Thepla calories
One methi thepla, about 25 g of mixed flour cooked with a teaspoon of oil, has about 120 calories. Three theplas come to about 365, and 2 theplas with a cup of chai about 305. Tawa oil matters most: each extra teaspoon across a batch adds about 40. Shop or packed theplas, often oilier, run about 120 to 170 each.
Thepla is a Gujarati flatbread made from whole-wheat atta, often mixed with besan, bajra or jowar, with fresh methi leaves, curd and spices kneaded into the dough. It's rolled thin and cooked on the tawa with a little oil. Because it keeps for days, it's the standard food for train journeys and tiffins, eaten with chhundo, pickle or curd.
A thepla is thinner and smaller than most parathas. The oil in the dough and on the tawa is a little over a third of its calories.
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 thepla?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 thepla | 120 | 3 g | 14 g | 6 g |
| 2 theplas | 245 | 6 g | 28 g | 12 g |
| 3 theplas | 365 | 9 g | 42 g | 18 g |
| 4 theplas | 485 | 12 g | 56 g | 23 g |
| 2 theplas with 100 g curd | 305 | 10 g | 33 g | 15 g |
How does home thepla compare with outside?
Theplas from a farsan shop, a station stall or a packet are close to home ones in size. They're often softer and a little oilier, because extra oil helps them stay soft for days.
We found no lab measurement of shop theplas, so the range below assumes the same size up to 1.2 times bigger, with up to half as much oil again.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 120 | 6 g |
| Farsan shop or packed | 120 to 170 | 6 to 10 g |
Calories in thepla as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 theplas and a cup of chai | 305 | 8 g | 39 g | 13 g |
What changes the calories in thepla?
- The oil on the tawa matters most. Each extra teaspoon spread across a batch adds about 40 calories.
- Thinner, smaller theplas count for less each. Rolling the same dough into 14 instead of 11 makes each one about a fifth lighter.
- Bajra and besan add a little fat and protein compared with atta alone. Per 100 g, IFCT 2017 puts bajra at 348 calories and besan at 329, against 320 for atta.
- Chhundo and other sweet pickles are mostly sugar, and oil pickles add fat, so a spoonful on the side counts too.
- Dudhi (lauki) thepla and plain masala thepla have less methi and similar flour, so they come out about the same.
- A methi paratha is a different bread: thicker, from plain atta with methi kneaded in, about 150 each against 120 for a thepla.
How were these numbers worked out?
The thepla is the methi thepla in the Indian Nutrient Databank's open recipe set: 120 g of atta, 40 g each of bajra, jowar and besan, a cup of methi leaves, curd, ginger, chilli and spices, with 1 tablespoon of oil in the dough and 3 for the tawa, making 11, all 4 tablespoons counted as eaten. IFCT 2017 supplies the values, with besan taken as Bengal gram dal because IFCT has no besan entry, and curd and chilli powder from USDA. No cooked weight for thepla was found, so one thepla is an eleventh of the recipe, about 25 g of flour and 120 calories, following the databank's serving count. No analysed thepla exists in IFCT 2017, NIN's Annexure 8, USDA FNDDS or the journals searched, so there is no cross-check. The shop range assumes theplas up to 1.2 times the size with up to 1.5 times the oil, since shop theplas are made softer and oilier so they keep. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour, atta | 120 g | IFCT 2017 A019 |
| Bajra (pearl millet) flour | 40 g | IFCT 2017 A003 |
| Jowar (sorghum) flour | 40 g | IFCT 2017 A005 |
| Besan (ground Bengal gram dal) | 40 g | IFCT 2017 B001 |
| Fenugreek leaves (methi) 1 cup, chopped | 16 g | IFCT 2017 C020 |
| Curd (dahi), whole milk 4 to 5 tablespoons | 67.5 g | USDA FDC 171284 |
| Ginger, fresh 1 inch | 10 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Chillies, green | 3 g | IFCT 2017 G008 |
| Turmeric powder | 1.5 g | IFCT 2017 G033 |
| Red chilli powder | 1.4 g | USDA FDC 171319 |
| Cumin seeds | 1 g | IFCT 2017 G025 |
| Coriander seeds (dhania) as powder | 1 g | IFCT 2017 G024 |
| Groundnut oil 1 tablespoon, in the dough | 13.6 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
| Groundnut oil 3 tablespoons, for the tawa | 40.8 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Atta (A019), bajra (A003), jowar (A005), Bengal gram dal (B001), fenugreek leaves (C020), ginger, spices, oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. Open-source recipe OSR104, methi thepla
- USDA FoodData Central, Yogurt, plain, whole milk (171284). Curd, since IFCT 2017 has no curd
- USDA FoodData Central, Spices, chili powder (171319). Red chilli powder
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 thepla?
About 120 calories for a methi thepla made with about 25 g of flour and its share of the oil.
How many calories are in 3 theplas?
About 365. Two are about 245, and four about 485.
How much protein is in a thepla?
About 3 g. Besan and curd in the dough add a little more than a plain roti has for the same flour.
Is thepla the same as paratha?
Both are cooked on the tawa with oil, but a thepla has methi, curd and spices in the dough and is rolled thin without layers. One thepla here is about 120 calories, against about 165 for a plain paratha.
How many calories are in 2 theplas with chai?
About 305 calories: 2 theplas at 245 and a cup of masala chai with 2 teaspoons of sugar. With a 100 g katori of curd instead, about 305.