Rasgulla calories
One rasgulla, about 36 g lightly squeezed of syrup, has about 70 calories, and 2 rasgullas about 140. With a tablespoon of syrup one is about 115, and 100 g squeezed about 200. Syrup is the main variable: each tablespoon adds about 45 calories. Tinned and sweet-shop rasgullas, usually sweeter, run about 70 to 100 each.
Rasgulla is a spongy ball of chhena, fresh cheese made by curdling milk, kneaded smooth and cooked in light sugar syrup until it swells. It comes from Bengal and Odisha, where it's rosogolla and rasagola, and it's sold in tins and clay pots across India.
It isn't fried, so it has much less fat than gulab jamun. Most of its calories are the sugar it soaks up, and a rasgulla eaten straight from the syrup carries more.
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 rasgulla?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 rasgulla (about 36 g) about 36 g | 70 | 2 g | 13 g | 1 g |
| 2 rasgullas about 72 g | 140 | 4 g | 27 g | 3 g |
| 1 with a tablespoon of syrup about 36 g | 115 | 2 g | 25 g | 1 g |
| 100 g, squeezed about 100 g | 200 | 5 g | 37 g | 4 g |
How does home rasgulla compare with outside?
Tinned and sweet-shop rasgullas are often sweeter than home ones. The label on Aavin's rasgulla, from Tamil Nadu's milk co-operative, lists 273 calories for 100 g, more than this page's 200, mostly from sugar.
The range below runs from this rasgulla up to 1.4 times it, in line with that label.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 70 | 1 g |
| Tinned or sweet shop | 70 to 100 | 1 to 2 g |
What changes the calories in rasgulla?
- Syrup is the main variable. Squeezing a rasgulla before eating takes off much of the sugar; a tablespoon of syrup adds about 45 calories.
- Rasgullas made from full-fat milk or buffalo milk have more fat than those from toned milk.
- Rasmalai soaks the same chhena in thickened sweet milk instead of syrup, and comes to about 130 a piece with its milk, close to twice a rasgulla.
- Low-sugar rasgullas made with sweeteners have far fewer calories.
How were these numbers worked out?
The recipe is the rasgulla in Basic Food Preparation (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): chhena from 265 ml of cow's milk, kneaded with half a tablespoon of maida and cooked in a syrup of 150 g of sugar, making 4. IFCT 2017 has no chhena, so it is valued as paneer, with its weight worked out from the milk's protein at about 80% casein, an assumption; sugar is USDA's. A lab analysis of rasgulla found 4.8% protein and 35% total sugar, so the chhena's protein gives the finished weight, about 144 g for 4, and the sugar taken up is set to match, about 11 g per rasgulla. One rasgulla is a quarter of that, about 36 g and 70 calories. The one label check, Aavin's rasgulla at 273 calories per 100 g, is 38% above, so the page shows a range, and that label sets the top of the shop range at 1.4 times. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Paneer Chhena from 265 ml cow's milk, valued as IFCT paneer | 36.6 g | IFCT 2017 L003 |
| Wheat flour, refined (maida) half a tablespoon, to bind | 3.75 g | IFCT 2017 A018 |
| Sugar, white Taken up from the syrup: set from a lab analysis, about 35% sugar | 45.8 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Aavin's label lists 273 calories per 100 g of its rasgulla, against about 200 here, because it holds more sugar. Depending on the syrup, 100 g of rasgulla is usually 200 to 275 calories.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Paneer (L003) as chhena, cow milk (L002), maida (A018); values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Basic Food Preparation recipe BFP392, rasgulla
- Studies on preparation of rasogolla by using isabgol, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani, 2017. Rasgulla: 4.50% fat, 4.80% protein, 34.96% total sugar, 54.84% moisture
- Aavin (Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation), Rasgulla. 273 kcal, 5.5 g fat, 51 g carbohydrate, 5 g protein; basis not stated, the values add up to 100 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 rasgulla?
About 70 for a home rasgulla of about 36 g, squeezed, and about 115 with a tablespoon of syrup.
How many calories are in 2 rasgullas?
About 140 for two, squeezed of syrup.
Which has more calories, rasgulla or gulab jamun?
A gulab jamun, about 155 against about 70 for a rasgulla. The gulab jamun is fried and soaks up more sugar.
How much protein is in a rasgulla?
About 2 g, from the chhena.