Medu vada calories
One medu vada from 15 g of urad dal, deep-fried, has about 70 calories. Two vadas, the usual plate, are about 140 before sambar and chutney, and about 340 with sambar. Size matters most: a vada from 20 g of dal has a third more. Restaurant or stall vadas, bigger and oilier, run about 140 to 225 for two.
Medu vada is a ring-shaped fritter of ground urad dal batter, deep-fried until crisp outside and soft inside. It's a breakfast staple in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra, eaten with sambar and coconut chutney, or soaked in sambar as sambar vada.
Urad dal is high in protein for a fried snack. Oil taken up in frying is about a third of each vada's calories.
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 medu vada?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 medu vada about 28 g | 70 | 3 g | 8 g | 3 g |
| 2 medu vadas about 56 g | 140 | 7 g | 15 g | 5 g |
| 4 medu vadas about 111 g | 280 | 14 g | 31 g | 11 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 255 | 12 g | 28 g | 10 g |
How does home medu vada compare with outside?
Vadas from an Udupi restaurant or a stall are often bigger than home ones and fried in oil that's been used many times, which raises the fat they take up.
A lab study found fried foods took up about a fifth more fat after 32 fryings in the same oil. The range below uses that, with vadas up to 1.5 times this size.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 140 | 5 g |
| Udupi restaurant or stall | 140 to 225 | 5 to 10 g |
Calories in medu vada as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 medu vadas with sambar | 340 | 14 g | 37 g | 15 g |
What changes the calories in medu vada?
- Size is the main variable. A vada from 20 g of dal has a third more than one from 15 g.
- Oil that's been used many times leaves more fat in each vada.
- Sambar and chutney are separate. ICMR-NIN counts a cup of sambar at about 110 calories and 2 tablespoons of coconut chutney at about 120.
- Sambar vada soaks two vadas in sambar: count the sambar too, see sambar.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the plain urad dal vada in Basic Food Preparation (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 60 g of urad dal ground with a little water and deep-fried, making 4, at IFCT 2017 values. The databank counts all the frying oil as eaten, far too high, so this page sets the oil taken up so that a vada matches the composition of USDA's analysed vada, 42% water and 9.7% fat: about 2.5 g of oil per vada, a vada of about 28 g, and a batch of about 111 g at 255 calories per 100 g. One vada is a quarter of the batch, 70 calories. Both checks agree: ICMR-NIN's 140 calories for 2 vadas matches the 2 vada row within 1%, and USDA's vada at 266 per 100 g is within 5%. The Udupi range assumes vadas up to 1.5 times as big and fat up to 1.22 times, the rise Jain et al. found in oil reused for 32 fryings. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Black gram dal (urad) | 60 g | IFCT 2017 B003 |
| Water 3 teaspoons, for grinding | 15 g | no calories |
| Groundnut oil Taken up in frying: a stated assumption, so a vada is about 10% fat | 9.8 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Black gram dal (B003), oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Basic Food Preparation recipe BFP436, plain urad dal vada
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: vada 140 kcal for 2; sambar 110 kcal per cup; coconut chutney 120 kcal per 2 tbsp
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Vada (2709130). 30 g per vada; 266 kcal, 9.73 g fat and 42 g water per 100 g
- Jain, Passi and Selvamurthy, Total fat and fatty acid profile of Indian fried foods, Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2024. Total fat in fried foods, 1st against 32nd frying cycle
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 medu vada?
About 70 for a home vada made from 15 g of urad dal.
How much protein is in medu vada?
About 3 g in one vada and about 7 g in two, from the urad dal.
Which has more calories, medu vada or idli?
A vada, a little: about 70 against about 50 for a medium idli. The vada is fried; the idli is steamed.
How many calories are in 2 medu vada with sambar?
About 340 calories: 2 vadas at 140 and a 200 ml katori of sambar. Two tablespoons of coconut chutney add about 120.