Gulab jamun calories
One home gulab jamun made with khoa, about 43 g drained of syrup, has about 155 calories, and 2 about 310. A tablespoon of syrup adds about 45, taking one to about 200. Size matters most: a large sweet-shop gulab jamun can be half as big again. Sweet-shop or wedding ones run about 155 to 230 each, before syrup.
Gulab jamun is a soft ball of khoa and a little maida, fried slowly in ghee or oil until dark brown, then soaked in warm sugar syrup flavoured with cardamom and rose water. It's the sweet at most Indian weddings and festivals, and kala jamun and Bengal's lal mohan are close cousins.
About half of a gulab jamun's weight is sugar it has soaked up. That sugar is close to half its calories, and the khoa and the frying fat 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 gulab jamun?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 gulab jamun (about 43 g) about 43 g | 155 | 3 g | 24 g | 5 g |
| 2 gulab jamuns about 87 g | 310 | 6 g | 48 g | 11 g |
| 1 with a tablespoon of syrup about 43 g | 200 | 3 g | 36 g | 5 g |
| 100 g, drained about 100 g | 355 | 7 g | 55 g | 12 g |
How does home gulab jamun compare with outside?
Sweet-shop and wedding gulab jamuns are often bigger than home ones, and they're usually served with more syrup. Brands analysed in a dairy science study had no more fat than this one, between about 6.5% and 12.3%.
The range below allows a gulab jamun up to 1.5 times this size. Syrup on top is extra.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 155 | 5 g |
| Sweet shop or wedding | 155 to 230 | 5 to 8 g |
What changes the calories in gulab jamun?
- Size matters most: a large sweet-shop gulab jamun can be half as big again.
- Each tablespoon of syrup poured over adds about 45 calories, almost all sugar.
- Gulab jamun made from a packet mix with milk powder is close per gram.
- Served warm with a scoop of ice cream, add about 100 to 140 calories for the ice cream.
- Rasmalai, chhena in sweetened milk, is about 130 a piece with its milk; a peda about 120.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the gulab jamun in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 100 g of khoa, 25 g of maida and a teaspoon of milk, making 6, soaked in a syrup of 200 g of sugar in 125 ml of water, at IFCT 2017 values with sugar from USDA. The databank counts all the frying fat and all the syrup as eaten. A lab analysis of khoa gulab jamun (7.35% protein, 12.3% fat, 48.2% sugar) lets this page use the dough's protein to work out the finished weight, about 260 g for 6, then sets the fat and sugar taken up to match: about 2 g of fat and 18 g of sugar per piece. One gulab jamun is a sixth of that, about 43 g and 155 calories. No independent calorie figure exists in IFCT 2017, NIN or USDA FNDDS. The sweet shop range runs the piece up to 1.5 times the size. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Khoa (mawa) | 100 g | IFCT 2017 L004 |
| Wheat flour, refined (maida) | 25 g | IFCT 2017 A018 |
| Milk, whole, cow 1 teaspoon | 5 g | IFCT 2017 L002 |
| Ghee Taken up in frying: set from a lab analysis, so a gulab jamun is about 12% fat | 11 g | IFCT 2017 T013 |
| Sugar, white Taken up from the syrup: set from the same analysis, about 48% sugar | 108.3 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Khoa (L004), maida (A018), cow milk (L002), 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 ASC348, gulab jamun with khoya
- Physico-chemical properties of gulabjamun (Rahuri trial, wheat flour control), Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 2020. Control gulab jamun: 12.32% fat, 7.35% protein, 48.16% total sugar, 30.45% moisture
- Evaluation of selected physico-chemical, colour and textural characteristics of market gulabjamun, Indian Journal of Dairy Science. Six market brands: fat 6.47% to 12.32%
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: ice cream 200 kcal per half cup
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 gulab jamun?
About 155 for a home gulab jamun of about 43 g, drained, and about 200 with a tablespoon of syrup.
How many calories are in 2 gulab jamuns?
About 310 for two, drained.
How much sugar is in a gulab jamun?
About 18 g of added sugar in a 43 g gulab jamun, close to 4 teaspoons, plus the milk sugar in the khoa.
How many calories are in 100 g of gulab jamun?
About 355 for 100 g, drained of syrup.