How many calories are in cheese dip?
A 2-tablespoon scoop of warm cheese dip is 49 calories, and the tub itself runs 163 calories per 100 g. That is a mild number for something this rich. The catch sits one row lower on the label: those same two spoonfuls carry 197 mg of sodium, 9% of a day's worth, and almost nobody stops at two spoonfuls.
You'd need to walk about 10 minutes to burn the 49 calories in a 2-tablespoon (30 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off cheese dip?
A 2-tablespoon (30 g) serving is 49 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 49 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 10 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 6 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 7 min |
| Jogging | 6 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 11 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 (30 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Cheese dip quick facts
- US servings from one tablespoon to a full container
- Queso and other cheese dip versions
- Sodium is the row to watch
- How does cheese dip compare?
- Most popular cheese dip brands
- FAQ
Cheese dip quick facts
The numbers below come from the USDA record FNDDS 2705786, "Cheese dip", in the dips, gravies and other sauces group. That is the plain warm cheese dip you scoop with a tortilla chip: thick, yellow, no chili and no salsa stirred through it. USDA carries two other close records, both built on peppers or salsa, and both land lower in fat and higher in carbohydrate and sodium. Those are versions of the dish, not better sources for the same dish, so they get their own section rather than an average.
The serving used through this page is 2 tablespoons, 30 g. USDA's own household measure is a single tablespoon at 15 g; the 30 g scoop is our own doubling of that figure, not a USDA serving, but it matches how the jars are labeled and how people actually eat it.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 2 tbsp (30 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 163 | 49 | — |
| Total fat | 13.27 g | 4.0 g | 5% |
| Saturated fat | 3.08 g | 0.9 g | 5% |
| Carbohydrate | 7.86 g | 2.4 g | 1% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.3 g | 0.1 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0.29 g | 0.1 g | — |
| Protein | 3.14 g | 0.9 g | 2% |
| Sodium | 656 mg | 197 mg | 9% |
% 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 →
There is no added sugars row and no trans fat row here, because this release of the FNDDS database does not publish either value for this record. Cholesterol is 9 mg per 100 g, so 3 mg in a scoop, and potassium is 27 mg per 100 g, or 8 mg in a scoop — both under 1% of their Daily Values. The Daily Value percentages use the FDA reference amounts published with the Nutrition Facts label.
US servings from one tablespoon to a full container
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tablespoon | 15 g | 24 kcal |
| 2 tbsp, one scoop | 30 g | 49 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 46 kcal |
| Typical scoop, quantity not specified | 60 g | 98 kcal |
| 1 individual container | 70 g | 114 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 163 kcal |
Three of those weights come straight from USDA: the 15 g tablespoon, the 70 g single-serve container, and the 60 g portion USDA uses when a quantity is not specified — which is a fair stand-in for one honest scoop at a party. The 30 g and 28 g lines are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure.
The gap between the tablespoon and the container is where the counting goes wrong. Nobody logs one tablespoon. A single plastic tub of dip next to a bag of tortilla chips is 114 calories before a single chip is counted, and a 60 g scoop is 98. The dip is rarely the whole story either, since a standard ounce of tortilla chips sits alongside it.
Queso and other cheese dip versions
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese dip, plain | 163 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 49 kcal |
| Cheese dip with chili pepper | 143 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 43 kcal |
| Salsa con queso, medium | 143 kcal | 1/2 cup (125 g) | 179 kcal |
| Cheese sauce | 163 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 49 kcal |
| Welsh rarebit | 165 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 50 kcal |
| Onion dip, yogurt based | 160 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 48 kcal |
The chili pepper version is the interesting one. It is 143 calories per 100 g against 163 for the plain dip, so peppers cut about 20 calories out of every 100 g by taking up space the cheese would have filled. Sodium goes the other way: 796 mg per 100 g against 656 mg, a jump of 140 mg. Lighter, then, but saltier — worth knowing before you treat the spicy tub as the diet option.
Salsa con queso reads the same way, at 143 calories and 796 mg of sodium per 100 g. It is listed here at a half cup, 125 g, because that is the restaurant-style pour rather than a chip-side scoop, and a half cup is 179 calories and 995 mg of sodium. Both of those are our scaling from the USDA 100 g figures.
Cheese sauce is nutritionally identical to cheese dip in the USDA files — same 163 calories, same 13.27 g of fat per 100 g. Welsh rarebit is a touch richer at 165 and noticeably higher in protein at 7.5 g per 100 g, thanks to the extra cheese. Yogurt-based onion dip sits just below the plain dip at 160.
Store jars scatter far wider than any of this. Kraft Original and Cheez Whiz both sit at 242 calories per 100 g, while Fritos Jalapeno Cheddar is 125 and Great Value Queso Blanco 129 — close to double from one shelf to another. Tostitos Medium Nacho lands at 145, Old Dutch Restaurante Style at 141. Which jar you grab moves the number more than how much you scoop.
Sodium is the row to watch
Cheese dip is not a calorie problem. At 49 calories a scoop it is one of the cheaper things on a snack table. Salt is a different question. Two tablespoons deliver 197 mg of sodium, 9% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, while the fat in that same scoop is only 5%.
Scale it to a half cup for melting over nachos — 125 g, our arithmetic from the 100 g figure — and the sodium reaches 820 mg. That is 36% of the day, against 21% for total fat and 19% for saturated fat at the same weight. The salt outruns the fat by a wide margin. In table-salt terms, 820 mg of sodium is roughly a third of a teaspoon of salt dissolved into the bowl.
The CDC puts average US intake well above the 2,300 mg mark already, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans use the same limit. If you are watching sodium, the plain dip is the better pick over the chili or salsa versions, and the single-serve 70 g container — 459 mg, 20% of the day — is a cleaner stopping point than an open bowl.
How does cheese dip compare?
| Dip | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese dip | 163 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 49 kcal |
| Cheese sauce | 163 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 49 kcal |
| Spinach dip, light | 165 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 50 kcal |
| Onion dip, light | 166 kcal | 2 tbsp (30 g) | 50 kcal |
Our take: swapping dips is not a calorie strategy. These four sit inside a three-calorie band per 100 g, and one calorie apart per scoop, so the light spinach dip you picked to be good is the same trade as the cheese. What actually moves the total is the size of the scoop and the chips underneath it. Choose on sodium and on how much you plan to eat, not on the word "light" printed on the tub.
Most popular cheese dip 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) |
|---|---|
| Kraft Original Cheese Dip | 242 cal |
| Cheez Whiz Original Cheese Dip | 242 cal |
| Tostitos Medium Nacho Cheese Dip | 145 cal |
| Fritos Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Dip | 125 cal |
| Old Dutch Restaurante Style Cheese Dip | 141 cal |
| Great Value Queso Blanco Cheese Dip | 129 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cheese dip FAQs
How many calories are in cheese dip?
Cheese dip is 163 calories per 100 g, so a 2-tablespoon scoop (30 g) comes to 49 calories. That is the USDA figure for a plain warm cheese dip, not a chili or salsa version. Jarred queso from the store ranges from 125 to 242 calories per 100 g.
How many calories are in 2 tablespoons of cheese dip?
Two tablespoons weigh 30 g and hold 49 calories, with 4.0 g of fat, 2.4 g of carbohydrate and 0.9 g of protein. USDA lists one tablespoon at 15 g and 24 calories, so the two-spoon figure is our own doubling of that portion rather than a USDA serving.
How many calories are in a half cup of queso?
A half cup of salsa con queso weighs about 125 g and works out to 179 calories, scaled by us from the USDA figure of 143 per 100 g. The same half cup of plain cheese dip is 204 calories. Sodium is the bigger number: 995 mg for the queso.
Is cheese dip high in sodium?
By volume, yes: two tablespoons hold 197 mg, which is 9% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, but a half cup for melting reaches 820 mg, or 36%. Total fat only reaches 21% of its Daily Value at that same half cup, so the salt outruns the fat here.
Is queso dip keto friendly?
Carbohydrate is 7.86 g per 100 g, which is 2.4 g in a 2-tablespoon scoop and 9.8 g in a half cup. The salsa version runs higher at 11.14 g per 100 g. Fiber is negligible at 0.3 g, so those figures sit close to net carbs on any low-carb plan.
Cheese dip vs cheese sauce: which has more calories?
Neither: in the USDA files both are 163 calories per 100 g and 49 calories per 2 tablespoons, with the same 13.27 g of fat. The difference is how they are used, not what is in them: sauce goes over the food, dip goes under a tortilla chip.
How many calories are in Tostitos queso dip?
Tostitos Medium Nacho Cheese Dip is 145 calories per 100 g and 45 calories for the 2-tablespoon (31 g) label serving. That sits below Kraft Original and Cheez Whiz at 242 per 100 g, and above Fritos Jalapeno Cheddar at 125. Label servings run 31 to 33 g.
Does cheese dip have sugar?
Barely: total sugars are 0.29 g per 100 g, which is 0.1 g in a 2-tablespoon scoop, a rounding error next to the 656 mg of sodium in the same 100 g. Added sugars are not published for this FNDDS record, so no added-sugar row appears in the table above.
Similar foods
- Penne pasta — 169 cal per cup
- Pasta — 168 cal per cup penne
- Baba ganoush — 110 cal for 1/4 cup
- Prosciutto — 55 cal for 3 thin slices
- Rice — 205 cal per cup, cooked
- Quinoa — 222 cal per cup cooked
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the dip and the chips beside it for you.
