How Many Calories in a Shot of Vodka?
53 calories in a single 25 ml shot. 105 in a double. That's the whole answer to how many calories in a shot of vodka: neat spirit at 40% ABV runs 222 kcal per 100 g — roughly 210 per 100 ml — and every one of those calories comes from the alcohol itself.
You'd need to walk about 11 minutes to burn the 53 calories in a single 25 ml shot.
How long does it take to burn off a shot of vodka?
A single 25 ml shot is 53 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb ml
| Activity | Time to burn 53 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 11 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 7 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 8 min |
| Jogging | 6 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 12 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 (25 ml); change it to what you actually drank. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Vodka quick facts
- Shots, doubles and 100 ml
- What your mixer adds
- How does vodka compare at the bar?
- The no-carbs myth
- Most popular vodka brands
- FAQ
Vodka quick facts
Figures are for standard 40% ABV vodka; spirits are lighter than water, so 25 ml weighs about 23.7 g.
| Nutrient | Single shot (25 ml) | Per 100 ml | RI%* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 53 kcal / 222 kJ | 210 kcal / 879 kJ | 3% |
| Protein | trace | trace | 0% |
| Carbohydrates | trace | trace | 0% |
| – of which sugars | trace | trace | 0% |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Fibre | 0 g | 0 g | – |
| Salt | trace | trace | 0% |
*RI% = a single shot's share of an adult's daily reference intake, based on 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 →
An unusual table, this one. Every macro row reads zero or trace — no fat, no sugar, no carbs — yet the energy line stubbornly isn't. Alcohol is its own calorie source at 7 kcal per gram, and the label doesn't have to itemise it the way it does sugar. Those calories are real; they just travel incognito.
Shots, doubles and 100 ml
- Single (25 ml): 53 kcal — and one alcohol unit exactly.
- Double (50 ml): 105 kcal, two units.
- Per 100 ml: about 210 kcal, for when you're pouring at home without a measure.
The unit arithmetic is worth having in your head: a 25 ml single of 40% spirit is one unit, and the NHS advises keeping to no more than 14 units a week. Four doubles on a Friday is eight units and 420 kcal before a single mixer touches a glass.
Home pours are the quiet leak. Free-pouring "a splash" easily doubles a pub single, and 210 kcal per 100 ml means a generous glass can out-cost the dinner it follows.
(alt: "BodyPal app scanning a vodka drink showing calories")
What your mixer adds
(alt: "Vodka with mixers calories comparison")
- Vodka soda: ≈53 kcal. Soda water adds nothing at all.
- Vodka + diet mixer: ≈54 kcal. Diet cola or slimline tonic adds roughly 1.
- Vodka & coke (single + 150 ml cola): ≈116 kcal. The cola brings 63 kcal of sugar to the party.
- Double & coke: ≈168 kcal — at which point the mixer and the spirit are pulling almost equal weight.
The pattern is blunt: the vodka is fixed, the mixer is a choice. Swap regular cola for a diet one and a single drops from 116 to 54 kcal — repeat that over a five-drink night and you've deleted over 300 kcal without drinking any less. NHS guidance on calories in alcohol makes the same point across the whole bar menu.
How does vodka compare at the bar?
(alt: "Vodka vs wine, beer and gin and tonic calories comparison")
| Drink | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Vodka soda (single) | 53 kcal |
| Gin & tonic (single) | 100 kcal |
| Wine (175 ml glass) | 133 kcal |
| Beer (pint) | 170 kcal |
Order for order, vodka soda is the lightest thing on this list — a pint of beer costs more than three times as much, and a Guinness plays in the same league as other stouts and ales. One caveat before vodka takes a bow: gin is the identical 222 kcal per 100 g, so it's the tonic, not the gin, that makes a G&T heavier. The spirit-plus-zero-mixer formula wins whichever bottle it's built on.
The no-carbs myth
"Vodka has no carbs, so it's basically a free drink." Half right, fully wrong. Distillation does strip out sugar — that part of the claim is true, and it's why the label shows trace carbs. But distillation concentrates alcohol, and alcohol carries 7 kcal per gram all by itself.
That's also why strength matters more than brand. A 37.5% bottle is genuinely lighter than a 40% one at the same pour, because there's simply less alcohol in the glass. Fewer degrees, fewer calories; no premium "light vodka" required.
Most popular vodka 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. Any 40% spirit lands within a few calories of this — the strength sets the number, not the label.
| Product | Calories (per 100 ml) |
|---|---|
| Absolut Vodka | 223 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Vodka FAQ
How many calories in a single shot of vodka?
53 kcal for a standard UK single — 25 ml at 40% ABV. It's also exactly one alcohol unit, which makes vodka unusually easy to track: one measure, one unit, 53 kcal, every time the pour is honest.
How many calories in a double vodka?
105 kcal for a 50 ml double, before any mixer. Add 150 ml of regular cola and the drink lands around 168 kcal; keep the mixer diet or soda and the double stays within a few calories of 105.
How many calories in vodka per 100 ml?
About 210 kcal per 100 ml at 40% ABV. The odd-sounding detail: CoFID lists spirits at 222 kcal per 100 g, and because spirit is lighter than water, 100 ml weighs less than 100 g. For home pours, 2.1 kcal per ml is the useful number.
Is vodka low calorie?
Per drink, yes — a 53 kcal single undercuts a 133 kcal glass of wine and a 170 kcal pint. Per 100 ml, no — 210 kcal makes it one of the denser things behind the bar. The measure size is doing the work, which is why free-pouring erases the advantage.
Is vodka fattening?
At 7 kcal per gram of alcohol, vodka calories count like any others — a nightly double is 105 kcal that has to go somewhere. The bigger multiplier is usually the mixer and the round count, not the spirit. Track drinks like food and the mystery usually solves itself.
How many calories in vodka and diet coke?
About 54 kcal for a single — the diet mixer adds roughly 1 kcal to the shot's 53. That makes it functionally identical to a vodka soda and one of the lightest mixed drinks a bar can make. A double version sits around 106 kcal.
How many calories in vodka and coke?
Around 116 kcal for a single with 150 ml of regular cola — 53 from the vodka, 63 from the cola's sugar. A double pushes it to roughly 168 kcal. The cola is the variable: swap it for diet and the same drink drops by more than half.
Is vodka gluten free?
Standard 40% vodka is generally treated as gluten-free even when distilled from wheat, because distillation leaves the gluten proteins behind in the still. Flavoured vodkas are the exception worth checking, since additions come after distillation. Anyone with coeliac disease should confirm on the label.
Similar foods
- Tequila — 53 kcal a shot
- Whisky — 53 kcal a single
- Margarita — ~183 kcal a glass
- Rosé wine — 138 kcal a 175 ml glass
- Wine — 133 kcal a 175 ml glass
- Pinot Grigio — 131 kcal a 175 ml glass
Track the round, not the guesswork
Tell BodyPal what's in the glass — or snap it — and the drink goes into your day's total in seconds, mixer and all.
