Upma Calories: Rava Upma Worked from IFCT Rows

By NYUS Inc. · Published 29 October 2026

"Upma calories", "upma calories per 100g", "upma calories and protein", "upma calories 1 bowl", "rava upma calories" and "upma calories 1 katori" are searched in India, and the answers online differ. No primary table has an upma record: IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables from ICMR-NIN, prints raw, dry semolina and raw vegetables (and almost entirely raw foods; its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no upma or other cooked dish, and no cooking oil row, and USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy has no upma record. So this page does not quote a number. It works one bowl of rava upma out line by line: the dry semolina, onion, chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger, carrot and peas 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, plain and with vegetables. They are estimates, shown so you can change the weights to match your kadhai. For the dry semolina and the other breakfast bases per 100 g see our poha, sooji, dalia and vermicelli guide, for how breakfasts compare our Indian breakfast guide, and for the spoon values our ghee, oil and sugar guide.

The short answer

By our working, one bowl of rava upma (50 g dry semolina, onion 40 g, green chilli 2 g, mustard seeds 1 g, curry leaves 1 g, ginger 3 g, carrot 20 g, fresh peas 20 g and 2 teaspoons of oil) is about 296.6 kcal and 8.4 g protein, and the same without the carrot and peas is about 273.7 kcal and 6.7 g protein. Across 40 to 60 g of dry semolina and 1 to 3 teaspoons of oil the vegetable upma runs 223.5 to 369.7 kcal, with the tadka, the vegetables and the oil in every cell. These are estimates from the weights below, not measured values and not from an upma record. Our reading: the parts of the main case rank dry semolina 166.8 kcal, oil 79.6 kcal, onion, chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger 27.3 kcal, carrot and peas 22.9 kcal.

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 8 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; these rows are raw, dry semolina and raw vegetables and spices, so we count raw weights, and the water the semolina takes up and the cooked weight of an upma are not printed in any table.

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. 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 and 3 teaspoons 119.3 kcal.

Worked example 1: rava upma with vegetables

Every weight here is our assumption for one bowl, counted dry or raw: 50 g of dry semolina (IFCT A022), a tadka of onion, green chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger in peanut oil, and carrot and fresh peas stirred in. 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. The water, salt and lemon are not counted.

The grid varies the dry semolina (40, 50 or 60 g) and the oil (1, 2 or 3 teaspoons); the tadka and the carrot and peas stay as above.

And the vegetables, with the semolina and oil at the main case, including plain upma with none:

What stands out in the numbers

• Parts of the main case: dry semolina 166.8 kcal, oil 79.6 kcal, onion, chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger 27.3 kcal, carrot and peas 22.9 kcal. Dry semolina is 333.7 kcal per 100 g (A022).
• What moves the result: in this working the oil (1 to 3 teaspoons) moves it most (79.5 kcal), then the dry semolina weight (40 to 60 g) (66.7 kcal) and the carrot and peas (none to double) (45.8 kcal). Each teaspoon of oil is 39.8 kcal.
• Plain against vegetable upma: the carrot and peas add 22.9 kcal and 1.7 g protein at 20 g each, so plain upma is 273.7 kcal and the vegetable upma 296.6 kcal.
• Protein: about 8.4 g in the main-case upma, of which 5.7 g is the semolina; the oil adds none.
• These are estimates: no upma record exists, the weights are ours, and peanuts, cashews, ghee or more oil will be higher.

Why these are estimates, not your upma

• No record exists for the dish. IFCT 2017 prints almost entirely raw foods and no mixed dish, and USDA SR Legacy has no upma record.
• The weights are assumptions. No table prints how much semolina, oil or vegetables one bowl takes; ours are stated so you can replace them.
• Dry weights. Semolina takes up 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.
• No per 100 g figure. No table prints a cooked upma 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. The labels on the USDA record are its own words; we print them and draw no conclusion from them.

How to log it so the numbers hold

• Log it by parts. Weigh the semolina dry before roasting, estimate the onion, carrot and peas, and log the oil by its own weight (weight × figure ÷ 100); our ghee, oil and sugar guide has the spoon values.
• Say how much semolina. From 40 to 60 g it moves the bowl by 66.7 kcal.
• Say how much oil. It is an input this page cannot know; each teaspoon is 39.8 kcal.
• Log the chutney or sambar 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 upma 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 semolina or upma does 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.
• Peanuts, cashews, ghee, coconut, lemon, other vegetables, and other versions such as vermicelli upma, oats upma, millet upma or instant upma mixes: not covered here; log them from their own rows (our poha, sooji and dalia guide has the dry bases).
• Restaurant, canteen and packaged upma: no table prints a restaurant weight or oil use, so we give no such figure; read the pack for packaged ones.
• Other IFCT rows for the same vegetables: they exist and are not used here.
• 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): A022 Wheat, semolina (6 regions, 1396 kJ, PDF p. 42); G017 Onion, big (6 regions, 201 kJ, PDF p. 54); G008 Chillies, green - all varieties (6 regions, 177 kJ, PDF p. 53); H013 Mustard seeds (6 regions, 2132 kJ, PDF p. 55); G010 Curry leaves (6 regions, 266 kJ, PDF p. 54); G014 Ginger, fresh (6 regions, 230 kJ, PDF p. 54); F002 Carrot, orange (6 regions, 139 kJ, PDF p. 52); D061 Peas, fresh (6 regions, 340 kJ, PDF p. 48). IFCT 2017 prints raw, dry semolina and raw vegetables (and almost entirely raw foods; its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no upma or other cooked dish, and no cooking oil row (PDF text searched for upma, uppittu, rava upma, sooji upma and oil; the semolina row is A022).
• 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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