makhani is finished with a lot more butter and cream than most home versions, often with a swirl of cream on top as it's served.
No lab has measured a restaurant katori, so the range below adds 1 to 2 teaspoons of butter and 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream to this one.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 200 | 11 g |
| Restaurant | 265 to 335 | 18 to 25 g |
What changes the calories in dal makhani?
- Butter and cream are the biggest variables. A teaspoon of butter adds about 35 calories, and a tablespoon of cream about 30.
- Long simmering thickens the dal. The same pot boiled down further has more in each katori.
- Dal makhani without cream or butter, tempered with a little oil, is close to a thick rajma per katori.
- Rice or naan with it are counted separately.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the Moti Mahal dal in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 30 g of whole urad and 10 g of rajma with tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, 25 g of curd, a teaspoon of cream and a tablespoon of oil, all the fat counted, at IFCT 2017 values with curd and cream from USDA. The textbook simmers 1.5 cups of water down; the databank records half a cup left in the dish, giving a cooked weight of about 285 g, so the pot is 100 calories per 100 g and a 200 ml katori at 1 g per ml is 200. The only comparable figure, the databank's open-source dal makhani made with four cups of water, is 27% lower per 100 g, so the page shows a range. No restaurant dal makhani has been analysed; the range adds 1 to 2 teaspoons of butter and 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream per katori. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Black gram, whole (sabut urad) Dry weight | 30 g | IFCT 2017 B004 |
| Rajmah, red (dry) Dry weight | 10 g | IFCT 2017 B020 |
| Tomato, ripe, hybrid | 50 g | IFCT 2017 D075 |
| Onion, big | 25 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Ginger, fresh | 5 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Garlic | 1.25 g | IFCT 2017 G011 |
| Curd (dahi), whole milk | 25 g | USDA FDC 171284 |
| Cream, single (about 19% fat) 1 teaspoon | 5 g | USDA FDC 170857 |
| Groundnut oil 1 tablespoon | 13.6 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Water Left after simmering: the databank's half cup | 120 g | no calories |
The databank's open-source dal makhani, with more water, works out to about 74 calories per 100 g, against about 100 here. Thickness and the amount of butter and cream vary a lot, so a home katori can be anywhere from about 150 to 200.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Black gram whole (B004), rajmah red (B020), tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, 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 ASC160, Moti Mahal dal; open-source recipe OSR139, dal makhani
- USDA FoodData Central, Yogurt, plain, whole milk (171284). Curd
- USDA FoodData Central, Cream, fluid, light (170857). Cream, 19% fat; 1 tbsp = 15 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Butter, without salt (173430). Restaurant butter
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 katori of dal makhani?
About 200 for a 200 ml katori made at home, and about 265 to 335 in a restaurant, depending on the butter and cream.
How many calories are in dal makhani without cream?
This home recipe has only a teaspoon of cream in the whole bowl, about 10 calories. Taking it out changes little; leaving out butter on top matters more.
How much protein is in dal makhani?
About 7 g in a 200 ml katori, from the urad and rajma.
How many calories are in 100 g of dal makhani?
About 100 for this home version. Restaurant dal makhani with more butter and cream is higher.
Which has more calories, dal makhani or dal tadka?
Dal makhani, usually by a lot. A 200 ml katori here is about 200 against about 115 for a thin dal tadka.