How many calories are in buttermilk (chaas)?
A 200 ml (7 fl oz) glass of chaas is about 35 to 45 kcal. It is curd thinned with two or three parts water, so most of the glass is water and the energy is only what the small amount of curd brought with it.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 ml thin chaas, 1 part curd to 3 water | ~18 | 1 g | 1.3 g | 1 g |
| 200 ml glass, thin | ~35 | 2 g | 2.5 g | 2 g |
| 200 ml glass, thick, 1 part curd to 1 water | ~65 | 3.5 g | 5 g | 4 g |
| 200 ml glass, sweet, 2 tsp sugar | ~75 | 2 g | 13 g | 2 g |
| 200 ml packaged masala chaas | ~60–90 | 2–3 g | 6–10 g | 1.5–3 g |
| 250 ml cultured buttermilk, Western carton | ~100 | 8 g | 12 g | 2 g |
| 250 ml sweet lassi, for contrast | ~250–300 | 6 g | 35 g | 8 g |
What changes the number
The dilution, which is the whole drink. Everything else is a rounding error beside how much water went in. One part curd to three parts water gives a 200 ml glass at about 35 kcal; the one-to-one mix most restaurants pour gives about 65. Thinner is the traditional version, not a lesser one.
The curd it started from. Whole, toned and buffalo-milk curd differ roughly threefold in fat, but so little of it reaches the glass that the whole range for a thin 200 ml glass is still only 25 to 55 kcal.
Salt versus sugar — less than you would think. Salt, black salt, roasted cumin, ginger, chilli, coriander and curry leaves are all effectively zero. Sugar is about 20 kcal a teaspoon, so sweet chaas with two spoons is around 75 kcal instead of 35. That doubles it in relative terms and costs 40 kcal in real ones. A lassi is where the same ingredients, in different proportions, reach 300.
Malai or a ghee tadka. Uncommon, but a teaspoon of either adds 40–60 kcal — here, more than the drink.
Where it fits in a deficit
Liquid calories are usually the worst value available: they pass quickly and do little for appetite. Chaas escapes that for the plain reason that there is almost nothing in it. A glass answers the want for something cold with a meal at a sixth of the cost of a soft drink and a tenth of a sweet lassi. If a sweet drink fills that slot once or twice a day now, the swap is worth 200–400 kcal, a real part of a day’s deficit.
What it is not is a protein drink or a meal. Two grams of protein does little and the volume holds appetite for perhaps half an hour. One caution that is not about calories: chaas is salted, and packaged versions more heavily than home-made.
Two drinks share the name
Three drinks are sold as buttermilk and they are not interchangeable.
Traditional buttermilk is the thin liquid left after butter is churned out of curd: nearly fat-free, around 20 kcal per 100 ml.
Chaas is curd whisked with water and seasoning, 18–33 kcal per 100 ml depending on the mix.
Cultured buttermilk, sold in cartons and used in baking, is low-fat milk soured with a culture. It is not diluted, so it behaves like milk: about 40 kcal per 100 ml and 3 g of protein, making a 250 ml glass roughly 100 kcal, not 35.
A figure on a label or in a database may therefore belong to a different drink from the one in your glass. The protein is the clue — milk-like protein means milk-like calories.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.