Boiled cabbage calories come to 17 for a half cup (75 g) and 23 per 100 g. Carbs supply 80 percent of those calories, but the totals are so small that portion size barely moves the needle: even a whole 1,262 g head lands at 290 calories. Skip the salt and sodium stays at 8 mg per 100 g.
17kcal
1 half cup shredded · 75 g, boiled, drained, without salt
18%protein
1 gProtein
4 gCarbs
0 gFat
How to burn off 17 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
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Nutrition facts
Boiled, drained, without salt · per 75 g
Calories
17 kcal
Protein
1 g
Carbohydrate
4.1 g
Fat
0 g
Saturated fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
6 mg
Potassium
147 mg
Iron
0.1 mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
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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 →
Boiled cabbage: calories, protein and sodium by serving
Percent of daily value uses the FDA reference of 2,000 kcal a day.
Serving
kcal
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Sodium
% DV kcal
Half cup (75 g)
17
1 g
4.1 g
0 g
6 mg
1%
100 g
23
1.3 g
5.5 g
0.1 g
8 mg
1%
Red variety (75 g)
22
1.1 g
5.2 g
0.1 g
21 mg
1%
Whole head (1262 g)
290
16 g
69.5 g
0.8 g
101 mg
15%
3 × Half cup (75 g)
52
2.9 g
18 mg
5 × Half cup (75 g)
86
4.8 g
30 mg
Five half cups add up to just 86 calories
A half cup of boiled, drained cabbage weighs 75 g and carries 17 calories. Double it to 150 g and you reach 35. Three half cups, or 225 g, come to 52 calories. Go all the way to five half cups, a heaping 375 g side that fills a dinner plate, and the total is still only 86.
That is the rare vegetable where piling on more costs almost nothing. The numbers climb so slowly that weighing every spoonful makes little sense; a rough eyeball estimate is close enough for most logging. What matters far more is whatever goes into the pot or onto the plate alongside it.
The extreme case makes the point. A whole head, 1,262 g once boiled, totals 290 calories, which is 15 percent of the daily calorie value. Few people eat a whole head in one sitting, but if you cook a big batch for the week, that is the full bill for the entire pot before any butter, oil or meat goes in.
Carbs make up 80 percent of the calories
Per 100 g, boiled cabbage has 5.5 g of carbs, 1.3 g of protein and 0.1 g of fat. Translated into calories, carbs account for 80 percent, protein for 18 percent and fat for just 2 percent. This is a carb food, but a very light one.
Look inside that carb figure and it splits neatly. Of the 5.5 g, 2.8 g are sugars and 1.9 g are fiber, so a good share of the carbohydrate is the kind that adds bulk rather than quick energy. A half cup holds 4.1 g of carbs, 2.1 g of sugars and 1.4 g of fiber.
Protein is where cabbage comes up short. A half cup gives about 1 g, only 2 percent of the daily value, and even the whole head reaches 16 g. Treat boiled cabbage as volume and fiber on the plate, not as a protein source, and build the rest of the meal accordingly.
Sodium is near zero until you salt the water
The USDA row behind this page is cabbage boiled, drained, without salt. In that form sodium is 8 mg per 100 g and 6 mg per half cup, which rounds to 0 percent of the daily value. Even five half cups only reach 30 mg, and the whole head sits at 101 mg, 4 percent of the daily value.
Those figures change the moment salt hits the cooking water or the finished dish. Cabbage itself is not the issue; the seasoning is. If you watch sodium, salt at the table where you can see how much goes on, rather than into a large pot where the amount disappears.
The rest of the label is quiet in a good way. Saturated fat is 0 g and cholesterol is 0 mg per 100 g. Potassium comes in at 196 mg per 100 g, a modest but real contribution for a food this light.
Red cabbage runs a little higher, and pairings matter more
Boiled red cabbage tracks green closely but not exactly. A 75 g portion of the red variety has 22 calories against 17 for green, with 2 g of fiber instead of 1.4 g and 21 mg of sodium instead of 6 mg. The gap is small enough that you should pick the color you prefer to eat.
Because cabbage itself is so lean, the dish is defined by what joins it. Butter, bacon, sausage or a creamy sauce can outweigh the cabbage several times over, while a squeeze of vinegar, mustard or black pepper adds flavor at almost no cost. Log the extras separately; they are where the real calories hide.
On a plate, boiled cabbage works best next to a solid protein such as chicken, fish, beans or lean pork, which covers the protein it lacks. If you would rather not weigh anything, BodyPal can log the meal from a photo.
How does boiled cabbage compare?
Here is how boiled cabbage stacks up against steamed, cooked and raw green cabbage, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: Boiled, steamed and cooked cabbage are identical at 23 calories per 100 g and 17 per half cup, so choose the method you enjoy most. Raw green cabbage lists 31 per 100 g and 28 per cup, about 1.3 times the boiled figure, so for the leanest bowl gram for gram, cook it.
Boiled cabbage FAQs
How many calories are in boiled cabbage?
Half a cup of shredded boiled cabbage is 17 calories and 100 g is 23 calories. A whole boiled head, 1262 g, comes to 290 calories.
Is boiled cabbage good for weight loss?
It carries 23 calories per 100 g with 1.9 g of fiber and 0.06 g of fat, so even a large 300 g plateful is about 69 calories.
Boiled green cabbage or red cabbage: which is lower in calories?
Green cabbage is 23 calories per 100 g and red cabbage is 29. Red cabbage has more fiber, 2.6 g against 1.9 g.
How much protein and carbs does boiled cabbage have?
Per 100 g there is 1.27 g of protein and 5.51 g of carbohydrate, of which 2.79 g is sugar. Half a cup, 75 g, has 1.0 g of protein and 4.1 g of carbs.
How many calories are in a whole head of boiled cabbage?
A whole head of boiled cabbage, about 1,262 g, has 290 calories. That is 15 percent of the daily calorie value, along with 24 g of fiber and 16 g of protein.
How many calories are in a cup of boiled cabbage?
Two half cups of boiled cabbage, 150 g in total, come to 35 calories. That portion also carries about 1.9 g of protein and 12 mg of sodium when cooked without salt.
Is boiled cabbage high in sodium?
No. Boiled cabbage cooked without salt has 8 mg of sodium per 100 g and 6 mg per half cup, which is 0 percent of the daily value. Salt added to the water or the dish raises it.
How much fiber is in boiled cabbage?
Boiled cabbage has 1.9 g of fiber per 100 g and 1.4 g per half cup. The red variety is slightly higher, with 2 g in a 75 g portion.
How much sugar does boiled cabbage have?
Boiled cabbage has 2.8 g of sugars per 100 g and 2.1 g per half cup. These are the vegetable's own sugars, part of its 5.5 g of carbs per 100 g.
