How many calories are in peas?
A cup of boiled green peas, about 160 g, is roughly 135 kcal, and 100 g is about 85. That is three to four times cabbage or cauliflower and almost exactly a boiled potato. Peas get filed with the vegetables, but on a calorie sheet they behave like a starch — with the protein to match.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frozen or raw, 100 g | ~80 kcal | 5.4 g | 14 g | 0.4 g |
| Boiled and drained, 100 g | ~85 kcal | 5.4 g | 16 g | 0.4 g |
| 1 cup boiled (~160 g) | ~135 kcal | 8.6 g | 25 g | 0.6 g |
| 1 katori matar (~100 g) | ~85 kcal | 5.4 g | 16 g | 0.4 g |
| Tinned, drained, 100 g | 70-85 kcal | 5 g | 13 g | 0.4 g |
| Mushy peas, 100 g | ~85 kcal | 5 g | 13 g | 0.7 g |
| Dried split peas, 100 g dry | ~340 kcal | 24 g | 60 g | 1 g |
What changes the number
Dry against cooked. The last row catches people. A hundred grams of dried split peas is 340 kcal; the same 100 g boiled is about 115, because it has taken on water. Weigh after cooking or the figure triples.
Otherwise it is what goes with them:
- 1 tsp butter on a serving: about 35 kcal, and mushy peas usually get some
- Matar paneer, 1 katori: 250 to 320 kcal, of which the peas are only 60
- Peas pulao: a cup of rice is about 205 kcal against 50 for the peas, so the rice decides it
- Pea and ham soup: 150 to 250 kcal a bowl
- Mangetout and sugar snaps are a different food: about 40 kcal per 100 g, mostly pod
Variety and size barely register: frozen, fresh and tinned peas land within about 10 kcal per 100 g of each other.
Where it fits in a deficit
Peas carry 5.4 g of protein per 100 g, the most of any everyday vegetable, so a cup is 8.6 g — more than a large egg. Add 5 g of fibre per 100 g and it is slow to eat and slow to digest. For a plate that has to hold until the next meal, that is a better 135 kcal than most.
The honest note is that peas are not a volume food, and treating them as one is the common mistake. Three hundred grams of peas is 255 kcal where the same weight of cabbage is 75. If you are using vegetables to make a plate bigger for free, peas are the wrong ones. In a calorie deficit they work best counted as part of the starch share of the meal — beside or instead of the rice, potato or sweetcorn — rather than as the free bulk around it. Used that way they are one of the better swaps available, because nothing else in that part of the plate brings 5 g of protein per 100 g.
Frozen, fresh and tinned
Frozen peas are not a compromise, and are often better than fresh. Peas start turning their sugars to starch within hours of picking, so “fresh” peas that spent three days reaching a shop are starchier and less sweet than peas blanched and frozen on the day of harvest, which also holds their vitamin C better. Shelling peas in season is a pleasure; it is not a nutritional upgrade, and the calories are the same.
Tinned peas are a real change: cooked twice, so most of the vitamin C has gone, and the liquid usually carries added salt and sometimes sugar. The calories stay close, 70 to 85 kcal per 100 g drained, so this is a question of taste and sodium rather than energy.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.