How Many Calories Are in Cheese Popcorn?
A 1-cup handful of ready-to-eat cheese popcorn weighs about 14 g and carries 74 calories. Per 100 g the same snack runs 526 calories, which is dense for something that feels like air. The bag is where it gets expensive: a medium single-serving bag holds 57 g and 300 calories.
You'd need to walk about 15 minutes to burn the 74 calories in a 1-cup (14 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off cheese popcorn?
A 1-cup (14 g) serving is 74 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 74 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 15 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 9 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 11 min |
| Jogging | 9 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 16 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 (14 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Cheese popcorn quick facts
- US servings, from one cup to a large bag
- Microwave, butter and kettle corn
- Sodium is the row to watch
- How does cheese popcorn compare?
- Most popular cheese popcorn brands
- FAQ
Cheese popcorn quick facts
The numbers below come from the USDA record FNDDS 2708236, "Popcorn, ready-to-eat, cheese flavored". That is the bagged, already-popped, orange-dusted snack most people mean when they type this question - the kind you buy popped rather than pop yourself. The older USDA entry, SR Legacy 167960, describes the same product and carries identical values; it simply lists fewer household measures, so there is nothing to average and nothing to reconcile.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (14 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 526 | 74 | — |
| Total fat | 33.2 g | 4.6 g | 6% |
| Saturated fat | 6.41 g | 0.9 g | 4% |
| Carbohydrate | 51.6 g | 7.2 g | 3% |
| Dietary fiber | 9.9 g | 1.4 g | 5% |
| Total sugars | 0.79 g | 0.1 g | — |
| Protein | 9.3 g | 1.3 g | 3% |
| Sodium | 889 mg | 124 mg | 5% |
% 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 printed label are missing here on purpose. The FNDDS edition does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this record, so rather than guess, we left both out. Cholesterol and potassium are published: 11 mg and 261 mg per 100 g, which works out to 2 mg and 37 mg in a cup - rounding errors on anybody's day.
The sugar row is worth a second look. At 0.79 g per 100 g, cheese popcorn is essentially a savory food. Whatever makes it moreish, it is not sweetness.
US servings, from one cup to a large bag
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 14 g | 74 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.35 g | 149 kcal |
| Small single-serving bag | 28 g | 147 kcal |
| Medium single-serving bag | 57 g | 300 kcal |
| Large single-serving bag | 85 g | 447 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 526 kcal |
Cups and bags are the two measures USDA lists for this food, and they lead to very different afternoons. The one-ounce line is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a USDA serving: 28.35 g at 526 calories per 100 g gives 149. It sits a hair above the 28 g small bag because an ounce is a hair heavier than the bag USDA counts.
Here is the trap. A cup of cheese popcorn is 74 calories, and that number gets quoted everywhere because it sounds harmless. But nobody eats one cup out of a bag. The medium single-serving bag holds 57 g - four cups' worth - and 300 calories, which is a light lunch. Empty the large 85 g bag in front of a movie and you have had 447 calories, more than a fast-food cheeseburger, without ever sitting down to a meal.
If you want a portion that behaves, weigh it. Two ounces on a kitchen scale is 57 g and 300 calories; one ounce is 149. Volume is unreliable with popcorn because the pieces settle, and a "cup" that has been pressed down can hold half again as much as one poured loosely.
Microwave, butter and kettle corn
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-eat cheese flavored (this page) | 526 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 149 kcal |
| Microwave cheese flavored | 516 kcal | 1 regular bag (85 g) | 439 kcal |
| Butter flavored, ready-to-eat | 530 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 150 kcal |
| Kettle corn | 531 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 151 kcal |
| Plain microwave | 518 kcal | 1 regular bag (85 g) | 440 kcal |
| Popped in oil with butter | 525 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 149 kcal |
| Ready-to-eat, unspecified flavor | 530 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 150 kcal |
Every popped, seasoned popcorn on that list lands between 516 and 531 calories per 100 g. That is a spread of 15 calories across the whole category, so choosing butter over cheese, or kettle over plain, changes almost nothing at the calorie level. The bag size does the work.
Microwave cheese popcorn is the interesting one. Its 516 calories per 100 g reads slightly lower than the 526 of the ready-to-eat version, so it looks like the leaner choice. It is not: the fat in the microwave bag is far more saturated, at 14.25 g per 100 g against 6.41 g. Pop a regular 85 g bag and you get 439 calories along with 12.1 g of saturated fat - 61% of the FDA Daily Value of 20 g, from one snack. The ready-to-eat bag of the same weight carries 5.4 g, about 27%.
Branded bags run a little richer than the generic USDA record, because seasoning oil and cheese powder vary by maker. Smartfood White Cheddar lists 160 calories for about 1 3/4 cups (28 g), Herr's 150 for roughly 2 cups, and Cabot's Seriously Sharp Cheddar 180 for a 2-cup, 30 g serving - the heaviest of the popular ones at 600 calories per 100 g. Vic's Corn Popper Lite Cheddar is the outlier in the other direction at 500 per 100 g, or 140 per 28 g.
Sodium is the row to watch
Cheese powder is salt-forward, and this is where cheese popcorn separates itself from plain popcorn. At 889 mg of sodium per 100 g, an ounce delivers 252 mg - 11% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value the FDA uses on the Nutrition Facts label - and that ounce figure is our own scaling of the USDA 100 g number, not a USDA serving. Finish the large 85 g bag and you are at 756 mg, roughly a third of the day, or about a third of a teaspoon of table salt in a snack you did not think of as salty.
The counterweight is fiber, and it is genuinely good. Popcorn is a whole grain, one of the few snack foods that MyPlate counts toward the grains group with the bran intact. At 9.9 g per 100 g, an ounce carries 2.8 g of fiber - 10% of the 28 g Daily Value - and the medium bag 5.6 g, or 20%. Very few salty snacks pay that well.
Protein is modest but real: 9.3 g per 100 g, so 5.3 g in the medium bag and 7.9 g in the large one. Enough to blunt the edge off an afternoon, not enough to build a meal around. If you are watching sodium, a smaller portion of cheese popcorn plus something unsalted is the better trade than swapping to another flavored bag - the salt travels with the seasoning, not with the corn.
How does cheese popcorn compare?
| Popcorn | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese flavored, ready-to-eat | 526 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 149 kcal |
| Butter flavored, ready-to-eat | 530 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 150 kcal |
| Kettle corn | 531 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 151 kcal |
| Plain microwave | 518 kcal | 1 oz (28 g) | 147 kcal |
Our take: on calories these four are the same food. Four calories separate the lightest ounce from the heaviest, and only plain microwave popcorn comes in under cheese per 100 g. Where cheese popcorn actually wins is protein - 9.3 g per 100 g, the highest of the four, ahead of plain microwave at 9.13 g, butter at 8.88 g and kettle corn at 5.48 g - and it has the fewest carbohydrates, 51.6 g against kettle corn's 61.01 g. It also has the most fat, 33.2 g, and it is the saltiest of the group. For hunger between meals, cheese popcorn is the pick. For a big bowl in front of a movie, plain popcorn lets you eat more of it for the same money.
Most popular cheese popcorn 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) |
|---|---|
| Smartfood White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn | 571 cal |
| Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese Popcorn | 600 cal |
| Sterzing's Cheese Popcorn | 571 cal |
| O-Ke-Doke Hot Cheese Popcorn | 571 cal |
| Vic's Corn Popper Lite Cheddar Cheese Popcorn | 500 cal |
| Herr's Cheese Popcorn | 536 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cheese popcorn FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of cheese popcorn?
74 calories in one cup, which USDA puts at 14 g, at 526 calories per 100 g. That cup also carries 1.3 g of protein, 1.4 g of fiber and 124 mg of sodium. Loosely poured cups vary, so weigh the popcorn when the count matters.
How many calories are in a bag of cheese popcorn?
300 calories in a medium single-serving bag of 57 g. A small 28 g bag is 147 calories and a large 85 g bag is 447. The bag on the shelf is usually the medium, so a casual snack costs about as much as a light lunch.
How much sodium is in cheese popcorn?
889 mg of sodium per 100 g, so 124 mg in a cup and 252 mg in an ounce, which is 11% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg. The large 85 g bag reaches 756 mg, about a third of a day and roughly a third of a teaspoon of table salt.
Does cheese popcorn have protein?
9.3 g of protein per 100 g, which is 1.3 g in a cup, 5.3 g in a medium 57 g bag and 7.9 g in a large 85 g bag. That is the highest protein figure among the common popcorn styles USDA lists, though it is still a snack rather than a protein source.
Is cheese popcorn healthier than butter popcorn?
526 calories per 100 g for cheese against 530 for butter flavored, so on calories they are the same snack. Cheese popcorn carries more protein, 9.3 g against 8.88 g, and fewer carbohydrates. It is saltier, at 889 mg of sodium per 100 g, so sodium is the deciding row.
How many calories in Smartfood white cheddar popcorn?
160 calories in the labeled serving of about 1 3/4 cups, or 28 g, which is 571 calories per 100 g. That runs slightly above the generic USDA cheese popcorn record at 526 per 100 g. Cabot's cheddar version is heavier still at 180 calories for a 30 g serving.
How much fiber is in cheese popcorn?
9.9 g of fiber per 100 g, so 1.4 g in a cup, 2.8 g in an ounce and 5.6 g in a medium 57 g bag. The ounce covers 10% of the 28 g Daily Value and the medium bag 20%, which is unusually good for a salty snack, because popcorn is a whole grain.
Is cheese popcorn good for weight loss?
74 calories a cup makes it workable if you portion it, and the 9.9 g of fiber per 100 g helps it feel like more than it weighs. The problem is the bag: 300 calories in a medium one, 447 in a large. Measure an ounce or two and put the bag away.
Similar foods
- Kettle corn — 74 cal per cup
- Popcorn — 73 cal per cup popped
- Sesame sticks — 151 cal per oz
- Peanuts — 164 cal per ounce
- Peanut Butter — 191 cal for 2 tbsp
- Churro — 189 cal each
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the popcorn for you, bag size and all.
