Barfi calories: 1 piece and 100 g

By Shivam Verma Updated October 21, 2026 17 sources linked below

One milk barfi of 30 g has about 137 calories, or 458 per 100 g. The piece holds 7.4 g of added sugar, about 1.8 teaspoons, and 4.6 g of protein from the milk solids. Two pieces come to 275 calories, and a 30 g piece of milk cake is 125.

Squares of besan barfi topped with sliced almonds and pistachios in a wooden bowl — Besan barfi topped with almonds and pistachios. Photo: Pure Punjabi on Pexels.

137calories

Protein

4.6 g

Carbs

14.1 g

Fat

7.2 g

Founding 500

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About barfi

Also called burfi and barfee.

Barfi is a dense milk sweet: milk solids cooked down with sugar and ghee until the mix leaves the sides of the pan, then set in a tray and cut into squares. Traditional barfi starts from khoya, milk simmered until only its solids are left. Our recipe uses milk powder in its place, and that is a stated assumption: 120 g of milk powder and 150 g of whole milk, cooked until about 110 g of water has gone, with sugar, ghee and pistachio. The batch makes 244 g, about 8 pieces. Of its calories, 53 percent come from the milk powder, 21 percent from the sugar, 16 percent from the ghee, 8 percent from the milk and 2 percent from the pistachios. Two other sweets share the name. Kaju barfi is another name for kaju katli, made from cashews rather than milk. Besan barfi is the besan ladoo mix set in a tray instead of rolled into balls, so it carries the ladoo's numbers. The rest of the sweets we have built sit in the Sweets family on the calories hub.

Home vs sweet shop

Every piece in the table is 30 g. The sweet shop khoya barfi lands at about the same calories as ours, 137 against 137, but with more sugar: 9.7 g against 7.4 g, because more sugar and a little more ghee fill the same weight. About the same calories and more sugar is the trade. Milk cake and kalakand are barfis made from milk and from chhena; besan barfi is a different sweet in the same shape.

Version	Weight	Calories	Added sugar	Protein
Milk barfi, homeHeadlineMilk powder in place of khoya, cooked down with milk, sugar and ghee.	30 g	137	7.4 g (1.8 tsp)	4.6 g
Sweet shop khoya barfi, sweeter90 g of sugar in the batch in place of 60 g, and a little more ghee.	30 g	137	9.7 g (2.3 tsp)	4.0 g
Milk cakeWhole milk cooked down a long way: 162 g of milk for one piece.	30 g	125	4.9 g (1.2 tsp)	5.1 g
KalakandChhena cooked into reduced milk: soft and moist.	30 g	80	4.8 g (1.1 tsp)	4.0 g
Besan barfiThe besan ladoo batch pressed into a tray and cut into squares.	30 g	149	9.8 g (2.3 tsp)	3.1 g

How much sugar is in one barfi

One piece of milk barfi holds 7.4 g of added sugar, about 1.8 teaspoons. It also carries the milk's own sugar, lactose, which brings its total sugars to 14 g; only the added sugar counts toward the guidelines below. Two pieces carry 14.8 g of added sugar.

Guideline	What it says	One barfi, added sugar
World Health Organization	Free sugars under 10% of daily energy, ideally under 5%, which is about 25 g a day.	7.4 g, 30% of 25 g
NHS (UK)	No more than 30 g of free sugars a day for adults.	7.4 g, 25% of 30 g
American Heart Association	About 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and 9 for men.	1.8 tsp, against 6 (women) or 9 (men)
Heart & Stroke (Canada)	No more than 10% of daily calories from added sugars, ideally under 5%. On a 2,000 calorie day, 10% is about 48 g.	7.4 g, 15% of 48 g
Australian Dietary Guidelines	Limit foods and drinks containing added sugars. No daily number is set.	7.4 g

Is barfi healthy?

Barfi's milk solids give it some protein: 4.6 g a piece, more than a gulab jamun (2.4 g), a jalebi (0.8 g) or a kaju katli (1 g), and less than a rasmalai (6 g).

It is not fried. The fat comes from the milk powder and the ghee, 7.2 g a piece, and each piece holds 7.4 g of added sugar, 30 percent of the World Health Organization's ideal daily figure of about 25 g.

The count is what matters. One piece is 137 calories, two are 275 and three are 412.

If you manage blood sugar, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how a sweet like barfi fits into your plan.

Milk cake, kalakand and the USDA barfi

Milk cake is made by cooking whole milk down for a long time: 162 g of milk for one 30 g piece, with a little sugar and ghee. A piece is 125 calories with 5.1 g of protein. It holds less added sugar than milk barfi, 4.9 g, because most of its 13.1 g of sugars is the milk's own, concentrated. Long cooking browns the milk sugars, which is why milk cake is caramel-brown, and it sets grainy rather than smooth.

Kalakand is a soft, moist barfi built on chhena, fresh milk curd, cooked into reduced milk with sugar. A 30 g piece is 80 calories with 4 g of protein. It is lighter than milk barfi because it keeps more water: at least 29.4 g per 100 g, against about 10.4 g in ours. We model chhena as paneer plus water, and the paneer's own moisture is not counted, so the real figure is higher.

USDA's survey database models barfi as FNDDS record 2705700, "Barfi or Burfi, Indian dessert": 284 calories per 100 g with 41.8 g of water, built as a ricotta and half-and-half pudding with its moisture cut by 19 percent.^[12]

Ours is 458 calories per 100 g with about 10.4 g of water. That water figure is an estimate: the SR Legacy water value of each ingredient, less the 110 g cooked off.

They are two different barfis. The USDA entry describes a soft, moist one; ours is set firm enough to cut. If you log a set barfi from that entry, you undercount by about 174 calories per 100 g, or 52 on a 30 g piece. For a soft, moist barfi, the USDA figure is the closer one.

Two servings, compared

Sweet	Two servings	Calories	Added sugar	Protein
Gulab jamun	66 g	188	18.0 g (4.3 tsp)	4.9 g
Rasmalai	160 g	292	22.0 g (5.2 tsp)	12.0 g
Kaju katli	20 g	98	8.2 g (1.9 tsp)	2.1 g
Jalebi	60 g	198	19.2 g (4.6 tsp)	1.6 g
Ladoo	60 g	298	19.6 g (4.7 tsp)	6.2 g
Barfi	60 g	275	14.8 g (3.5 tsp)	9.1 g
Gajar halwa	300 g	694	46.2 g (11.0 tsp)	15.3 g

Common questions

How many calories are in 1 barfi?

About 137 calories in a 30 g piece of milk barfi. A sweet shop khoya barfi of the same size is 137, with more sugar.

How many calories are in 2 barfi?

About 275 calories for two 30 g pieces, with 14.8 g of added sugar, about 3.5 teaspoons, and 9.1 g of protein.

How many calories are in milk cake?

About 125 calories in a 30 g piece, from 162 g of whole milk cooked down with a little sugar and ghee. It has 5.1 g of protein and 4.9 g of added sugar.

How many calories are in kalakand?

About 80 calories in a 30 g piece, with 4 g of protein and 4.8 g of added sugar. The chhena and the milk it keeps make it softer and lighter than a set milk barfi.

How many calories are in besan barfi?

About 149 calories in a 30 g piece. It is the besan ladoo mix pressed into a tray, so it has the ladoo's numbers: roasted besan, ghee and sugar.

Is barfi high in sugar?

A piece of milk barfi holds 7.4 g of added sugar, about 1.8 teaspoons, or 24.6 g per 100 g. The sweet shop version holds 9.7 g a piece. Its total sugars, 14 g, also include the milk's own sugar.

Is burfi the same as barfi?

Yes. Burfi and barfee are other spellings of barfi; the sweet and the numbers are the same.

Which is the lowest calorie Indian sweet?

Of the sweets we have published so far, kaju katli is the lowest per piece at 49 calories, and rasmalai is the lowest per 100 g at 182. We only rank sweets we have built from a recipe, and the list grows as we add more.

How we calculated this

Every number on this page is for 1 milk barfi (30 g), worked out from the recipe below. A version with its own weight in the table above is worked out at that weight.

Milk powder120 g
Sugar60 g
Ghee20 g
Whole milk150 g
Water lost while cooking down110 g lost
Pistachio4 g

The whole home batch, which makes 244 g once the water has cooked off. One piece is 30 g of it.

Ingredient values from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy). Milk powder stands in for khoya. The USDA survey record for barfi is a cross-check only and is never the source of a figure here.

How we calculate

Confidence: medium

Sources

Add barfi to the calculator

These figures are estimates from stated recipes, for general information. They are not medical or dietary advice. If you manage a health condition, check with a registered dietitian or your doctor.