Poha calories
A plate of poha made from 40 g of dry poha, with potato and peanuts, has about 315 calories. A small bowl from 20 g is about 155, and a plate with a cup of chai about 375. Each teaspoon of oil adds about 40 calories. A stall plate, bigger and often topped with sev, runs about 315 to 510.
Poha is flattened rice, rinsed and tossed in a little oil with mustard seeds, turmeric, curry leaves and green chilli. Maharashtra's kanda poha has onion; Gujarat's bateta poha has potato and usually a little sugar and lemon. Indori poha is steamed and topped with sev and jeeravan.
Plate sizes vary more than recipes, so this page counts poha by the dry poha that went in.
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 poha?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 small bowl (20 g dry poha) | 155 | 3 g | 19 g | 8 g |
| 1 plate (40 g dry poha) | 315 | 6 g | 37 g | 15 g |
| 1 large plate (60 g dry poha) | 470 | 9 g | 56 g | 23 g |
| 1 very large plate (100 g dry poha) | 785 | 15 g | 93 g | 38 g |
How does home poha compare with outside?
Poha from a stall or a station is usually a bigger plate, and it's often finished with sev, boondi or extra peanuts. In Indore it comes with jalebi on the side.
We found no lab measurement of stall poha, so the range below assumes a plate up to half as big again with a little more oil. Sev is fried, so a spoon of it on top adds more.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 315 | 15 g |
| Stall or restaurant | 315 to 510 | 15 to 27 g |
Calories in poha as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A plate of poha and a cup of chai | 375 | 8 g | 48 g | 17 g |
What changes the calories in poha?
- Dry poha is the main ingredient, so a plate made with twice the poha has close to twice the calories.
- Each teaspoon of oil adds about 40 calories. This recipe uses 10 g for two bowls.
- 10 g of peanuts adds about 50 calories.
- Sev, boondi and namkeen are fried and add calories quickly, while coriander, lemon and pomegranate add almost none.
- Batata poha has a little more than kanda poha because of the potato, but the difference is small.
How were these numbers worked out?
Slate's poha follows the poha in Basic Food Preparation (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): 40 g of rice flakes, 30 g of potato, 10 g of peanuts, 10 g of oil and mustard seeds, for two small bowls, the oil counted as eaten and every value IFCT 2017's. No reliable cooked weight for poha was found, so portions are counted by dry poha: a plate is the whole 40 g recipe, 315 calories, a small bowl half of it and a very large plate 100 g, the amount some recipe sites use per person. The databank's figure for a bowl of this recipe, 161 calories, agrees within 3%; ICMR-NIN's 270 calories for a 200 ml cup fits a plate made with a little more poha. No stall poha has been analysed, so the outside range assumes 1 to 1.5 times the plate with up to a teaspoon more oil. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Rice flakes (poha) | 40 g | IFCT 2017 A011 |
| Potato, brown skin, big | 30 g | IFCT 2017 F006 |
| Groundnut (peanut) | 10 g | IFCT 2017 H012 |
| Groundnut oil | 10 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Mustard seeds | 2 g | IFCT 2017 H013 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Rice flakes (A011), potato, groundnut, mustard seeds, oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Basic Food Preparation recipe BFP044
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: poha 270 kcal per cup
- Archana's Kitchen, Maharashtrian kanda poha. Plate size (proportions only)
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 plate of poha?
A plate made with 40 g of dry poha, with potato and peanuts, has about 315 calories. A large plate with 60 g of poha is about 470.
How much protein is in poha?
A plate made with 40 g of dry poha has about 6 g of protein, some of it from the peanuts.
Does Indori poha have more calories?
Usually, because of the sev on top. The poha itself is similar; the fried topping is what adds up.
Which has fewer calories, poha or idli?
Per plate, idli is usually lower because it's steamed: 2 medium idlis are about 105 calories, against about 315 for a plate of poha. Toppings and chutney change both.
How many calories are in poha and chai?
A plate of poha with a cup of masala chai with 2 teaspoons of sugar comes to about 375 calories.