How many calories are in chicken bone broth?
A 1-cup serving of chicken bone broth is 39 calories, or 16 calories per 100 g. Half a cup is 20, a 12-ounce mug 59. Almost nothing in the cup is carbohydrate — 0.9 g — and the 4.9 g of protein is real but modest. The row worth reading is sodium: 747 mg, just under a third of the daily limit.
You'd need to walk about 8 minutes to burn the 39 calories in a 1-cup (244 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off 39 kcal of chicken bone broth?
A 1-cup (244 g) serving is 39 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 39 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 8 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 5 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 6 min |
| Jogging | 5 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 9 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 (244 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chicken bone broth quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a whole can
- Cartons, cubes and condensed cans
- Sodium is the number that matters
- How does chicken bone broth compare?
- Most popular chicken bone broth brands
- Chicken bone broth FAQs
Chicken bone broth quick facts
USDA has no separate record called "bone broth." The closest honest match for what people actually pour into a mug is SR Legacy 174551, "Soup, chicken broth, canned, prepared with equal volume water" — broth at drinking strength rather than concentrate. At 16 calories per 100 g it sits right inside the 15 to 21 range printed on US bone broth cartons, so the arithmetic below holds whether your broth came from a can, a box or a stockpot.
The household serving USDA lists for that record is 1 cup, 244 g.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (244 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 16 | 39 | — |
| Total fat | 0.57 g | 1.4 g | 2% |
| Saturated fat | 0.16 g | 0.4 g | 2% |
| Carbohydrate | 0.38 g | 0.9 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0.29 g | 0.7 g | — |
| Protein | 2.02 g | 4.9 g | 10% |
| Sodium | 306 mg | 747 mg | 32% |
% 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 carton are missing here: added sugars and trans fat. The SR Legacy edition of this record does not publish either, so listing them would mean inventing numbers. Cholesterol is 0 mg in the cup, and potassium is 210 mg, about 4% of the Daily Value — thin for something people drink partly as an electrolyte replacement.
US servings, from one ounce to a whole can
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 5 kcal |
| 1/2 cup (4 fl oz) | 122 g | 20 kcal |
| 1 cup (8 fl oz) | 244 g | 39 kcal |
| 1 mug, 12 fl oz | 366 g | 59 kcal |
| 1 can (10.75 oz), prepared | 593 g | 95 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 16 kcal |
The 1-cup and full-can lines are USDA's own household measures. The half cup, the 12-ounce mug and the ounce are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings — useful, because almost nobody drinks broth out of a measuring cup.
One practical trap: a mug is not a cup. The standard American soup mug holds 12 fluid ounces, half again as much as the measuring cup on the label, so the sodium you drink is 1,121 mg rather than 747. Two mugs across a day of fasting put you near the whole 2,300 mg limit before you eat anything solid.
Cartons, cubes and condensed cans
Every version below is the same brown liquid with wildly different amounts of actual chicken in it.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store-bought bone broth carton (Swanson) | 15 kcal | 1 cup (240 g) | 36 kcal |
| Kettle & Fire classic bone broth | 18 kcal | 1 cup (245 g) | 44 kcal |
| Canned chicken broth, condensed | 31 kcal | 1/2 cup (126 g) | 39 kcal |
| Low-sodium canned chicken broth | 16 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 39 kcal |
| Reduced-sodium ready-to-serve broth | 7 kcal | 1 cup (240 g) | 17 kcal |
| Broth from a bouillon cube | 5 kcal | 1 cup (243 g) | 12 kcal |
The condensed can is the one that catches people. It is 31 calories per 100 g, double the prepared broth, because the water has not been added yet — half a cup of it delivers the same 39 calories as a full cup of the ready version. Read the can before you count it.
At the other end, a cup built from a bouillon cube is 12 calories. The cube itself is only 4.8 g of solids; everything else in the mug is tap water. That is why it tastes like chicken and behaves like nothing.
Among the six chicken bone broth cartons in USDA's branded data, the spread is narrow: Swanson at 15 calories per 100 g is the lightest, College Inn 19, Kettle & Fire 18, and Pacific Foods and Kitchen Basics tie at 21. Per cup that is 36 to 50 calories — a range small enough that brand choice is a flavor decision, not a calorie one.
Sodium is the number that matters
Calories are not the interesting column on this page. Sodium is. One cup is 747 mg, 32% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value the FDA uses on the Nutrition Facts label — roughly a third of a teaspoon of table salt dissolved in a cup you can drink in two minutes. CDC notes that most Americans already take in more sodium than that limit, and broth is an easy, invisible way to add several hundred milligrams more.
The fix is on the shelf next to it. Low-sodium canned chicken broth carries the same 16 calories per 100 g and the same body, at 30 mg of sodium per 100 g — about 73 mg in a cup by our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. That is a tenfold cut with no change to the calorie count. If you are drinking broth daily, that swap is worth more than any brand upgrade.
Protein is the other row people overestimate. USDA gives 4.9 g a cup, 10% of the Daily Value. Bone broth labels claim more — Kettle & Fire lists 10 g per cup, 20% DV — because long simmering pulls collagen out of the bones, and US bone broth labels generally run 3.3 to 4.1 g per 100 g against 2.02 g here. Even at the high end, a cup is well short of what MyPlate counts as a protein serving. Treat it as a warm, almost free drink with a protein bonus, not as a meal.
How does chicken bone broth compare?
| Broth | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken bone broth, prepared | 16 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 39 kcal |
| Canned chicken broth, condensed | 31 kcal | 1/2 cup (126 g) | 39 kcal |
| Broth from bouillon cubes | 5 kcal | 1 cup (243 g) | 12 kcal |
| Bouillon powder, prepared with water | 4 kcal | 1 cup (241 g) | 10 kcal |
Our take: if the goal is calories, all four are noise — the widest gap in the table is 29 calories, less than a slice of bread. Pick on protein and salt instead. The prepared broth is the only one of the four with meaningful protein at 2.02 g per 100 g, roughly five times the 0.39 g in cube broth and seven times the 0.28 g in powder broth, which is exactly why real bone broth costs more than a jar of cubes. For appetite control during a cut, a cup of the real thing at 39 calories is the better buy; for a hot drink you sip all afternoon, cube broth at 12 calories a cup wins on volume, as long as you watch the salt.
Most popular chicken bone broth 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) |
|---|---|
| College Inn Chicken Bone Broth | 19 cal |
| Swanson Chicken Bone Broth | 15 cal |
| Pacific Foods Organic Unsalted Chicken Bone Broth | 21 cal |
| Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Bone Broth with Sea Salt | 21 cal |
| Kettle & Fire Classic Chicken Bone Broth | 18 cal |
| Kitchen Basics Original Chicken Bone Broth | 21 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chicken bone broth FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of chicken bone broth?
A 1-cup (244 g) serving is 39 calories, based on USDA's chicken broth record at 16 calories per 100 g. Store-bought bone broth cartons land in the same place: 36 to 50 calories a cup, depending on the brand. Half a cup is about 20 calories.
Is chicken bone broth high in protein?
Not by USDA's number: 4.9 g in a cup, 10% of the Daily Value. Bone broth brands claim more — Kettle & Fire lists 10 g a cup, 20% DV — because long simmering pulls collagen from the bones. Either way, a cup is a snack, not a protein source.
How much sodium is in chicken bone broth?
747 mg in a 1-cup serving, 32% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, from a broth at 306 mg per 100 g. That is roughly a third of a teaspoon of table salt in one cup. Low-sodium canned broth drops to 30 mg per 100 g.
Is bone broth the same as chicken broth?
Nutritionally they are close: 16 calories per 100 g here against 15 to 21 for the six USDA-listed bone broth cartons. The gap is protein. Bone broth labels run 3.3 to 4.1 g per 100 g against 2.02 g for regular canned broth, because bones simmer longer.
Does chicken bone broth have any carbs?
0.38 g per 100 g, so 0.9 g in a cup — under 1% of the Daily Value. Sugars are 0.29 g per 100 g, 0.7 g a cup, and fiber is zero. Broth is essentially water, salt, a little fat and a little protein.
Can you drink chicken bone broth on keto?
At 0.9 g of carbohydrate a cup, it fits almost any carb budget, keto included. The 39 calories come mostly from 4.9 g of protein and 1.4 g of fat. The practical limit is sodium, not carbs: three cups in a day would be 2,241 mg.
How many calories in Swanson chicken bone broth?
15 calories per 100 g on the label, so 36 calories in the 1-cup (240 mL) serving printed on the 32-ounce carton. That makes it the lightest of the six bone broth cartons in USDA's branded database; Pacific Foods and Kitchen Basics are the heaviest at 21 per 100 g.
Is homemade bone broth lower in calories than store-bought?
There is no USDA record for homemade bone broth, so the 15 to 21 calories per 100 g on store-bought cartons is the only honest anchor. A cup of that is 36 to 50 calories. Homemade depends on how much fat you skim and how far you reduce it — a rich, gelled batch will read higher.
Similar foods
- Milk — 149 cal per cup
- Wild Rice — 166 cal per cup, cooked
- Quinoa — 222 cal per cup cooked
- Rice — 205 cal per cup, cooked
- Pasta — 168 cal per cup penne
- Penne pasta — 169 cal per cup
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the mug and BodyPal counts the broth for you, sodium included.
