Paneer butter masala calories
A 200 ml katori of home paneer butter masala has about 300 calories, and 100 g about 150. A textbook bowl with 50 g of paneer is about 230. Paneer carries most of it, and each extra tablespoon of butter adds about 100 calories. A restaurant serving, with more paneer, butter and cream, runs about 390 to 725.
Paneer butter masala, or paneer makhani, is paneer in a tomato gravy finished with butter and a little cream. Some cooks add onion, cashew and a pinch of sugar. Shahi paneer is its paler cousin, richer in cashew and cream and lighter on tomato.
Paneer has about 258 calories per 100 g, so it's most of the dish. The butter and cream decide how much higher it goes.
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 paneer butter masala?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) about 150 g | 225 | 11 g | 14 g | 14 g |
| 1 katori (200 ml) about 200 g | 300 | 14 g | 19 g | 19 g |
| 1 textbook bowl (50 g paneer) about 153 g | 230 | 11 g | 15 g | 14 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 150 | 7 g | 10 g | 9 g |
How does home paneer butter masala compare with outside?
A restaurant serving usually has more paneer than a home katori, and more butter and cream on top. A published chef's recipe serves 125 g of paneer per person, two and a half times the textbook bowl.
We found no lab measurement of restaurant paneer butter masala, so the range below is built from that serving size and a richer finish.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 230 | 14 g |
| Restaurant serving | 390 to 725 | 27 to 53 g |
What changes the calories in paneer butter masala?
- Paneer carries most of the calories, and low-fat paneer has noticeably fewer.
- Each extra tablespoon of butter adds about 100 calories to the pot.
- A tablespoon of cream adds about 30 calories, and 10 g of cashew about 60.
- Restaurant servings are often two or three times a home katori.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is paneer in butter sauce from The Art & Science of Cooking (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 100 g of paneer, 100 g of tomato, 50 g of onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli with 3 teaspoons of butter, 2 of cream and 1.5 of sugar, for 2 bowls, all the butter and cream counted. Paneer, vegetables and spices are IFCT 2017 values; butter, cream and sugar, which IFCT does not list, are USDA's. The ingredients added together weigh about 305 g, so the pot is 150 calories per 100 g and a 200 ml katori at 1 g per ml is 300. The databank's figure for the bowl, 228 calories, agrees within 1%, confirming the arithmetic rather than the recipe. The restaurant range follows a published serving of 125 g of paneer, 2.5 times the textbook bowl, with 1.5 to 2 times the butter and cream. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Paneer | 100 g | IFCT 2017 L003 |
| Tomato, ripe, hybrid | 100 g | IFCT 2017 D075 |
| Onion, big | 50 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Ginger, fresh | 20 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Garlic | 1.3 g | IFCT 2017 G011 |
| Chillies, green | 3.3 g | IFCT 2017 G008 |
| Butter 3 tsp | 14.2 g | USDA FDC 173430 |
| Cream, single (about 19% fat) 2 tsp | 10 g | USDA FDC 170857 |
| Sugar, white 1.5 tsp | 6.3 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Paneer (L003), tomato, onion, ginger; 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 ASC222
- USDA FoodData Central 173430 (butter), 170857 (light cream), 169655 (sugar)
- Sanjeev Kapoor, Paneer butter masala. Restaurant-style serving size (proportions only)
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 katori of paneer butter masala?
A 200 ml katori of home paneer butter masala has about 300 calories. A restaurant serving is usually 390 to 725.
How much protein is in paneer butter masala?
A 200 ml katori has about 14 g of protein, nearly all from the paneer.
How much fat is in paneer butter masala?
A 200 ml katori of the home version has about 19 g of fat, from the paneer, butter and cream.
Which has more calories, paneer butter masala or shahi paneer?
Usually shahi paneer, because its gravy is built on cashew and cream rather than tomato. Both depend heavily on how much butter and cream go in.