Methi paratha calories
One home methi paratha (27 g atta, 17 g methi leaves, a teaspoon of oil) has about 150 calories, or about 185 with a teaspoon of butter. Two methi parathas with curd come to about 360. The methi is in the dough, and the textbook uses a teaspoon of oil each. A dhaba methi paratha runs about 185 to 310.
Methi paratha is atta kneaded with chopped fresh fenugreek leaves, onion, ginger and green chilli, then rolled and cooked on the tawa with a little oil. It's a winter bread across north and west India, eaten with curd and pickle, and a tiffin regular because it keeps well.
It isn't a thepla: a Gujarati thepla is thinner, made from mixed flours with curd, and smaller. Because the methi goes into the dough rather than a stuffing, and this textbook recipe uses only a teaspoon of oil a paratha, a methi paratha counts well under an aloo paratha.
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 methi paratha?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 methi paratha | 150 | 4 g | 20 g | 6 g |
| 2 methi parathas | 300 | 8 g | 40 g | 11 g |
| 1 methi paratha, 1 tsp butter (5 g) | 185 | 4 g | 20 g | 10 g |
| 1 methi paratha, 1 tbsp butter (14 g) | 250 | 4 g | 20 g | 17 g |
| 1 methi paratha with 100 g curd | 210 | 7 g | 25 g | 9 g |
How does home methi paratha compare with outside?
At a dhaba, a methi paratha is usually larger and cooked in far more ghee or oil than this textbook's teaspoon, and it often comes with butter on top.
No lab figure exists for a dhaba methi paratha, so the range below assumes one up to 1.4 times this size, with up to half as much oil again and 1 to 2 teaspoons of butter, the same assumptions as the aloo paratha page. A dhaba that uses 2 teaspoons of oil a paratha would be at the top of it.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 150 | 6 g |
| Dhaba or restaurant, with butter | 185 to 310 | 10 to 19 g |
Calories in methi paratha as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 methi parathas with curd | 360 | 11 g | 45 g | 15 g |
What changes the calories in methi paratha?
- The oil. This textbook recipe uses about a teaspoon a paratha; many kitchens cook a methi paratha in 2, which adds about 40 calories each.
- A teaspoon of butter on top takes one paratha from about 150 to 185 calories, and a tablespoon to 250.
- The methi and onion add little: together they are about an eighth of the total here. More methi changes the taste, not the number.
- A katori of curd on the side (100 g) takes a paratha to about 210, and pickle in oil adds more.
- A thepla, smaller and made from mixed flours, is about 120; a plain paratha cooked in 2 teaspoons of oil about 165.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the methi paratha in Basic Food Preparation (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 80 g of atta, 50 g of fenugreek leaves, 80 g of onion, 5 g of ginger and a green chilli, kneaded with 15 g of oil and 3 tablespoons of water, making 3 parathas, at IFCT 2017 values with the curd in the curd rows from USDA. This is a kneaded paratha, not a stuffed one, with about a teaspoon of oil a paratha against 2 for stuffed parathas, all counted as eaten. No reliable cooked weight exists, so one paratha is a third of the recipe, 150 calories. The databank's figure for this recipe, 135 calories, is 10% below because its copy carries 10 g of oil, not 15; no independent analysed methi paratha exists. The dhaba range copies the aloo paratha page: up to 1.4 times the size, up to 1.5 times the oil and 1 to 2 teaspoons of butter. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour, atta | 80 g | IFCT 2017 A019 |
| Fenugreek leaves (methi) chopped | 50 g | IFCT 2017 C020 |
| Onion, big | 80 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Ginger, fresh | 5 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Chillies, green one small chilli | 3.3 g | IFCT 2017 G008 |
| Groundnut oil about 1 teaspoon a paratha | 15 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Water 3 tablespoons, to make a soft dough | 45 g | no calories |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Atta (A019), fenugreek leaves (C020), onion (G017), ginger (G014), green chilli (G008), oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Basic Food Preparation recipe BFP110, methi paratha
- Indian Nutrient Databank, recipe and serving-size files (GitHub). recipes.xlsx and recipes_servingsize.xlsx: the recipe's ingredients in grams and its yield of 3 parathas; INDB.xlsx: its own per-paratha value
- USDA FoodData Central, Yogurt, plain, whole milk (171284). Curd on the side
- USDA FoodData Central, Butter, without salt (173430). Butter on top; 1 tbsp = 14.2 g
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Bread, paratha (2707715). 70 g per paratha, used for the outside size
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 methi paratha?
A homemade methi paratha made with about 27 g of atta and a teaspoon of oil has about 150 calories. Two have about 300. Cooked in 2 teaspoons of oil instead, add about 40 each.
Is methi paratha the same as methi thepla?
No. A thepla is a thinner Gujarati bread of mixed flours with methi and curd, about 120 calories each. A methi paratha is a thicker atta paratha, about 150.
How many calories are in methi paratha with butter?
About 185 with a teaspoon of butter, and about 250 with a tablespoon.
How much protein is in a methi paratha?
About 4 g, mostly from the atta. With a 100 g katori of curd it's about 7 g.
How many calories are in 2 methi parathas with curd?
About 360 calories: 2 parathas at 300 plus a 100 g katori of curd.