Calories in a Slice of White Bread (and What Goes On Top)
There are 85 calories in a slice of white bread, taking the standard 36 g medium slice, or 236 kcal per 100 g. A thick slice is 104. Bread is the yardstick everything else gets measured against, and it usually wins that comparison: most of what people swap it for is heavier per 100 g.
You'd need to walk about 17 minutes to burn the 85 calories in a medium slice (36 g).
How long does it take to burn off a slice of white bread?
A medium slice (36 g) is 85 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 85 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 17 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 11 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 12 min |
| Jogging | 10 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 19 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 (36 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- White bread nutrition at a glance
- What a slice actually weighs
- Bread and butter: where the calories go
- Brown, wholemeal and sourdough
- How does white bread compare?
- Two things people get wrong
- Most popular white bread brands
- FAQ
- Similar foods
White bread nutrition at a glance
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per medium slice (36 g) | %RI* per slice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 236 kcal / 987 kJ | 85 kcal / 356 kJ | 4% |
| Protein | 8.7 g | 3.1 g | 6% |
| Carbohydrate | 48.7 g | 17.5 g | 7% |
| of which sugars | 3.0 g | 1.1 g | 1% |
| Fat | 2.1 g | 0.8 g | 1% |
| Fibre | 2.9 g | 1.0 g | 3%† |
| Salt | 1.0 g | 0.36 g | 6% |
*%RI = share of the reference intake for an average adult (2,000 kcal; 70 g fat, 260 g carbohydrate, 90 g sugars, 50 g protein, 6 g salt). †No UK reference intake exists for fibre, so this is measured against the 30 g a day the NHS suggests.
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 →
Nothing there is dramatic: 4% of a day's energy, under a gram of fat, a gram of sugar. Bread's reputation is not built on this table.
What a slice actually weighs
The biggest source of error is the cut, not the loaf: medium-sliced runs about 36 g a slice, thick-sliced closer to 44 g, and that 19-calorie gap repeats daily.
| Portion | Calories |
|---|---|
| 1 medium slice (36 g) | 85 kcal |
| 2 medium slices | 170 kcal |
| 1 thick slice (44 g) | 104 kcal |
| 1 medium slice, toasted | 85 kcal |
| Round of toast with 10 g butter | 159 kcal |
Bread is one of the most-logged foods in BodyPal, and the slice itself is rarely the part people get wrong.
Bread and butter: where the calories go
A 10 g scraping of butter is 74 kcal, at 744 kcal per 100 g. On one slice that makes 159 kcal, with the butter at 47% of it. Two slices the same way come to 318 kcal, nearly double the bare 170.
That ratio is the argument. The bread is a fixed, easy-to-count 85; the butter and the second scraping nobody weighs are what take a sandwich from 250 to 600.
Salt runs 0.36 g a slice, so two slices is 0.72 g, about 12% of the 6 g the NHS advises adults to stay under daily. One crumpet carries more salt than three of these slices. Bread is blamed for the nation's salt because we eat so much of it.
Which raises the next question: does a different loaf change the maths?
Brown, wholemeal and sourdough
White is the loaf this page is verified for: 236 kcal per 100 g, 85 kcal a medium slice, and 2.9 g of fibre per 100 g.
Wholemeal: wholemeal comes in at 217 kcal per 100 g with 7.0 g fibre, well over double the white loaf
Sourdough: a white sourdough loaf runs about 233 kcal per 100 g on supermarket labels, essentially level with standard white
Both are held back until checked against the same source, and they will land here rather than on pages of their own.
How does white bread compare?
| Food | Per 100 g | Typical UK portion | Per portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| White bread | 236 kcal | 1 medium slice, 36 g | 85 kcal |
| Tortilla wrap | 306 kcal | 1 wrap, 64 g | 196 kcal |
| Bagel | 264 kcal | 1 bagel, 87 g | 230 kcal |
| Crumpet | 207 kcal | 1 crumpet, 46 g | 95 kcal |
| Croissant | 373 kcal | 1 croissant, 50 g | 187 kcal |
Read the first column and the pattern is hard to miss: most of what people reach for instead of bread is denser per 100 g, and the wrap, sold for years as the lighter lunch, is the densest at 306.
The verdict: for weight loss, two slices of white bread beat a wrap or a bagel outright, and one wrap costs more than both slices together. For staying full, none of them win alone: 3.1 g of protein a slice will not hold anyone to dinner, so the filling decides. Full side-by-sides at wrap vs bread and bagel vs bread.
The NHS puts starchy foods at the base of a balanced plate, and a slice holds under a third of the carbohydrate in a medium jacket potato.
Two things people get wrong
"White bread is fattening." An 85-calorie slice is not fattening on its own; a day's total is. Bread earns the reputation on volume and company: four slices go down unnoticed, and it almost never arrives dry.
"Toast has fewer calories than bread." It has the same. Toasting drives off water, so 100 g of toast is simply more bread and reads higher per 100 g. Per slice, nothing moves.
Most popular white bread 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) |
|---|---|
| Hovis Soft White Medium | 233 kcal |
| Kingsmill Thick Soft White | 238 kcal |
| Warburtons Danish Lighter White | 239 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories are in a slice of white bread?
A medium 36 g slice of white bread is 85 kcal, from 236 kcal per 100 g. A thick 44 g slice is 104 kcal. The slice also brings 3.1 g of protein and 17.5 g of carbohydrate, so most of that energy is carbohydrate.
How many calories are in 2 slices of bread?
Two medium slices of white bread are 170 kcal. Thick-sliced, the same two come to 208 kcal. Add 10 g of butter across them and you are at 244 kcal, before any filling goes in, and that butter is 74 of the calories on its own.
How many calories are in a slice of toast?
A slice of white toast is 85 kcal, the same as the slice before it went in the toaster. Toasting removes water, not energy. Per 100 g toast looks higher than bread for that reason, but the slice on your plate has not changed.
How many calories are in bread and butter?
One slice of white bread with 10 g of butter is 159 kcal: 85 for the bread, 74 for the butter. Butter runs 744 kcal per 100 g, so it is nearly half the total. Two buttered slices come to 318 kcal.
Is white bread fattening?
A slice is 85 kcal, which is roughly 4% of a 2,000-calorie day, so bread only adds weight the way any food does, by pushing your total past what you use. The toppings move the number far more: butter alone nearly doubles a slice.
How many calories are in a thick slice of bread?
A thick 44 g slice of white bread is 104 kcal, against 85 for a medium 36 g slice. That is 19 calories a slice, so a daily two-slice habit on thick-cut is about 38 calories more than the same habit on medium-cut.
White bread vs brown bread: which has fewer calories?
White bread is 236 kcal per 100 g, or 85 kcal a medium slice, with 2.9 g of fibre per 100 g. The brown figure is brown bread averages 207 kcal per 100 g with 5.0 g fibre, against 236 and 2.9 g for white; per slice that is a saving of about 10 kcal and nearly double the fibre. The number will be published here once it is verified against the same source.
How many calories are in a slice of bread?
For white, 85 kcal in a medium 36 g slice and 104 kcal in a thick 44 g one. Slice weight matters more than the brand, so check the pack: medium or thick-cut shifts the total more than swapping one white loaf for another.
Similar foods
- Burger bun — 152 kcal each
- Bread — 78 kcal per wholemeal slice
- Baguette — 658 kcal whole
- Bagel — 230 kcal each
- Crumpet — 95 kcal each
- Tortilla wrap — 196 kcal per large wrap
Count it without the maths
BodyPal logs the slice and the butter from one photo, so the part that moves the number does not go missing.
