Chana masala calories: cup/katori and 100 g
Also called chole, chhole, chickpea curry and chole masala.
By Shivam Verma Updated 13 sources linked below
One katori of home chana masala, 150 g, has about 237 calories, 8.7 g of protein and 10.5 g of fat. One cup (240 g) has about 380, and 100 g has 158. A restaurant katori with more oil and a little butter is 300; made from canned chickpeas, 211.
237calories
Protein
8.7 g
Carbs
28.7 g
Fat
10.5 g
1 cup = a 240 ml US cup of the dish as served. UK, Canadian and Australian cups are 250 ml: add about 4%.
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About chana masala
Chana masala, also called chole, is whole white chickpeas cooked soft in a dark, sour masala of onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and spice. In Punjab it is often darkened with tea or dried amla while it simmers. Our home katori is 40 g of chickpeas weighed dry, cooked with onion, tomato and 8 g of oil. The chickpeas bring 64 percent of the calories, the oil 30 percent and the onion and tomato 6 percent. This page is the curry on its own; with fried bhature it is a different plate, on the chole bhature page.
Home vs takeout
All three are a 150 g katori. Home cooks dry chickpeas with 8 g of oil; the restaurant katori uses 12 g of oil and 5 g of butter; the canned katori starts from 90 g of drained canned chickpeas, as many kitchens outside India do.
| Version | 1 katori | 1 cup | Protein, 1 cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home, from dry chickpeasHeadlineOnion, tomato and a little oil. | 237 | 380 | 14.0 g |
| Restaurant, oil and butterMore oil, finished with butter. | 300 | 480 | 13.3 g |
| Home, canned chickpeasDrained canned chickpeas. | 211 | 338 | 11.0 g |
Dry, canned or restaurant
Cooked from dry, the chickpeas carry 8.2 g of the katori's 8.7 g of protein. A katori built on canned chickpeas, 211 calories, holds fewer of them, because canned chickpeas arrive already swollen with water: 6.9 g of protein and 6.5 g of fibre. The restaurant katori is the rich one, 300 calories with 18.4 g of fat and 4.7 g saturated, against 1.5 g at home; its butter and extra oil are the difference.
Chana masala, chana dal and rajma
Chana dal is a different pulse, split and husked desi chickpeas, cooked as a dal: a katori of it is 182 calories with 7.8 g of protein. Rajma, red kidney beans in a similar masala, is 191 a katori with 8.8 g. Chana masala carries more oil than either in our recipes, which is why it is the heaviest of the three katoris.
What trials of pulses found
These findings are for pulses as a group, not for chana masala alone. A katori of chana masala here is 237 calories, with 8.7 g of protein and 5.7 g of fibre.
- Weight: a meta-analysis of 21 randomised trials found that diets including pulses, a median of about 132 g a day or roughly one serving, gave a weight reduction of 0.34 kg over a median of six weeks against diets without them, a modest effect.[9]
- Fullness: a review of feeding trials found that pulse meals gave 31 percent greater short-term satiety than meals with the same calories, but did not reduce what people ate at the next meal.[10]
- Blood sugar: a meta-analysis of 41 trials found that pulses, alone or in low glycaemic index or high-fibre diets, improved markers of longer-term glycaemic control, with high heterogeneity between studies.[11]
- Glycaemic index: the 2021 international tables found that legumes were usually low GI, 55 or under.[12] We do not quote a figure for any single dal.
If you manage your weight or your blood sugar for a medical reason, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how dal fits your plan.
Chana masala with 2 chapatis
Two plain chapatis are 204 calories, and with a katori of chana masala they make a plate of 441 calories, 16.7 g of protein and 12.1 g of fibre. The chapatis bring 7.9 g of that protein and 6.4 g of the fibre, so the plate carries more of both than the katori alone, at 8.7 g and 5.7 g. The same katori with two bhature is chole bhature at 762, 321 calories more than the chapati plate.
| Plate | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| 1 katori of chana masala | 237 | 8.7 g |
| With 2 plain rotis | 441 | 16.7 g |
| With 1 plain naan | 495 | 15.7 g |
| With 1 katori of rice | 393 | 12.0 g |
Roti, naan and rice are each read from their own page.
With bhature or rice
With two fried bhature it becomes chole bhature, 762 calories a plate on our numbers, because each bhatura is 262 on its own. With a 120 g katori of plain rice instead, chole chawal, it is 393 calories and 12.0 g of protein.
A Chennai study of traditional foods placed white chickpea sundal, a dry chickpea preparation, in its low glycaemic index group. That was their dish, not this recipe, and we give no GI for our chana masala.[13]
Against USDA's survey record
USDA has no chana masala record. Its record for chickpeas cooked from dry with fat added is 211 calories per 100 g, and ours is 25 percent below it; it weighs a cup at 185 g. That record is plain chickpeas with oil and no gravy, so it is denser than a curry whose masala is mostly onion, tomato and water.[8]
Against paneer and chicken
Chana masala is often called the vegetarian protein katori, but in our recipes it sits behind the paneer and chicken curries: 8.7 g of protein a katori, against 13.1 g for home palak paneer and 14.7 g for home chicken curry. What the chickpeas bring instead is fibre, 5.7 g a katori, against 3.1 g and 0.9 g.
Is chana masala healthy?
On its own numbers it is a good vegetarian katori: 8.7 g of protein, 3.7 g per 100 calories, and 5.7 g of fibre, with fat that depends mostly on the oil. The katori also has 28.7 g of carbohydrate and 1.5 g of saturated fat. The restaurant version's butter is the part to watch.
One katori of chana masala carries 8.7 g of protein and 10.5 g of fat, 1.5 g of it saturated: 3.7 g of protein for every 100 calories. The ghee page sets the NHS and American Heart Association limits for saturated fat side by side.
Chana masala vs related dishes
| Dish | 1 katori | 1 cup | Protein, 1 katori |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chana masala | 237 | 380 | 8.7 g |
| Chana dal | 182 | 292 | 7.8 g |
How we calculated this
Every number on this page is for 1 katori (150 g), worked out from the recipe below. Cup and 100 g figures are scaled from it.
- Chickpeas (kabuli chana), dry40 g
- Onion25 g
- Tomato30 g
- Oil8 g
- Water47 g
- Ginger, garlic, chole masalatrace
One katori of 150 g of home chana masala. Chickpeas are weighed dry and cooked with the water listed; they absorb it in the pot.
USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy for every ingredient, with USDA's survey record for chickpeas with fat as a cross-check.
Confidence: high
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central 173756: Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, raw
- USDA FoodData Central 170000: Onions, raw
- USDA FoodData Central 170457: Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average
- USDA FoodData Central 171411: Oil, soybean, salad or cooking
- USDA FoodData Central 170923: Spices, cumin seed
- USDA FoodData Central 173410: Butter, salted
- USDA FoodData Central 173800: Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, canned, drained solids
- USDA FoodData Central 2707415: Chickpeas, from dried, fat added
- Kim SJ et al. Effects of dietary pulse consumption on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr, 2016.
- Li SS et al. Dietary pulses, satiety and food intake: a systematic review and meta-analysis of acute feeding trials. Obesity, 2014.
- Sievenpiper JL et al. Effect of non-oil-seed pulses on glycaemic control: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled experimental trials in people with and without diabetes. Diabetologia, 2009.
- Atkinson FS, Brand-Miller JC, Foster-Powell K, Buyken AE, Goletzke J. International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr, 2021.
- Shobana S, Geetha G, Bai MR, et al. Carbohydrate profiling and glycaemic indices of selected traditional Indian foods. Indian J Med Res, 2022.
Common questions
How many calories in 1 katori of chana masala?
About 237 for a home katori of 150 g, with 8.7 g of protein; 300 from a restaurant.
Is chana masala good for weight loss?
A home katori is 237 calories with 8.7 g of protein and 5.7 g of fibre. The restaurant katori's butter takes it to 300.
How many calories in chana masala with 2 chapatis?
About 441: 237 for the katori and 204 for two plain rotis.
How much protein is in chana masala?
About 8.7 g in a katori and 14.0 g in a cup, most of it from the chickpeas.
How many calories in chana masala made with canned chickpeas?
About 211 a katori, against 237 from dry chickpeas.
How many calories in 1 cup of chana masala?
About 380 for a home cup of 240 g, and 480 from a restaurant.
Is chana masala high in protein?
It has 8.7 g a katori, 3.7 g per 100 calories: a fair amount for a pulse curry, less than home palak paneer at 13.1 g.
How many calories in chole chawal?
About 393 for a katori of chana masala with a 120 g katori of plain rice.
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.
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