Kaju katli calories: 1 piece and 100 g
By Shivam Verma Updated 9 sources linked below
One piece of kaju katli weighs about 10 g and has 49 calories. That makes it 492 calories per 100 g, denser than jalebi, gulab jamun or rasmalai. Each piece holds 4.1 g of added sugar, about 1 teaspoon, and four pieces come to 197 calories.
49calories
Protein
1.0 g
Carbs
5.8 g
Fat
2.7 g
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About kaju katli
Also called kaju barfi, cashew burfi and kaju katri.
Kaju barfi, cashew burfi and kaju katri are other names for the same sweet. Katli refers to the thin slice it is cut into, usually a diamond. Recipes vary in their cashew to sugar ratio, which is why our home and sweet shop rows differ.
Kaju katli is a thin sweet of ground cashews cooked with sugar syrup into a soft dough, rolled flat and cut into diamonds. Our home batch uses 140 g of cashews, 100 g of sugar and 5 g of ghee. The water in the syrup cooks off, so the finished batch weighs 245 g and each 10 g piece is a slice of it. There is no frying and no syrup left in the sweet, so its calories come from two places: cashew fat and sugar. Fat supplies 50 percent of the calories, nearly all of it from the cashews, which are 43.9 g of fat per 100 g. The ratio of cashew to sugar is the whole recipe, and it is what separates one katli from another.
Home vs sweet shop
The cashew to sugar ratio decides the number. Our home batch has more cashew than sugar. A sweet shop batch with equal weights of each is a little lighter, 47 calories a piece, because sugar has fewer calories per gram than cashews do.
| Version | Weight | Calories | Added sugar | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home, more cashewHeadlineMore cashew than sugar by weight, a little ghee. | 10 g | 49 | 4.1 g (1.0 tsp) | 1.0 g |
| Sweet shop, equal cashew and sugarEqual cashew and sugar by weight, no ghee. | 10 g | 47 | 5.0 g (1.2 tsp) | 0.9 g |
| US packaged label (FDC Branded 740348)The label's own figures at the same piece weight. It does not list added sugar. | 10 g | 45 | Not listed | 1.0 g |
How much sugar is in one kaju katli
A piece of kaju katli holds 4.1 g of added sugar, about 1 teaspoon, less per piece than a gulab jamun, jalebi or rasmalai, simply because the piece is small. Per 100 g the picture changes: 40.8 g, since sugar is 41 percent of the batch. A box of 12 pieces holds 49 g.
| Guideline | What it says | One kaju katli, added sugar |
|---|---|---|
| World Health Organization | Free sugars under 10% of daily energy, ideally under 5%, which is about 25 g a day. | 4.1 g, 16% of 25 g |
| NHS (UK) | No more than 30 g of free sugars a day for adults. | 4.1 g, 14% of 30 g |
| American Heart Association | About 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and 9 for men. | 1.0 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. | 4.1 g, 9% of 48 g |
| Australian Dietary Guidelines | Limit foods and drinks containing added sugars. No daily number is set. | 4.1 g |
Is kaju katli healthy?
Kaju katli has no frying and no syrup, which sets it apart from gulab jamun and jalebi. Cashew fat, though, makes it more calorie dense per gram than jalebi, gulab jamun or rasmalai: 492 calories per 100 g, against 330 for jalebi, 285 for gulab jamun and 182 for rasmalai.
The piece is small, 49 calories, so the count is what matters. Two pieces, 98 calories, land about level with one gulab jamun at 94 or one jalebi at 99. Its protein is modest at 1 g a piece, far below the 6 g in a rasmalai, so it does not bring much beyond energy, fat and sugar.
Ten pieces weigh 100 g and come to 492 calories with 40.8 g of added sugar, more than the World Health Organization's ideal daily figure of about 25 g on their own.
If you manage blood sugar, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how a sweet like kaju katli fits into your plan.
What is in kaju katli
Three ingredients: cashews, sugar and a little ghee, plus water for the syrup, which cooks away before the dough is rolled. The pieces in the photo above are finished with silver leaf, which weighs too little to change any number on this page.
The US label we check it against is FDC Branded record 740348, a packaged kaju katli. It gives 450 calories per 100 g and puts 4 pieces in 40 g, which is where our 10 g piece comes from.[4]
Our home batch is 42 calories per 100 g higher, at 492, and the reason is fat: 27.1 g per 100 g against the label's 17.5 g.
Cashews are 43.9 g of fat per 100 g. If all of the label's fat came from cashews, its sweet would be about 40 percent cashew; our home batch is 57.1 percent. So the label describes a sugar-forward katli, close to our sweet shop version, which comes to 470 calories and 21.9 g of fat per 100 g.
A lighter katli is not a less sweet one. The sweet shop piece, at 47 calories, holds 5 g of added sugar against 4.1 g in ours, because the cashew it gives up is replaced by sugar. Fewer calories and more sugar is the trade.
Take a box of 12 pieces at Diwali: 120 g, 590 calories, 49 g of added sugar (11.7 teaspoons) and 32.5 g of fat. Shared among four people, that is three pieces each, 148 calories apiece.
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 |
Common questions
How many calories are in one kaju katli?
About 49 calories in a piece of 10 g, from our home batch with more cashew than sugar. A sweet shop piece with equal cashew and sugar is 47.
Is kaju katli high in sugar?
Per piece, about a teaspoon: 4.1 g of added sugar. Per 100 g, yes: 40.8 g, because sugar is 41 percent of the batch. Small pieces keep each one modest, and the count is what adds up.
What are the ingredients of kaju katli?
Cashews, sugar and a little ghee, with water for the syrup that cooks off. Our home batch is 140 g of cashews, 100 g of sugar and 5 g of ghee, which makes 245 g, about 24 pieces.
How many calories are in 10 kaju katli?
About 492 calories. Ten pieces weigh 100 g, so it is the same as the per 100 g figure. They hold 40.8 g of added sugar, about 9.7 teaspoons.
How many kaju katli can I eat in a day?
There is no fixed number; it depends on the rest of your day. Four pieces hold 16.3 g of added sugar, 65 percent of the World Health Organization's ideal daily figure of about 25 g, and 197 calories. Decide the count before the box opens, not after.
Is kaju katli fried?
No. The cashews are ground and cooked with sugar syrup into a dough, which is rolled and cut. Its fat comes from the cashews and a small amount of ghee, not from a fryer, so the fat in it is set by the recipe rather than by time in hot oil.
How many pieces are in 500 g of kaju katli, and how many calories?
Sweet shops often sell kaju katli by weight. At 10 g a piece, 500 g is about 50 pieces: 2,459 calories and 204.1 g of added sugar, about 48.6 teaspoons. A 1 kg box is about 100 pieces and 4,918 calories. Pieces vary by shop, so weighing one tells you how many your box really holds.
Which has more calories, kaju katli or gulab jamun?
Per piece, gulab jamun: 94 calories against 49, because a gulab jamun weighs 33 g to a katli's 10 g. Per 100 g, kaju katli: 492 against 285.
How we calculated this
Every number on this page is for 1 piece (10 g), worked out from the recipe below. A version with its own weight in the table above is worked out at that weight.
- Cashews140 g
- Sugar100 g
- Ghee5 g
The whole home batch, which makes 245 g once the syrup water has cooked off. One piece is 10 g of it, about 24 pieces to the batch.
Ingredient values from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy). The piece weight comes from a US kaju katli label in FDC (Branded 740348), which lists 4 pieces in a 40 g serving.
Confidence: medium
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central 170162: Nuts, cashew nuts, raw
- USDA FoodData Central 169655: Sugars, granulated
- USDA FoodData Central 173412: Butter oil, anhydrous
- USDA FoodData Central 740348 (Branded label): MITHA MAGIC KAJU KATLI
- World Health Organization. WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children, 2015.
- NHS. Sugar: the facts.
- American Heart Association. Added sugars.
- Heart & Stroke. Reduce sugar.
- National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Dietary Guidelines 1 to 5.
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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