Kaju katli calories
One sweet-shop piece of kaju katli, about 10 g, has about 50 calories; a home piece of about 17 g is about 90. Four shop pieces, 40 g, come to about 200. Piece size is the main variable; the recipe, cashews and sugar, barely varies. Packed kaju katli, by a brand's label, runs about 180 to 200 for 4 pieces.
Kaju katli is ground cashews cooked with sugar syrup into a smooth dough, rolled thin, cut into diamonds and often topped with silver leaf. It's the most gifted sweet at Diwali and keeps for days without refrigeration.
Cashews and sugar are roughly equal by weight, but cashews carry more of the calories because of their fat. Per gram, kaju katli is one of the richest common sweets.
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 kaju katli?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 sweet-shop piece (about 10 g) about 10 g | 50 | 1 g | 6 g | 3 g |
| 1 home piece (a sixth, about 17 g) about 18 g | 90 | 2 g | 10 g | 5 g |
| 4 sweet-shop pieces (40 g) about 40 g | 200 | 4 g | 24 g | 11 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 505 | 9 g | 60 g | 26 g |
How does home kaju katli compare with outside?
Shop and packed kaju katli is made to much the same recipe. A packed brand's label lists 450 calories per 100 g, a little below this page's 505, which suggests a little less cashew or more sugar.
The range below runs from that label to this recipe for 4 pieces.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 200 | 11 g |
| Packed or sweet shop | 180 to 200 | 9 to 11 g |
What changes the calories in kaju katli?
- Piece size is the main thing: a shop piece is about 10 g, a home piece often more.
- More cashew and less sugar raises it slightly per gram, since cashews have more calories than sugar.
- Silver leaf adds nothing measurable.
- Kaju roll, kaju pista roll and kaju barfi with khoa are close per gram.
- Soan papdi is close per gram, about 495 per 100 g, and a peda is about 120 a piece.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the cashewnut burfi in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 50 g of cashews ground and cooked with 50 g of sugar in 3 tablespoons of water, making 6 pieces, at IFCT 2017 values with sugar from USDA. The databank counts all 2 tablespoons of ghee used to grease the tray as eaten; this page counts 5 g of it, an assumption for the film left on the pieces. With the water cooked off, the batch weighs about 105 g and is 505 calories per 100 g: a sweet-shop piece of 10 g is 50 calories and a home piece, a sixth of the batch at about 17 g, 90. The one check, a packed kaju katli label at 450 calories per 100 g, is 11% below this recipe, within the 15% that would require a range, and that label sets the low end of the shop range. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Cashew nut | 50 g | IFCT 2017 H005 |
| Sugar, white | 50 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
| Water 3 tablespoons, cooked off | 45 g | no calories |
| Ghee Greasing: of the 2 tablespoons used, about 5 g taken as eaten (an assumption) | 5 g | IFCT 2017 T013 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Cashew nut (H005), 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 ASC339, cashewnut burfi
- USDA FoodData Central, Branded food label, kaju katli (Mitha Magic) (740348). 40 g = 4 pieces; 450 kcal and 17.5 g fat per 100 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 kaju katli?
About 50 for a 10 g sweet-shop piece, and about 90 for a larger home piece.
How many calories are in 100 g of kaju katli?
About 505 for this recipe. A packed brand's label lists 450.
How much sugar is in kaju katli?
About 4.5 g of added sugar in a 10 g piece, close to half its weight.
How much protein is in kaju katli?
About 4 g in 4 pieces, from the cashews.