Rasmalai calories
One rasmalai with its milk, about 77 g, has about 130 calories, and 2 about 260. The chhena patty is about half of that and the sweetened milk the rest, so the spoonfuls of ras served with it matter as much as the piece. Packed and sweet-shop rasmalai runs about 120 to 180 a piece, by their labels.
Rasmalai is a flattened rasgulla: chhena from cow's milk, kneaded, cooked in sugar syrup, then soaked in milk that has been simmered down with sugar, saffron and cardamom. It is served cold with a few spoonfuls of the milk, often with pista on top.
Unlike a rasgulla, the milk brings fat and milk sugar as well as added sugar, so a rasmalai with its ras is close to twice a rasgulla of the same patty.
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 rasmalai?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 rasmalai with its milk (about 77 g) about 77 g | 130 | 6 g | 16 g | 5 g |
| 2 rasmalai with milk about 153 g | 260 | 11 g | 31 g | 11 g |
| 100 g, piece and milk about 100 g | 170 | 7 g | 20 g | 7 g |
How does home rasmalai compare with outside?
Packed rasmalai labels run from 190 calories per 100 g (Haldiram's Mitha Magic, 63 g servings) to 225 (Nanak, 80 g pieces), against this page's 170. A thicker rabdi-style ras, or buffalo milk, pushes a sweet shop's higher.
The range below runs from Haldiram's serving to Nanak's piece.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 130 | 5 g |
| Sweet shop or packed | 120 to 180 | 5 to 7 g |
What changes the calories in rasmalai?
- The milk served with it is half the number. Each extra tablespoon of this ras adds about 20 calories; a thick rabdi adds more.
- Buffalo milk or full-cream milk in the ras adds fat; toned milk takes it off.
- Sugar in the ras is about a teaspoon a piece here. Sweet shops often use more.
- A rasgulla from the same chhena, in syrup instead of milk, is about 70.
- Pista and saffron on top add nothing you can measure.
How were these numbers worked out?
The chhena patties follow the rasmalai in Basic Food Preparation (via the Indian Nutrient Databank): chhena from 250 ml of cow's milk, bound with half a tablespoon of maida and cooked in sugar syrup, making 2. IFCT 2017 has no chhena, so paneer stands in, with the chhena's weight worked out from the milk's protein at about 80% casein, an assumption; sugar is USDA's. A Hisar survey of market rasmalai, about 10.5% protein and 18% carbohydrate, sets the patty weight and the sugar taken up. The ras follows a published halwai recipe, about 55 ml of milk and a teaspoon of sugar per piece, simmered down by a third. One rasmalai with its milk is half the recipe, about 77 g and 130 calories; piece and milk together are 170 per 100 g. Haldiram's label at 190 calories per 100 g is 11% above, within 15%; it and Nanak's label set the shop range. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Paneer Chhena from 250 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 market rasmalai analysed at Hisar, about 18% carbohydrate in the patty | 7.2 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
| Milk, whole, cow 111 ml, for the ras, simmered down by a third | 114 g | IFCT 2017 L002 |
| Sugar, white In the ras, about a teaspoon per piece | 11.1 g | USDA FDC 169655 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Paneer (L003) for chhena, maida (A018), cow milk (L002); values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Basic Food Preparation recipe BFP393, rasmalai: chhena from 250 ml milk, ½ tbsp maida, syrup of 150 g sugar
- Indian Nutrient Databank, recipes.xlsx, recipes_servingsize.xlsx and INDB.xlsx (GitHub). Recipe rows and serving count for BFP393
- Sharma et al., market samples of rasmalai in Hisar, Asian Journal of Dairy and Food Research 34(1), 2015. Chhana patties: fat 9.20 to 10.97%, protein 9.63 to 11.30%, carbohydrate 16.80 to 18.82%, total solids 38.5 to 40.3%; sweetened milk: fat 6.46 to 7.55%, protein 6.47 to 7.25%, carbohydrate 17.78 to 19.60%
- Hebbar's Kitchen, Rasmalai recipe, halwai style. Rabdi: 1 litre milk, ½ cup sugar, for 18 servings; chenna from 2 litres milk
- Haldiram's Mitha Magic rasmalai label (Open Food Facts, 8904004440980). 63 g serving; 190 kcal, 7.94 g fat, 22.2 g carbohydrate, 6.35 g protein per 100 g; ingredients milk, sugar, rose water, cardamom
- Nanak rasmalai label (Open Food Facts, 0797677600083). 1 piece = 80 g; 225 kcal, 10 g fat, 23.75 g carbohydrate, 11.25 g protein per 100 g
- USDA FoodData Central, Sugars, granulated (169655). Sugar; a teaspoon is 4.2 g and a cup 200 g
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 rasmalai?
About 130 for one piece of about 33 g with about 3 tablespoons of its milk, 77 g in all.
How many calories are in 2 rasmalai?
About 260 for two pieces with their milk.
How many calories are in rasmalai without the milk?
About 70 for the chhena patty alone, worked out from this recipe: a 33 g piece lifted out of the ras. The milk it sits in is the other 60 or so.
Which has more calories, rasmalai or rasgulla?
Rasmalai, about 130 with its milk against about 70 for a rasgulla drained of syrup. The sweetened milk carries fat and milk sugar that syrup does not.
How much sugar is in rasmalai?
About 9 g of added sugar in one piece with its milk: about 3.6 g soaked into the patty and a teaspoon in the ras, plus the milk's own sugar.