How many calories are in chickpeas?
100 g of boiled chickpeas is about 165 kcal, with 9 g of protein and 8 g of fibre. The same 100 g measured dry, before cooking, is about 380 kcal. Both figures are correct and they describe the same beans, which is exactly why chickpeas get miscounted so often.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 g chickpeas, boiled | ~165 kcal | 9 g | 27 g | 2.5 g |
| One cup boiled, about 165 g | ~270 kcal | 15 g | 45 g | 4 g |
| 100 g dry chickpeas, uncooked | ~380 kcal | 20 g | 63 g | 6 g |
| 100 g canned, drained and rinsed | ~140 kcal | 7 g | 22 g | 2.5 g |
| 30 g roasted chana | ~110 kcal | 6 g | 18 g | 2 g |
| 2 tbsp hummus, about 30 g | 50–70 kcal | 2 g | 4 g | 4 g |
What changes the number
Water, mostly. Boiling adds nothing but water, so the per-100-g figure falls while the total stays put. Roasting does the reverse: it drives water off, so roasted chana returns to roughly 370 kcal per 100 g — a handful is small but not light.
Canned. Drained chickpeas run a little below home-boiled, around 140 kcal per 100 g. Rinsing removes much of the added salt and no calories worth mentioning. Chickpeas canned in oil or dressing are a different product; the back of the tin settles it.
Oil, when it appears. Chickpeas themselves are only about 2.5 g of fat per 100 g. Roasted in a tablespoon of oil for a snack, or fried as masala chana, adds 80 to 120 kcal a serving. Shop hummus is roughly 170 kcal per 100 g; a tahini-heavy homemade batch can reach 230.
Variety and size, barely. Kabuli (the large pale ones) and desi kala chana (small, dark, thicker skin) are within about 20 kcal per 100 g dry of each other, with kala chana a little higher in fibre. Chickpea size does not change energy density.
Where it fits in a deficit
Boiled chickpeas are an unusually good deal: 9 g of protein and 8 g of fibre per 100 g at 165 kcal, with enough chew and bulk to behave like a high-volume food rather than a starch. A cup in a salad or a bowl of lentils and chickpeas is a lunch that holds.
The honest qualification is that they are not a low-calorie food, only a well-balanced one. At 165 kcal per 100 g they sit roughly where cooked rice does, so a generous 250 g serving is 400 kcal and belongs in the plan as a main component, not a free side. When eating less that is a feature — a cheap way to make a plate substantial. It stops being one if the chickpeas go in on top of everything else.
The dry-versus-cooked trap
Dry chickpeas absorb about one and a half times their own weight in water. 100 g dry comes out at roughly 240 to 260 g cooked — about two and a half times the weight, and close to three times the volume, which is why “one cup dry makes three cups cooked” is the usual rule of thumb.
So the arithmetic that matters:
- 100 g dry = 100 g worth of calories = about 380 kcal, whatever it weighs later.
- 100 g cooked = about 165 kcal, because 60 g of it is water.
Logging a cooked serving against the dry figure overstates it by well over double. It is the same mistake people make with rice, and the same fix: pick one state, weigh in that state, and stay consistent. For the cooked dish rather than the pulse, chole is where the oil enters the picture.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.