Nimbu pani calories
A glass of nimbu pani has about 10 calories without sugar and about 40 with 2 teaspoons. With a teaspoon of honey it's about 30, and with the textbook's 1½ tablespoons of sugar about 80. Sugar is the whole number: each level teaspoon adds about 16. Street shikanji or nimbu soda, made with syrup, runs about 40 to 75.
Nimbu pani is fresh lime or lemon juice in cold water with sugar, salt and often roasted cumin and black salt, as shikanji in north India. It's the summer drink at home, at roadside stalls and at railway stations.
Lemon juice and water have almost no calories, so each spoon of sugar decides the number.
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 nimbu pani?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 glass, no sugar | 10 | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| 1 glass, 1 tsp sugar | 25 | 0 g | 4 g | 0 g |
| 1 glass, 2 tsp sugar | 40 | 0 g | 8 g | 0 g |
| 1 glass, 1½ tbsp sugar (textbook) | 80 | 0 g | 19 g | 0 g |
| 1 glass, 1 tsp honey | 30 | 0 g | 6 g | 0 g |
How does home nimbu pani compare with outside?
Street shikanji and nimbu soda are usually sweet, often made with sugar syrup. Nimbu soda uses soda water, which has no calories.
No lab has measured one, so the range below allows 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar a glass. ICMR-NIN's figure for a glass of fresh lime juice, 60 calories, falls inside it.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 10 | 0 g |
| Street shikanji or nimbu soda | 40 to 75 | 0 to 0 g |
What changes the calories in nimbu pani?
- Sugar is the whole number: each level teaspoon adds about 16 calories.
- Honey adds about 21 calories a teaspoon, a little more than sugar.
- Black salt, roasted cumin and mint add nothing measurable.
- Ready-made lemonade and sweetened drinks can have much more sugar per glass.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the lemonade in The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): the juice of 1 lemon in 1.5 cups of water with mint and crushed ice, sweetened with 3 tablespoons of sugar, for 2 glasses. This page counts the sugar per glass so each amount can be seen: 10 calories with none, 40 with 2 level teaspoons, 80 with the textbook's 1½ tablespoons. Lemon juice is valued from IFCT 2017, sugar and honey from USDA; one lemon is 48 g of juice, a level teaspoon of sugar 4.2 g and a tablespoon 12.5 g. A glass is half the recipe plus its sugar, with no cooking and no fat. ICMR-NIN's fresh lime juice at 60 calories a glass is 26% below the textbook's sweet glass and well above an unsweetened one, so the page shows a range; it implies about 3.4 teaspoons of sugar. The street shikanji range is 2 to 4 teaspoons per glass. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon juice 1 lemon | 48 g | IFCT 2017 E033 |
| Water 1.5 cups | 360 g | no calories |
| Mint leaves | 1 g | IFCT 2017 G016 |
ICMR-NIN counts a glass of fresh lime juice at 60 calories, which is about 3 to 4 teaspoons of sugar. The textbook glass here, with 1½ tablespoons, is about 80. Depending on the sugar, a glass is anywhere from about 10 to 80.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Lemon juice (E033), mint (G016); 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 ASC008, lemonade
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: fresh lime juice 60 kcal per glass
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). 1 tsp = 4.2 g; 1 tbsp = 12.5 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Honey (169640). 1 tbsp = 21 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Lemon juice, raw (167747). 1 lemon yields 48 g of juice
Questions people ask
How many calories are in nimbu pani without sugar?
About 10 for a glass with the juice of half a lemon.
How many calories are in nimbu pani with sugar?
About 25 with 1 teaspoon of sugar, 40 with 2, and about 80 with 1½ tablespoons.
How many calories are in nimbu pani with honey?
About 30 with a teaspoon of honey.
How many calories are in shikanji?
About the same as sweet nimbu pani: 40 to 75 for a street glass with 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar.