Chana Masala Calories: Home-Style vs Oil-Rich

By NYUS Inc. · Published 30 October 2026

"Chana masala calories", with "per 100g", "chole masala calories", "and protein", "1 cup" and "restaurant", is searched in India, and the answers online differ. No primary table has a chana masala record: IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables from ICMR-NIN, prints raw, dry pulses (and almost entirely raw foods; its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no chana masala, chole or other cooked dish, and no cooking oil row, and USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy has no chana masala record. So this page does not quote a number. It works one portion out line by line: the dry whole chana, onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and spices from named IFCT 2017 rows and the oil from a USDA record, with weights that are our assumptions and the oil shown apart so you can see what it adds, once as a home-style pot and once as an oil-rich, gravy-heavy pot. They are estimates, shown so you can change the weights to match your cooker. For the boiled beans per katori see our rajma vs chole guide, for the dry rows per 100 g our legume protein guide, and for the spoon values our ghee, oil and sugar guide.

The short answer

By our working, one portion of home-style chana masala (50 g dry whole chana, onion 50 g, tomato 80 g, ginger 4 g, garlic 4 g, coriander seeds 1 g, cumin seeds 1 g, red chilli 1 g, turmeric 0.5 g and 2 teaspoons of oil) is about 278.9 kcal and 11.5 g protein, and the oil-rich, gravy-heavy portion (50 g dry whole chana, onion 100 g, tomato 150 g, ginger 4 g, garlic 4 g, coriander seeds 1 g, cumin seeds 1 g, red chilli 1 g, turmeric 0.5 g and 4 teaspoons of oil) is about 395.6 kcal and 12.7 g protein. Across 40 to 60 g of dry chana the home-style runs 210.4 to 347.3 kcal with 1 to 3 teaspoons of oil and the oil-rich 327.1 to 464.1 kcal with 3 to 5 teaspoons, with the oil in every cell. These are estimates from the weights below, not measured values, not from a chana masala record and not a restaurant figure. Our reading: the parts of the home-style main case rank the chickpeas 143.5 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 55.8 kcal; the parts of the oil-rich main case rank the oil 159.1 kcal, the chickpeas 143.5 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 93.0 kcal; and the oil-rich version is 116.7 kcal above the home-style one at the same 50 g of dry chana.

IFCT 2017 rows used, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 Table 1 prints, per 100 g edible portion, water, protein, ash, total fat, total dietary fibre, insoluble and soluble fibre, carbohydrate and energy in kJ. We read these 9 rows from the PDF text on 29 October 2026, as the mean of the regions shown (PDF pages in the Sources); the kcal is ours (kJ divided by 4.184, to 0.1). IFCT prints no portion weights; the chana row is a raw, dry pulse, so we count dry weight, and the water the chickpeas take up and the cooked weight of a chana masala are not printed in any table. B002 is whole Bengal gram, the desi or kala chana; IFCT Table 1 has no separate kabuli (white) chickpea row.

The oil: USDA SR Legacy, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 has no cooking oil row, so the oil comes from USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy; it is a US record. Energy is USDA's kcal with the kJ beside it; water, protein, total fat and carbohydrate (by difference) are in g, then fibre (g), total sugars (g) and sodium (mg), all per 100 g.

The data-type label on each USDA field, as the record shows it

USDA's record page shows a data-type label beside some fields and none beside others. This table copies what the record shows, read field by field from the nutrient table of the record page; "no label shown" means the record prints no label there, and "not printed" means the record has no row for that field. We do not interpret the labels beyond printing them. IFCT 2017 prints no such labels.

The household portions USDA prints for the oil

These are the entries in the record's Measures list, as printed; the other entry is 100 g. The kcal in the last column is ours: the printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100, shown to 0.1.

The portion sums: 171410 1 tsp (4.5 g): 884 × 4.5 / 100 = 39.78, so 39.8 kcal; 171410 1 cup (216 g): 884 × 216 / 100 = 1909.44, so 1909.4 kcal; 171410 1 tbsp (13.5 g): 884 × 13.5 / 100 = 119.34, so 119.3 kcal. By the same arithmetic 1 teaspoon (4.5 g) is 39.8 kcal, 2 teaspoons 79.6 kcal, 3 teaspoons 119.3 kcal, 4 teaspoons 159.1 kcal and 5 teaspoons 198.9 kcal.

Worked example 1: home-style chana masala

Every weight here is our assumption for one portion, counted dry or raw: whole chana (soaked and boiled in water, which carries no energy), onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilli and turmeric powder, cooked in peanut oil. Each IFCT line is the kJ divided by 4.184, times the grams, divided by 100, to 0.1 kcal; the oil line is USDA's printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100; protein is the table's protein per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100. Salt, amchur, garam masala, tea leaves and coriander leaves are not counted.

The grid varies the dry chana (40, 50 or 60 g) and the oil (1, 2 or 3 teaspoons); the onion, tomato and spices stay as above.

Worked example 2: oil-rich, gravy-heavy chana masala

Same method and the same 50 g of dry chana and spices; the gravy base is doubled to 100 g of onion and 150 g of tomato and the oil goes up to 4 teaspoons. This is our assumed recipe for a richer pot, not a measured restaurant dish.

The grid varies the dry chana (40, 50 or 60 g) and the oil (3, 4 or 5 teaspoons); the onion, tomato and spices stay as above.

The two main cases side by side

These are the single examples used in the short answer; each follows from the tables above and from the weights in the cell.

What stands out in the numbers

• Home-style, part by part: the chickpeas 143.5 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 55.8 kcal. Dry whole chana is 287.0 kcal per 100 g (IFCT B002).
• Oil-rich, part by part: the oil 159.1 kcal, the chickpeas 143.5 kcal, the onion, tomato and spices 93.0 kcal; the larger gravy base adds 37.2 kcal and the two extra teaspoons of oil 79.5 kcal.
• Chana weight against oil: in the home-style version the oil (1 to 3 teaspoons) moves it more than the dry chana weight (40 to 60 g): 79.5 kcal against 57.4 kcal; in the oil-rich version the oil (3 to 5 teaspoons) moves it more than the dry chana weight (40 to 60 g): 79.6 kcal against 57.4 kcal. Each teaspoon is 39.8 kcal.
• Protein: about 11.5 g in the home-style main case and 12.7 g in the oil-rich one; the 50 g of dry chana supplies 9.4 g of it and the oil none.
• These are estimates: no chana masala record exists, the weights are ours, and potato, ghee, more oil or a bigger portion will be higher.

Why these are estimates, not your chana masala

• No record exists for the dish. IFCT 2017 prints raw dry pulses and no cooked dish, and USDA SR Legacy has no chana masala record.
• The weights are assumptions. No table prints how many chickpeas, how much gravy base or how much oil one portion takes; ours are stated so you can replace them.
• Dry weights. Chickpeas take up a lot of water in cooking and no table prints the cooked weight, so the page counts dry weight and cannot say how many katori or bowls the portion makes.
• Desi chana only. The IFCT row is whole Bengal gram (kala chana); there is no separate kabuli row, so for white chole the figures are an approximation.
• No restaurant figure. The oil-rich version is a recipe we assumed, not a measured restaurant dish; no table prints a restaurant weight or oil use.
• No per 100 g figure. No table prints a cooked chana masala weight, so a calories-per-100-g number cannot be derived from these rows.
• US oil data. The oil row is a US record; IFCT has none.
• Labels are printed, not judged. Calculated and the other labels are USDA's words on the record; we print them and draw no conclusion from them.

How to log it so the numbers hold

• Log it by parts. Weigh the chana dry before soaking, estimate the onion and tomato, and log the oil by its own weight (weight × figure ÷ 100); our ghee, oil and sugar guide has the spoon values.
• Say how much oil. It is an input this page cannot know; a teaspoon is 39.8 kcal.
• Say how much gravy. The larger onion and tomato base is 37.2 kcal here.
• Log the bhature, kulcha, rice or roti separately. They are not in these figures.

Where NYUS fits (our app)

We make NYUS, so read this as ours. NYUS is an AI fitness and nutrition coach in early access on Android, with no ads and no data selling. You log foods yourself by searching 8,900+ Indian and global foods or by barcode, and a weekly check-in adjusts your calories, macros and step goal once enough is logged. Barcode coverage of Indian packaged foods is not complete, so search by name when a scan finds nothing.

What this page leaves out

• A measured calorie figure for chana masala as a dish: no primary record prints one, so every figure here is an estimate from stated weights.
• A calorie target, and any claim about what chickpeas or this curry do to your body: we have not looked up any for any person, so we give none. If you have a medical condition or are pregnant, ask your doctor or dietitian.
• Potato, tea, amchur, anardana, garam masala, coriander leaves, salt and spice powders other than red chilli and turmeric, and other versions such as pindi chole, lauki chana or chana dal masala: not covered here; log them from their own rows.
• Restaurant, dhaba and canned chana masala: no table prints a restaurant weight or oil use, so we give no such figure; read the pack for canned ones.
• Kabuli (white) chickpeas, canned chickpeas and roasted chana: no separate row in IFCT 2017 Table 1; use the pack label.
• Nutrients beyond energy, water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, total sugars and sodium: not covered here.

Sources

• ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017), Table 1, per 100 g edible portion, mean of the regions shown (read from the PDF text 29 October 2026): B002 Bengal gram, whole (6 regions, 1201 kJ, PDF p. 42); G017 Onion, big (6 regions, 201 kJ, PDF p. 54); D075 Tomato, ripe, hybrid (6 regions, 79 kJ, PDF p. 48); G014 Ginger, fresh (6 regions, 230 kJ, PDF p. 54); G011 Garlic, big clove (6 regions, 518 kJ, PDF p. 54); G024 Coriander seeds (6 regions, 1125 kJ, PDF p. 54); G025 Cumin seeds (6 regions, 1274 kJ, PDF p. 54); G022 Chillies, red (6 regions, 990 kJ, PDF p. 54); G033 Turmeric powder (6 regions, 1174 kJ, PDF p. 55). IFCT 2017 prints raw, dry pulses (and almost entirely raw foods; its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no chana masala, chole or other cooked dish, and no cooking oil row (PDF text searched for chana masala, chole, masala, gravy and oil; the whole Bengal gram row is B002 (the split dal is B001)).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 171410 (Oil, peanut, salad or cooking): Energy 884 kcal (3700 kJ), protein 0 g, total fat 100 g, carbohydrate by difference 0 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 0 g, sodium 0 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Calculated, carbohydrate by difference no label shown, total sugars Assumed zero (Insignificant amount or not naturally occurring in a food, such as fiber in meat); portions used: 1 tsp (4.5 g); 1 cup (216 g); 1 tbsp (13.5 g) (read 29 October 2026).
• nyus.in, the NYUS landing page, read on 29 October 2026 for the app statements in the NYUS section and the CTA.

The ingredient weights, the kJ to kcal conversions, the line values, the sums, the grids, the portion kcal, the rounding, the comparisons and every sentence starting "Our reading" are NYUS's own assumptions, arithmetic or opinion, not from USDA or IFCT. The IFCT values are the means printed in IFCT 2017 Table 1; the USDA values, data-type labels and Measures-list portions are exactly as shown on the USDA record page. The names in the first column are the tables' own names.

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