How Many Calories in a Chicken Kebab?
The chicken shish and the doner sit in the same shop window and in different leagues: grilled skewer meat is 166 kcal per 100 g against the doner's 377. A full chicken shish wrap with pitta and salad lands around 550 kcal. That's how many calories in a chicken kebab when it comes off a grill rather than a spit.
You'd need to walk about 33 minutes to burn the 166 calories in per 100 g of grilled chicken shish meat.
How long does it take to burn off a chicken kebab?
Per 100 g of grilled chicken shish meat is 166 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 166 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 33 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 21 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 24 min |
| Jogging | 20 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 37 min |
Times are for a 154 lb (11 st) adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (100 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chicken kebab nutrition per 100 g
- What a kebab wrap adds up to
- Sauces and extras
- How does a chicken kebab compare
- The kebab reputation problem
- Most popular chicken kebab brands
- FAQ
Chicken kebab nutrition per 100 g
The figures below are for grilled chicken shish meat, the marinated breast or thigh pieces cooked on a skewer.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | % RI* |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 166 kcal / 695 kJ | 8% |
| Protein | 22 g | 44% |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g | 2% |
| Fat | 7 g | 10% |
| Sugar | 2 g | 2% |
| Salt | 1.1 g | 18% |
*Reference intake of an average adult (8,400 kJ / 2,000 kcal).
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
Read that protein line again. At 22 g per 100 g, chicken shish delivers nearly half your reference intake of protein in a modest serving of meat, for the calorie cost of a few biscuits. Very little on a takeaway menu matches that ratio.
The salt is the familiar takeaway story: the marinade does the seasoning, and 1.1 g per 100 g means a big skewer makes a real dent in the NHS 6 g daily maximum.
What a kebab wrap adds up to
A typical chicken shish wrap weighs around 350 g and builds up like this:
| Component | Calories |
|---|---|
| Grilled chicken shish meat (150 g) | 249 kcal |
| Pitta bread (~75 g at 255 kcal per 100 g) | 191 kcal |
| Salad and sauces | ~100 kcal |
| Full wrap (~350 g) | ~550 kcal |
Two things stand out. First, the meat – the part that fills you up – is less than half the total. Second, the pitta quietly costs almost as much as the chicken. Order the skewer over salad without the bread and you're looking at roughly 270 kcal with 33 g of protein, one of the strongest light meals sold on a British high street.
Sauces and extras
The sauce decision moves the total more than most people expect. Chilli sauce adds around 20 kcal a portion; garlic sauce is a mayonnaise-based dressing and runs to 100 kcal or more. Same wrap, different sauce, an 80-plus kcal swing.
Then there's the tray habit. Chips run 214 kcal per 100 g, denser than the kebab meat itself, so "kebab and chips" usually means the chips out-calorie the chicken. If the goal is a big feed for modest calories, a second skewer beats a scoop of chips every time.
How does a chicken kebab compare
| Food | Calories per 100 g |
|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 148 kcal |
| Chicken shish kebab meat | 166 kcal |
| Chips | 214 kcal |
| Burger | 288 kcal |
| Doner kebab | 377 kcal |
The verdict: grilled chicken shish is the best protein-for-calories order in the kebab shop, sitting barely above plain chicken breast, while doner meat carries well over double the energy per gram. If it's a choice between the two, the skewer wins on every count except speed.
The kebab reputation problem
"Kebab" has become shorthand for a blowout, and for the doner that reputation is earned: meat pressed with fat, self-basting as the spit turns. The shish is a different food that happens to share a shop. Lean chicken, grilled dry, fat dripping off rather than in.
That's the whole gap: 166 against 377 kcal per 100 g is the grill versus the rotating fat column. The NHS Eatwell guide asks for lean protein cooked without added fat; a chicken shish is close to the textbook example, sold from the same counter as the textbook counterexample.
Most popular chicken kebab brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Aldi Honey Soy Chicken Kebabs | 152 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Chicken kebab FAQs
How many calories in a chicken shish kebab?
A 150 g skewer of grilled chicken shish meat is about 249 kcal, carrying 33 g of protein. The meat itself measures 166 kcal per 100 g. Add pitta and salad for a wrap and the total climbs to roughly 550 kcal, with the bread supplying about 191 of those.
How many calories in a chicken kebab wrap?
Around 550 kcal for a typical 350 g wrap: 249 kcal from the grilled meat, about 191 from the pitta and roughly 100 from salad and sauces. The bread and sauce choices move that figure far more than the chicken does, so that's where to economise.
Doner or shish – which has fewer calories?
Shish, by a distance. Grilled chicken shish meat is 166 kcal per 100 g while doner meat is 377, more than double, because doner is pressed with fat and bastes itself on the spit. Like-for-like portions make the doner wrap several hundred kcal heavier.
How many calories does garlic sauce add to a kebab?
Around 100 kcal or more per portion, since kebab-shop garlic sauce is mayonnaise-based. Chilli sauce adds only about 20 kcal. Swapping garlic for chilli is the single cheapest change you can make to a kebab order without eating any less food.
Is a chicken kebab healthy?
A grilled chicken shish is one of the better takeaway options: 166 kcal and 22 g of protein per 100 g, cooked over a grill rather than fried. The caveats are salt, at 1.1 g per 100 g, and the extras – garlic sauce and chips can double the meal's calories.
How much protein is in a chicken kebab?
22 g per 100 g of grilled shish meat, so a standard 150 g skewer delivers about 33 g of protein for 249 kcal. That ratio beats almost everything else sold in a kebab shop and stands comparison with a plain grilled chicken breast at 148 kcal per 100 g.
How many calories in chicken kebab and chips?
Chips run 214 kcal per 100 g, denser than the shish meat at 166, so a typical portion of chips can outweigh the entire skewer's 249 kcal. A shish wrap plus chips comfortably passes 800 kcal. Doubling the meat instead of adding chips is the better-value order.
Is a chicken kebab good for weight loss?
Yes, ordered the right way. A skewer with salad and chilli sauce comes in near 270 kcal with 33 g of protein, which keeps you full for very few calories. The wrap at about 550 kcal still fits most budgets; garlic sauce and chips are what tip it over.
Similar foods
- Ham sandwich — 277 kcal whole
- Full English breakfast — about 1,093 kcal the works
- Sunday roast — ~946 kcal a typical plate
- Sushi — 148–170 kcal per 100 g
- Chicken tikka masala — ~546 kcal the curry alone
- Steak — 398 kcal per 8 oz lean rump
Log the wrap without the maths
BodyPal breaks a kebab into meat, pitta and sauce – calories and protein from one photo.
