Kachori calories
A small home khasta kachori has about 120 calories, and 2 kachoris about 240. Two with a 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi are about 415. Size and frying matter most: street kachoris tested in a lab were one and a half times this size, with two to three times the fat, and came to about 260 to 320.
Khasta kachori is a flaky maida pastry, rubbed with plenty of oil or ghee, filled with spiced urad or moong dal and deep-fried slowly until it puffs and crisps. Matar kachori is filled with peas, and Rajasthani pyaz kachori with onion. In north India it's a breakfast with aloo sabzi.
Even before frying, oil in the dough and filling is about a third of a home kachori's calories, and after frying it's close to half. Street kachoris hold much more.
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 kachori?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 khasta kachori (small) | 120 | 3 g | 13 g | 6 g |
| 2 kachoris | 240 | 5 g | 26 g | 13 g |
| 2 kachoris with a 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi | 415 | 7 g | 45 g | 22 g |
How does home kachori compare with outside?
A peer-reviewed study bought kachoris from vendors in Delhi and a nearby village and tested them in a lab. They weighed 54 to 56 g, about one and a half times this home kachori, and held 32% and 47% fat.
The range below uses those two measured kachoris. Oil used again and again, and a thick, oil-rich crust, are the usual reasons street kachoris hold so much.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 120 | 6 g |
| Street or sweet shop (measured) | 260 to 320 | 18 to 25 g |
What changes the calories in kachori?
- Size and frying matter most. A street kachori can be one and a half times this one, with two to three times the fat.
- The oil or ghee rubbed into the dough (moyan) makes it flaky and adds about 40 to 45 calories per teaspoon to the batch.
- Matar and pyaz kachori fillings are a little lighter than dal; raj kachori, filled with curd and chutneys, is much more.
- Aloo sabzi with it is a separate dish: see aloo sabzi.
- Mathri and namak para, the dry Diwali snacks, are about 115 a piece and 260 for 10 pieces.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the khasta kachori in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 100 g of maida rubbed with 1½ tablespoons of oil, filled with 30 g of spiced urad dal cooked in 2 teaspoons of oil, deep-fried into 7, at IFCT 2017 values with the dough and filling oil counted in full. The databank counts all the frying oil as eaten, far too high, so this page assumes a fresh home kachori ends up about 18% fat, the oil content measured in lab-fried samosa pastry, about 2 g of oil taken up per kachori. No cooked weight is used; one kachori is a seventh of the batch, 120 calories. ICMR-NIN's pea kachori at 190 calories each is 57% above this small home kachori, so the page shows a range. The street range is calibrated to the two vendor kachoris Gupta et al. weighed and analysed in 2016, about 1.5 times the size with far more fat. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour, refined (maida) | 100 g | IFCT 2017 A018 |
| Groundnut oil 1½ tablespoons, rubbed into the dough | 20.4 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Black gram dal (urad) soaked and ground for the filling | 30 g | IFCT 2017 B003 |
| Groundnut oil 2 teaspoons, for the filling | 9 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Lemon juice half a lemon | 24 g | IFCT 2017 E033 |
| Red chilli powder | 1.35 g | USDA FDC 171319 |
| Fennel seeds (saunf) | 0.5 g | USDA FDC 171323 |
| Cumin seeds | 0.5 g | IFCT 2017 G025 |
| Water 3 tablespoons, for a stiff dough | 45 g | no calories |
| Groundnut oil Taken up in frying: a stated assumption, so a kachori is about 18% fat | 13.9 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
ICMR-NIN counts 2 pea kachoris at 380 calories, 190 each, between this small home kachori and the street ones measured in Delhi. Depending on size and oil, a kachori is anywhere from about 120 to 320 calories.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Maida (A018), black gram dal (B003), lemon juice, potato, tomato, onion, 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 ASC365, khasta kachori
- Gupta et al., Unhealthy fat in street and snack foods, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2016. Measured kachori weight and fat, village and Delhi urban slum
- Sakhale et al., oil uptake in samosa, Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2011. Lab-fried samosa pastry, 18.34% oil
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: pea kachori 380 kcal for 2
- USDA FoodData Central, Spices, chili powder (171319). Red chilli powder
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 kachori?
About 120 for a small home khasta kachori, and about 260 to 320 for a street kachori.
How many calories are in kachori with aloo sabzi?
About 415 for 2 home kachoris with a 200 ml katori of aloo sabzi.
How much fat is in a kachori?
About 6 g in this home kachori. Street kachoris tested in a lab held 17.8 g and 25.1 g.
Which has more calories, kachori or samosa?
A home samosa, about 165, is bigger than this small khasta kachori at about 120. Street versions of both are much higher.