Idli calories
One medium idli, about 38 g, has about 50 calories, so 2 come to about 105 before sambar and chutney. With sambar, 2 idlis make a meal of about 305. The idli is plain; a teaspoon of ghee, or oil with podi, adds about 40 to 45. Restaurant idlis are often larger: 2 run about 105 to 200.
Idli is a steamed cake of fermented rice and urad dal batter, usually three or four parts rice to one part dal. There's no oil in the batter, so an idli's calories come almost entirely from the rice and dal in it.
Sizes vary a lot, from small home idlis to the large ones in many restaurants. Kanchipuram idli is a different dish: it's made with ghee, sesame oil and pepper, so these numbers don't apply to it.
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 idli?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 small idli (10 g rice and dal) about 25 g | 35 | 1 g | 7 g | 0 g |
| 1 medium idli (15 g rice and dal) about 38 g | 50 | 2 g | 11 g | 0 g |
| 1 large idli (20 g rice and dal) about 50 g | 70 | 2 g | 14 g | 0 g |
| 2 medium idlis about 75 g | 105 | 3 g | 21 g | 0 g |
| 4 small idlis about 100 g | 140 | 5 g | 28 g | 0 g |
How does home idli compare with outside?
Restaurant idlis are often larger than home ones, and some places serve them with ghee or with podi mixed in oil. The batter is the same.
Without a lab figure for restaurant idli, the range below assumes idlis up to half as big again with up to a teaspoon of ghee. Sambar and chutney come on the side and are counted separately.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 105 | 0 g |
| Restaurant, with ghee | 105 to 200 | 0 to 5 g |
Calories in idli as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 idlis with sambar | 305 | 10 g | 43 g | 9 g |
| 4 idlis with sambar | 410 | 14 g | 64 g | 10 g |
What changes the calories in idli?
- An idli's calories follow the rice and dal in it, so a large idli has about twice a small one.
- A teaspoon of ghee, or of oil with podi, adds about 40 to 45 calories.
- Sambar and coconut chutney are separate dishes. Coconut chutney is the richer of the two: ICMR-NIN counts 2 tablespoons at about 120 calories.
- Rava idli is made with semolina and curd, often with a ghee tadka, and has its own values.
How were these numbers worked out?
The idli batter is the one in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 60 g of parboiled rice, 20 g of urad dal and 120 ml of water, making 8 small idlis with no oil at all, valued from IFCT 2017. The cooked weight is the batter weight, with nothing allowed for steaming, as the databank does, so the batch is about 200 g and 140 calories per 100 g; a small idli is a textbook eighth, a medium idli 15 g of rice and dal (about 38 g, close to USDA's 38 g idli) and a large one 20 g. Three checks bracket it: the databank's idli agrees within 1%, USDA's 38 g idli within 6%, and ICMR-NIN's 2 idlis at 150 calories match the large row within 9%. The restaurant range assumes idlis up to 1.5 times the medium size with up to a teaspoon of ghee or podi oil. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Rice, parboiled, milled | 60 g | IFCT 2017 A014 |
| Black gram dal (urad) | 20 g | IFCT 2017 B003 |
| Water | 120 g | no calories |
Published values for one idli run from about 35 calories for a small textbook idli to 75 for ICMR-NIN's idli. The difference is size, so pick the row that matches your idlis.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Parboiled rice (A014), black gram dal (B003); 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 ASC144
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Idli (55702000). 38 g idli, 128 kcal per 100 g
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: idli, sambar, coconut chutney
- Durgadevi and Shetty, sensory profile of idli, Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2014. Rice to dal ratios
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 idli?
A medium idli has about 50 calories. Small idlis are about 35 and large ones about 70.
How much protein is in an idli?
A medium idli has about 2 g of protein, from the rice and the urad dal.
Does idli have any fat?
Very little: there's no oil in the batter, so a plain idli has well under 1 g of fat. Fat comes from ghee, podi oil and coconut chutney.
How many calories are in 2 idli with sambar?
About 305 calories: 2 medium idlis at 105 and a 200 ml katori of sambar. Four idlis with the same sambar come to about 410. The idli sambar page has 1 to 4 idlis, large idlis and ghee.