Paratha vs Roti Calories: Plain and Aloo Paratha, Worked Out From the Raw Ingredients

General information: This article is information about food data. No dietitian or doctor has reviewed it, and it is not a substitute for their advice.

By NYUS Inc. · October 2026

A paratha and a roti start as the same dough, yet one is "lighter". This page works both out from India's own food composition tables, with the same amount of atta, so you can see where the extra calories of a paratha come from.

The short answer

From 30 g of raw atta, a dry roti is 96 kcal and a plain paratha with 10 g of ghee or oil is 186 kcal. The 90 kcal difference is the fat. An aloo filling adds about 28 kcal for 40 g of potato.

Same dough, different fat

Atta is a row of the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017) from ICMR-NIN: 1,340 kJ and 10.57 g protein per 100 g raw (PDF page 42). We take 30 g of it per roti or paratha, which is our own assumption of a medium one. Fat is counted at 9 kcal per gram, the factor IFCT itself uses (PDF page 10).

Made from 30 g raw atta	Fat	Energy	Protein
Roti, dry-cooked (phulka), no fat	0 g	96 kcal	3.2 g
Roti with 1 teaspoon of ghee smeared	5 g	141 kcal	3.2 g
Plain paratha, 2 teaspoons of ghee or oil	10 g	186 kcal	3.2 g
Rich paratha, 3 teaspoons of ghee or oil	15 g	231 kcal	3.2 g

The dough, and so the protein, is the same in every row. The fat is not. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 (ICMR-NIN) list parathas among foods prepared with a high quantity of oil or fat (PDF page 110). Here is what that quantity is in numbers.

What 10 g of fat takes from your day

The guidelines limit visible fat, all the oil and ghee you add, to 20 to 50 g a day, which they equate to 4 to 10 teaspoons (PDF page 71), so a teaspoon is about 5 g. For sedentary adults the limit is 20 g for women and 30 g for men. The 10 g in a plain paratha is therefore 50% of a sedentary woman's day and 33% of a sedentary man's. The paratha's 186 kcal is about 11% of the 1,660 kcal and 9% of the 2,110 kcal that ICMR-NIN's 2020 reference figures give a sedentary 55 kg woman and 65 kg man (PDF page 4). These are reference figures, not your target.

And the aloo?

Potato is IFCT row F006: 292 kJ and 1.54 g protein per 100 g raw (PDF page 52). It is mostly water, so the filling adds little. The bigger lever is, again, the fat, and the size of the paratha.

Aloo paratha	Atta / raw potato / fat	Energy	Protein
Medium, 30 g atta	30 g / 40 g / 5 g	169 kcal	3.8 g
Medium, 30 g atta	30 g / 40 g / 10 g	214 kcal	3.8 g
Medium, 30 g atta	30 g / 40 g / 15 g	259 kcal	3.8 g
Large paratha (our assumption)	50 g / 60 g / 10 g	292 kcal	6.2 g

Not included: onion, chilli, coriander, spices, and anything served with it, such as curd, butter on top or pickle. The potato is counted raw, before boiling, because the tables list raw foods.

Three ways to count a paratha properly

Weigh the atta raw once for your usual paratha and write the number down.
Measure the ghee or oil with a teaspoon, including the smear on top. It is the one ingredient where a pour can easily be double the plan.
Log the recipe, not "paratha". A generic entry hides both the size and the fat, the two things that change the answer. Our roti size guide and ghee guide cover each.

This is general information about food data, not a diet plan or medical advice. If you have diabetes, a kidney condition, or take medicines, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how a meal like this fits your own plan.

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Frequently asked questions

How many calories are in a plain paratha?

For a paratha made from 30 g of atta and 10 g of ghee or oil (2 teaspoons), about 186 kcal and 3.2 g protein, worked out from IFCT 2017 on this page. The same dough as a dry roti is 96 kcal. The fat decides the answer.

Is paratha worse than roti for weight loss?

No single food is. With the same 30 g of atta, a paratha with 10 g of fat has 90 kcal more than a dry roti, all of it from the fat, at 9 kcal a gram. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 list parathas among foods prepared with a high quantity of oil or fat (PDF p. 110), so it is the quantity that matters.

How many calories does the aloo filling add?

Little. 40 g of raw potato (IFCT 2017: 292 kJ per 100 g) is 28 kcal and 0.6 g protein. An aloo paratha made from 30 g of atta, 40 g of potato and 10 g of fat is 214 kcal, which is 28 kcal more than the plain paratha, all of it the potato.

How do I count a paratha properly?

Weigh the atta raw, weigh the potato raw, and measure the ghee or oil with a teaspoon, then log the recipe instead of "paratha". The fat limit in the Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 is 20 g a day for a sedentary woman and 30 g for a sedentary man (PDF p. 71), and a teaspoon is about 5 g.

Sources (read 22 October 2026)

Longvah T. et al., Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017), ICMR-NIN, Table 1, per 100 g raw: wheat flour atta A019 (PDF p. 42), potato brown skin big F006 (PDF p. 52); energy kcal = kJ ÷ 4.184, rounded half-up. Fat energy: "a gram of fat yields 9 Cal" (PDF p. 10).
ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024: visible fat limited to 20-50 g (4-10 teaspoons) a day, 20 g for sedentary women and 30 g for sedentary men (PDF p. 71); parathas listed among foods prepared with a high quantity of oil or fat (PDF p. 110).
ICMR-NIN, A Brief Note on Nutrient Requirements for Indians (RDA and EAR), 2020, Table 1a and 1b (PDF p. 4): reference energy 2,110 kcal (man, 65 kg) and 1,660 kcal (woman, 55 kg), sedentary.
The dough weights, the potato weights, the fat amounts and the three tips are NYUS's own examples, not measured dishes.