How many calories are in broccoli?
One cup of chopped cooked broccoli weighs 156 g and carries 55 calories. Boiled broccoli runs 35 calories per 100 g, raw 34, so even a heaped bowl of florets stays under a hundred. The vegetable itself is never what moves a day's total. What you cook it in is.
You'd need to walk about 11 minutes to burn the 55 calories in one cup chopped (156 g).
How long does it take to burn off broccoli?
One cup chopped (156 g) is 55 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 55 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 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (156 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Broccoli quick facts
- US servings from one spear to a whole stalk
- Raw frozen and buttered broccoli
- Fiber is the row that earns its place
- How does broccoli compare
- Most popular broccoli brands
- Broccoli FAQs
Broccoli quick facts
The numbers below come from SR Legacy record 169967, "Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt". That is the record that matches how most people actually eat it and how most people log it: florets boiled or steamed at home, drained, nothing added to the water. USDA also keeps a salted-water version of the identical vegetable, and it is identical in every row except sodium, so it lives further down this page as a variant rather than as the headline.
The serving column is one cup of chopped cooked broccoli. USDA's own household measure for this record is half a cup at 78 g; the full cup at 156 g is our own arithmetic from that figure, doubled.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup chopped (156 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 35 | 55 | — |
| Total fat | 0.41 g | 0.6 g | 1% |
| Saturated fat | 0.08 g | 0.1 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 7.18 g | 11.2 g | 4% |
| Dietary fiber | 3.3 g | 5.1 g | 18% |
| Total sugars | 1.39 g | 2.2 g | — |
| Protein | 2.38 g | 3.7 g | 7% |
| Sodium | 41 mg | 64 mg | 3% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would see on a package label are missing here. Added sugars and trans fat are not published in the SR Legacy edition of this record, and plain broccoli has no added sugar to report, so leaving the rows out beats printing a zero we cannot source. Cholesterol is 0 mg, as it is in every vegetable. Potassium is worth its own line: 293 mg per 100 g, 457 mg in the cup, which is 10% of the FDA Daily Value of 4,700 mg.
US servings from one spear to a whole stalk
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 spear, about 5 inches | 37 g | 13 kcal |
| ½ cup chopped | 78 g | 27 kcal |
| 1 cup chopped | 156 g | 55 kcal |
| 1 stalk, medium, 7½ to 8 inches | 180 g | 63 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 10 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 35 kcal |
The half cup at 78 g is the USDA household measure, and the medium stalk at 180 g and the 5-inch spear at 37 g are USDA measures too. The full cup, the ounce and the 100 g line are scaled from the same 35-calories-per-100-g figure by us, not USDA servings in their own right.
The practical trap in this table is the word "cup." A cup of raw florets and a cup of cooked florets are not the same amount of broccoli. Cooking collapses the head, so 156 g fits into the cup you steamed, while a cup of the same broccoli chopped raw holds only 91 g. Log the cup you served, and note whether it was measured before or after the pan.
Raw frozen and buttered broccoli
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw, chopped | 34 kcal | 1 cup chopped, 91 g | 31 kcal |
| Boiled, no salt in the water | 35 kcal | 1 cup chopped, 156 g | 55 kcal |
| Boiled in salted water | 35 kcal | 1 cup chopped, 156 g | 55 kcal |
| Frozen, chopped, boiled, no salt | 28 kcal | 1 cup chopped, 156 g | 44 kcal |
| Cooked with butter or margarine | 60 kcal | 1 cup, 156 g | 94 kcal |
| Cooked with oil | 67 kcal | 1 cup, 156 g | 105 kcal |
| Broccoli raab (rapini), cooked | 25 kcal | 1 serving, 85 g | 21 kcal |
Frozen broccoli is the quiet surprise: 28 calories per 100 g against 35 for fresh-cooked, because the frozen product carries more water after boiling. A cup comes out at 44 calories, eleven fewer than the fresh version, and it holds slightly more protein per 100 g at 3.1 g. Nobody needs to switch for eleven calories, but if the freezer bag is what gets broccoli onto the plate on a Tuesday, it costs nothing to use it.
Fat is the only thing that genuinely changes this vegetable. Butter or margarine takes the cup from 55 to 94 calories, oil to 105 — roughly double, from a tablespoon you barely see once it has melted into the florets. Store-brand frozen cuts sit in the same narrow band as everything else: Birds Eye Broccoli Cuts are 31 calories per 100 g and label a cup at 97 g for 30 calories, while Green Giant Broccoli Cuts are 24 per 100 g, 20 for their 84 g cup. The differences between brands are smaller than the difference between a dry pan and a buttered one.
Broccoli raab, sold as rapini, is a different plant despite the shelf-neighbor name. Cooked, it is 25 calories per 100 g and 21 for an 85 g serving, with 3.83 g of protein per 100 g — more protein and fewer calories than broccoli, and a lot more bitterness.
One more thing worth knowing if you compare apps and labels: USDA does not have a single number for raw broccoli. SR Legacy says 34 calories per 100 g, the newer Foundation analysis says 32, and the FNDDS survey record used for national dietary studies says 39. Same vegetable, three databases, different energy factors. That seven-calorie spread is why two trackers can show two answers for the identical floret and both be citing USDA.
Fiber is the row that earns its place
At 55 calories, a cup of cooked broccoli delivers 5.1 g of fiber — 18% of the 28 g Daily Value, for under 3% of a 2,000-calorie day. Very few foods return that ratio. Fiber is one of the nutrients the Dietary Guidelines for Americans flag as underconsumed, and broccoli is one of the cheapest ways to move the number.
The carbohydrate row reads 11.2 g per cup, which looks high next to 55 calories until you subtract the fiber: 6.1 g of the carbohydrate is fiber-free by our own subtraction, and only 2.2 g is sugar, all of it naturally occurring. There is no added sugar in the record at all.
Sodium is where the recipe shows up. Boiled without salt, a cup is 64 mg, or 3% of the Daily Value. Boil the same broccoli in salted water and the record jumps to 409 mg for the cup, 18% — about a sixth of a teaspoon of table salt absorbed by the florets. If you are watching sodium, salting the water is a bigger lever than anything else on this page. MyPlate counts broccoli in the dark-green vegetable subgroup either way.
How does broccoli compare
| Food | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broccoli, cooked | 35 kcal | 1 cup chopped, 156 g | 55 kcal |
| Shiitake mushrooms, raw | 34 kcal | 4 oz, 113 g | 38 kcal |
| Winter squash, raw | 34 kcal | 4 oz, 113 g | 38 kcal |
| Pumpkin, canned, with salt | 34 kcal | 4 oz, 113 g | 38 kcal |
Our take: per 100 g these four are effectively the same food, with broccoli the heaviest by exactly one calorie. The serving column is where they separate. Broccoli's cup is 156 g of bulk, so it lands at 55 calories while the 4-ounce portions land at 38 — you are eating more, not richer. For appetite, that is the point: broccoli's 2.38 g of protein and 3.3 g of fiber per 100 g beat squash's 0.95 g of protein and canned pumpkin's 1.1 g. If the goal is a plate that feels full at a low count, broccoli wins on volume and fiber. If the goal is the lowest number on the plate, all four are so close that the sauce decides it.
Most popular broccoli brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Birds Eye Broccoli Cuts | 31 cal |
| Pictsweet Farms Broccoli Cuts | 34 cal |
| Freedom's Choice Fresh Frozen Broccoli Florets | 29 cal |
| Pickwell Farms Broccoli Cuts | 29 cal |
| Kroger Broccoli Cuts | 34 cal |
| Green Giant Broccoli Cuts | 24 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Broccoli FAQs
How many calories are in 1 cup of broccoli?
One cup of chopped cooked broccoli, 156 g, is 55 calories. That is boiled or steamed with nothing added, at 35 calories per 100 g. A cup of raw chopped broccoli weighs only 91 g because the florets have not collapsed yet, so it comes to 31 calories.
How many calories are in raw broccoli?
Raw broccoli is 34 calories per 100 g, so a cup of chopped raw florets at 91 g is 31 calories and an ounce is 10. Raw also carries slightly more protein per 100 g, 2.82 g against 2.38 g once it has been boiled and drained.
Does cooking broccoli change the calories?
Barely — raw is 34 calories per 100 g and boiled without salt is 35, a difference you can ignore. What changes is the serving: a cooked cup holds 156 g and 55 calories, a raw cup 91 g and 31. Butter or oil is what really moves it.
How much protein is in broccoli?
A cup of cooked broccoli has 3.7 g of protein, which is 7% of the Daily Value, at 2.38 g per 100 g. Raw broccoli is a little higher per 100 g at 2.82 g, but the raw cup weighs less, so it delivers only about 2.6 g.
How many carbs are in broccoli?
Cooked broccoli has 7.18 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a 156 g cup holds 11.2 g, 4% of the Daily Value. Of that, 5.1 g is fiber and 2.2 g is naturally occurring sugar, leaving about 6.1 g by our own subtraction. No added sugars are in the record.
How much fiber is in a cup of broccoli?
A 156 g cup of cooked broccoli has 5.1 g of fiber, 18% of the 28 g Daily Value, for 55 calories. Per 100 g the figure is 3.3 g. Boiled broccoli is one of the strongest fiber-per-calorie returns in the produce aisle, which is why it fills a plate so cheaply.
Is frozen broccoli lower in calories than fresh?
Slightly — frozen chopped broccoli, boiled and drained, is 28 calories per 100 g against 35 for fresh-cooked, so a 156 g cup is 44 calories instead of 55. The frozen product holds more water after cooking. It also has a touch more protein per 100 g, 3.1 g.
How many calories in broccoli with butter?
Broccoli cooked with butter or margarine is 60 calories per 100 g, so a 156 g cup is 94 calories, 39 more than the 55 of plain boiled. Cooked with oil it is 67 per 100 g and 105 for the cup. The fat you add outweighs every other choice here.
Similar foods
- Onion — 46 cal per cup sliced
- Bamboo Shoots — 41 cal per cup sliced
- Carrot — 53 cal per cup chopped
- Bell Pepper — 31 cal per medium
- Bell Pepper — 24 cal green, 31 red
- Cabbage — 22 cal per cup chopped
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the broccoli for you, butter and all.
