How Many Calories in Tofu?
Firm tofu, the block British supermarkets sell, is about 120 calories per 100 g — 118 in a Cauldron block, 146 in a Tofoo one. A whole 280 g Tofoo block is 408 kcal and carries 46 g of protein. Silken tofu is a different food altogether at 56 to 61 kcal.
You'd need to walk about 24 minutes to burn the 118 calories in 100 g of firm tofu (Cauldron block).
How long does it take to burn off tofu?
100 g of firm tofu (Cauldron block) is 118 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 118 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 24 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 15 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 17 min |
| Jogging | 14 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 26 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
- Tofu quick facts
- Why one block says 118 and the next says 146
- A whole block, and what people actually eat
- Protein per 100 calories, the number that does not move
- Silken, smoked, marinated and fried
- Tofu against chicken, eggs and cheese
- Brands on the UK shelf
- FAQ
Tofu quick facts
One named block rather than an average: The Tofoo Co. Naked, 280 g, the densest of the mainstream firm tofus. Its label portion is 70 g, a quarter of the block.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | 70 g (¼ block) | RI%* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 146 kcal / 611 kJ | 102 kcal / 427 kJ | 5% |
| Protein | 16.5 g | 11.6 g | 23% |
| Carbohydrates | 1.1 g | 0.8 g | <1% |
| Fat | 7.8 g | 5.5 g | 8% |
| Salt | under 0.05 g | under 0.05 g | <1% |
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 September 2026. How we verify our data →
*RI% = one 70 g portion's share of an adult's daily reference intake, based on 2,000 kcal.
Two rows are missing on purpose. Fibre is absent because the UK government's dataset marks it as not measured for tofu, so no honest figure exists to print. Saturated fat is not on the Tofoo panel; the government's steamed tofu figure of 0.50 g per 100 g gives the scale. Salt is shown as a ceiling because plain tofu labels land between 0.01 g and 0.04 g per 100 g — Vemondo 0.01, Cauldron and Sainsbury's 0.03, Dragonfly 0.04 — which rounds to nothing at any portion.
The split of those 146 calories is the surprise. Protein supplies 66 of them, fat supplies 70, carbohydrate supplies 4. Half of tofu's energy is fat — soya fat, pressed in with the curd rather than added later.
Why one block says 118 and the next says 146
Tofu is soya milk set into a curd and pressed. How hard it is pressed decides everything, because pressing removes water and water has no calories.
| Type | Per 100 g | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Silken (Yutaka, Clearspring) | 56–61 kcal | 6.5–7.1 g |
| Steamed soft curd (UK government figure) | 73 kcal | 8.1 g |
| Waitrose Smoked Organic | 110 kcal | 11.5 g |
| Cauldron Authentic | 118 kcal | 13.0 g |
| Sainsbury's Super Firm | 118 kcal | 11.9 g |
| Vemondo (Lidl) block | 138 kcal | 14.0 g |
| Cauldron Extra Firm | 144 kcal | 16.0 g |
| The Tofoo Co. Naked | 146 kcal | 16.5 g |
| Fried (UK government figure) | 261 kcal | 23.5 g |
The official UK figure of 73 kcal per 100 g gets quoted everywhere, and it describes steamed soya bean curd — the wobbly Asian-style block, close to what a British shopper calls silken. It is not the thing in the Tesco chiller, where every firm block sits between 110 and 146.
So if you bought a vacuum pack that holds its shape when you cut it, 73 is the wrong number by a factor of nearly two. Use your own label, and use 120 as the mental default.
A whole block, and what people actually eat
UK blocks run 200 to 400 g. Tofoo's is 280 g, Cauldron's are 200 g and 396 g, Sainsbury's is 300 g. Labels declare a portion of 70 g or 100 g, which is where the arithmetic starts drifting away from real life.
| Portion | Cauldron Authentic | Tofoo Naked |
|---|---|---|
| 70 g, a quarter block | 83 kcal | 102 kcal |
| 100 g, the label portion | 118 kcal | 146 kcal |
| 140 g, half a block | 165 kcal | 204 kcal |
| 280 g, a whole Tofoo block | 330 kcal | 408 kcal |
Nobody cooks a quarter of a block. Tofu is bought, pressed, cubed and thrown into one pan, so the honest unit is the block. A whole Tofoo block is 408 kcal with 46.2 g of protein — a main course rather than an ingredient, and four times the printed portion.
That matters more for tofu than for most foods, because it is usually the protein anchor of the meal. The NHS notes in its guide to the vegan diet that pulses, soya and nuts have to carry the load that meat and dairy carry elsewhere, and half a block will not do that on its own.
Protein per 100 calories, the number that does not move
The calorie spread across the shelf looks alarming until you divide protein by energy. Then it stops moving:
- Steamed soft curd, government figure: 8.1 g protein, 73 kcal — 11.1 g per 100 kcal
- Cauldron Authentic: 13.0 g, 118 kcal — 11.0 g per 100 kcal
- The Tofoo Co. Naked: 16.5 g, 146 kcal — 11.3 g per 100 kcal
- Sainsbury's Super Firm: 11.9 g, 118 kcal — 10.1 g per 100 kcal
Pressing changes the density, not the recipe. Whatever block you buy, roughly 11 g of protein arrives with every 100 calories, so choosing a firmer tofu buys you more protein and more calories in the same proportion. There is no low-calorie tofu, only wetter tofu.
Eleven grams per 100 kcal is a genuinely useful ratio, and worth being unromantic about. It beats an egg (9.6), red lentils (7.9), paneer (7.9), halloumi (7.6) and feta (6.2). It loses badly to grilled chicken breast (21.6) and to Quorn pieces (19.2). Tofu sits between the vegetable world and the meat world, which is exactly where it is usually asked to stand.
Silken, smoked, marinated and fried
Frying is the one thing that changes tofu's number beyond recognition. The government's fried figure is 261 kcal per 100 g against 73 steamed — 3.6 times the calories, with fat rising from 4.2 g to 17.7 g. Tofu is a sponge, and hot oil is what it soaks up.
Start from a firm block and deep-fried cubes comfortably pass 300 kcal per 100 g. The alternative is not dry tofu; it is measured oil. A teaspoon at 5 g adds 45 kcal, so oven-baked cubes from a Tofoo block land near 191 kcal per 100 g rather than 300.
Marinades are where the salt comes from. Plain tofu is effectively salt-free at 0.01 to 0.04 g per 100 g; smoked and marinated blocks are not. Tofoo Fumé is 0.41 g, Cauldron Teriyaki 0.88 g, Cauldron Hoisin 0.95 g. A 100 g portion of the hoisin block is 16% of the 6 g adult maximum set out in NHS guidance on salt in your diet — a hundred times the plain block.
Silken tofu belongs in a separate bucket. At 56 to 61 kcal per 100 g it is under half the firm figure, because it has never been pressed. It blends into desserts and sauces and will not hold a cube, so swapping one for the other changes texture and calories at once.
Tofu against chicken, eggs and cheese
| Food | Per 100 g | Protein | Protein per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast, grilled | 148 kcal | 32.0 g | 21.6 g |
| Quorn pieces | 73 kcal | 14.0 g | 19.2 g |
| Tempeh | 166 kcal | 20.7 g | 12.5 g |
| Firm tofu | 146 kcal | 16.5 g | 11.3 g |
| Eggs, raw | 131 kcal | 12.6 g | 9.6 g |
| Fried tofu | 261 kcal | 23.5 g | 9.0 g |
| Halloumi | 313 kcal | 23.9 g | 7.6 g |
| Feta | 250 kcal | 15.6 g | 6.2 g |
Our take: for pure protein economy chicken breast is untouchable and tofu should not pretend otherwise. What tofu offers instead is protein with almost no carbohydrate, no salt to speak of, and a calorie count you set by choosing a firmer or wetter block. Against the cheeses it replaces in a vegetarian kitchen the case is far stronger — halloumi and feta cost two to four times the calories and a hundred times the salt for less protein.
Two companions worth pricing. Quinoa at 111 kcal per 100 g cooked adds protein to a bowl rather than diluting it; hummus at 307 kcal is the costliest plant protein per gram on the shelf.
Popular tofu brands in the BodyPal food database
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) |
|---|---|
| Cauldron Tofu | 118 kcal |
| Tofoo Naked Organic Tofu | 145 kcal |
| Tofoo Smoked Tofu | 146 kcal |
| Aldi Plant Menu Super Firm Tofu | 133 kcal |
| Tofoo Naked XL | 123 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Tofu FAQs
How many calories are in tofu?
Firm tofu is about 120 kcal per 100 g on the UK shelf, from 118 in a Cauldron block to 146 in a Tofoo one. Silken tofu is 56 to 61 kcal. The frequently quoted 73 kcal is the government's figure for soft steamed curd, not for the vacuum-packed blocks sold here.
How many calories in 100 g of tofu?
118 kcal for Cauldron Authentic or Sainsbury's Super Firm, 138 for a Vemondo block, 146 for Tofoo Naked. All are the same food at different water contents, so read the panel on the pack you bought. Silken tofu at the same weight is around 60.
How much protein is in tofu?
16.5 g per 100 g in a Tofoo block, 13.0 g in a Cauldron one — roughly 11 g of protein for every 100 calories, whichever you buy. A whole 280 g block delivers 46.2 g. That ratio beats eggs, lentils and feta but is about half that of grilled chicken breast.
What is the difference between firm and silken tofu calories?
Silken is 56 to 61 kcal per 100 g, firm is 110 to 146 — roughly double. Nothing is added to firm tofu; it has simply been pressed, so more curd and less water fit into the same 100 g. Silken carries about 6.5 to 7.1 g of protein against 13 to 16.5 g for firm.
How many calories in fried tofu?
261 kcal per 100 g by the government's figure, against 73 for the same tofu steamed — 3.6 times more, with fat rising from 4.2 g to 17.7 g. Deep-fried cubes cut from a firm block go past 300. Baking with a measured teaspoon of oil keeps a 100 g portion near 191 kcal.
How many calories in a block of tofu?
408 kcal for a whole 280 g Tofoo block, or 330 kcal for 280 g of Cauldron. A 200 g Cauldron pack is 236 kcal. Since most people cook a full block in one pan, that is the number worth logging rather than the 70 g portion on the label.
Is tofu good for losing weight?
It fits well: around 120 kcal per 100 g, 11 g of protein per 100 calories, roughly 1 g of carbohydrate and no meaningful salt. The two things that undo it are oil, which triples the figure, and marinated blocks that add up to 0.95 g of salt per 100 g.
Tofu or chicken for protein?
Chicken wins on efficiency. Grilled breast gives 32.0 g of protein for 148 kcal, which is 21.6 g per 100 calories against tofu's 11.3. Tofu's advantages lie elsewhere: no carbohydrate, 0.01 to 0.04 g of salt, and a firm block that behaves like meat in a pan.
Similar foods
- Rice — 236 kcal per cooked portion
- Pasta — 304 kcal per cooked portion
- Couscous — 267 kcal per 150 g cooked side
- Quinoa — ~111 kcal per 100 g cooked
- Olives — 4 kcal each
- Baked beans — 168 kcal per half tin
Count it without the maths
Point the camera at the pan and BodyPal reads the block, the oil and the marinade together, which is where tofu maths usually falls apart.
