How many calories are in peanuts?
A 30 g (1 oz) handful of roasted peanuts is about 180 kcal. That is roughly thirty kernels, so a little under 6 kcal each — a figure worth carrying around, because peanuts are almost never eaten by weight.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One kernel (about 1 g) | ~6 kcal | 0.3 g | 0.2 g | 0.5 g |
| Small handful, 20 g | ~115 kcal | 5 g | 4 g | 10 g |
| Handful, 30 g (1 oz) | ~180 kcal | 7 g | 6 g | 15 g |
| 100 g roasted (about ¾ cup) | ~585 kcal | 24 g | 21 g | 50 g |
| 100 g raw | ~565 kcal | 26 g | 16 g | 49 g |
| 100 g boiled | ~320 kcal | 14 g | 21 g | 22 g |
| 1 tbsp peanut butter (16 g) | ~95 kcal | 3.5 g | 3 g | 8 g |
Carb figures include fibre, which is about 8 g per 100 g.
What changes the number
The cooking medium, far more than the peanut. Raw and dry-roasted peanuts differ by around 20 kcal per 100 g, which is noise. Oil-roasted and salted peanuts land nearer 600 kcal per 100 g, and the masala, coated and sugar-dusted packet versions run anywhere from 500 to 650 kcal per 100 g once the batter and frying oil are counted. The pack will usually tell you.
Boiling, which moves it the other way. A boiled kernel has not lost much energy — it has taken on water. But that water means 100 g of boiled peanuts contains far less peanut, so the same weight carries roughly half the calories of the roasted version. They are also eaten shell by shell, which slows the whole thing down considerably.
Shell weight. Peanuts are about 70% kernel, so 100 g in the shell yields roughly 70 g of edible nut, or about 410 kcal. Weighing the shells in is a common way to undercount by a third.
Sugar, in chikki and brittle. Peanut chikki and peanut brittle sit around 450–500 kcal per 100 g, so a typical 25 g piece is 115–125 kcal — less dense than plain peanuts, because sugar is less dense than fat.
Salt, which has no calories and still matters. Salted-roasted peanuts are built for volume eating: a bowl of them disappears in a way an equivalent bowl of raw peanuts does not.
Where it fits in a deficit
Peanuts are genuinely satiating per calorie — fat, protein and fibre together slow digestion — but they sit on the top rung of the calorie-density ladder at close to 600 kcal per 100 g. Thirty grams is a snack. Ninety grams, which is still only three handfuls and no effort at all, is 530 kcal and a third of many people’s daily intake.
The practical note: do not eat them from the packet. A calorie deficit does not care that peanuts are a sensible food, and no nut is dense enough to be worth eating by accident. Tipping a portion into a small bowl does most of the work.
The cheapest protein of the common nuts
Per 100 kcal — which is the fair comparison, since all four are dense — peanuts carry more protein than any of their shelf neighbours:
| Nut | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|
| Peanuts | ~4.6 g |
| Almonds | ~3.6 g |
| Cashews | ~3.3 g |
| Walnuts | ~2.3 g |
They are also the cheapest of the four per kilogram, usually by a wide margin, which makes them the best value protein on the nut shelf by some distance. That does not make them a protein food in the way yoghurt or chicken is — you would need 150 g of peanuts, nearly 900 kcal, to match the protein in a 170 g pot of Greek yoghurt at 100 kcal. For protein in a deficit, peanuts are a useful top-up, not the foundation.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.