How Many Calories Are in a Chicken Tamale?
One chicken tamale weighs 140 g and carries 244 calories. Per 100 g, masa and filling together run 174 calories, which is lighter than most people expect from a steamed corn dough parcel. The number that actually limits the plate is sodium: 662 mg in that single tamale, 29% of a day.
You'd need to walk about 49 minutes to burn the 244 calories in one tamale (140 g).
How long does it take to burn off 244 kcal of chicken tamale?
One tamale (140 g) is 244 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 244 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 49 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 30 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 35 min |
| Jogging | 29 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 54 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 (140 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chicken tamale quick facts
- Tamale servings from one ounce to two on a plate
- Beef and pork tamales in the same USDA row
- Store-bought tamales and the 85 to 170 gram problem
- Sodium is the row to watch
- How does a chicken tamale compare?
- Most popular chicken tamale brands
- Chicken tamale FAQs
Chicken tamale quick facts
The record behind every figure on this page is FNDDS 2708573, "Tamale, chicken", from the 2021-2023 survey release. It was chosen because it describes the thing a person is holding: a finished, steamed tamale with a chicken filling, already cooked, husk removed. It also carries a household measure of "1 item" at 140 g, so the per-piece column below is a listed portion rather than a guess. Neither Foundation Foods nor SR Legacy publishes a tamale record at all, so there is nothing to average against.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 tamale (140 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 174 | 244 | — |
| Total fat | 9.04 g | 12.7 g | 16% |
| Saturated fat | 2.69 g | 3.8 g | 19% |
| Carbohydrate | 15.8 g | 22.1 g | 8% |
| Dietary fiber | 2.4 g | 3.4 g | 12% |
| Total sugars | 0.46 g | 0.6 g | — |
| Protein | 7.38 g | 10.3 g | 21% |
| Sodium | 473 mg | 662 mg | 29% |
% 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. The FNDDS release does not publish either nutrient for mixed dishes, so rather than fill them with a plausible-looking zero, they stay off the table. Cholesterol and potassium do exist in the record: 28 mg and 213 mg per tamale, which work out to 9% and 5% of their Daily Values.
Total sugars deserve a note, because 0.6 g per tamale is close to nothing. A tamale is savory food. Whatever sweetness the masa carries comes from the corn itself, not from sugar added in the kitchen, which is why the sugar row on this page is the least interesting one in the table.
Tamale servings from one ounce to two on a plate
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.4 g | 49 kcal |
| One tamale, USDA "1 item" | 140 g | 244 kcal |
| 1 cup, crumbled and served loose | 170 g | 296 kcal |
| Two tamales, one plate | 280 g | 487 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 174 kcal |
Two of those lines come straight from USDA household measures: the 140 g tamale and the 170 g cup. The 1 oz line and the two-tamale line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, scaled the way you would scale any per-100-gram number.
The cup is where logging goes wrong. USDA's cup of tamale is 170 g of tamale broken up and spooned onto a plate, not one wrapped piece sitting in its husk. Choose it for a whole tamale and you have logged 296 calories instead of 244, an extra 52 calories that never existed. It is a small error on one tamale and a real one across a week of leftovers.
Two tamales is the portion most people actually eat, and at 487 calories it fits a normal lunch. Three would put you at 731 calories by the same arithmetic, which is dinner-sized rather than lunch-sized.
Beef and pork tamales in the same USDA row
Here is something no tamale page seems willing to say plainly: in this FNDDS release, USDA gives chicken, beef, pork and unspecified tamales an identical nutrient profile. Same calories, same fat, same sodium. The filling changes the flavor and the price, not the logged number.
| Version | Per 100 g | 1 oz (28.4 g) | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken tamale | 174 kcal | 49 kcal | the reference record on this page |
| Beef tamale | 174 kcal | 49 kcal | different filling, same recipe profile |
| Pork tamale | 174 kcal | 49 kcal | different filling, same recipe profile |
| Tamale, NFS | 174 kcal | 49 kcal | filling unspecified, inherits the chicken profile |
| Tamale casserole with meat | 174 kcal | 49 kcal | measured by the cup, not by the piece |
| Chicken enchilada | 178 kcal | 50 kcal | tortilla instead of masa, more protein |
Scale any of the tamale rows to a 140 g piece and you land on 244 calories again, since they share the 174 per 100 g starting point. That is our arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a separate listed serving.
The casserole row is the odd one out in practice. It is the same food pulled apart into a baked dish, so it gets measured with a cup, and a cup of it behaves like the 170 g cup above rather than like a 140 g piece.
The enchilada is the more useful contrast. At 178 calories per 100 g it is barely heavier than a tamale, but it carries 10.03 g of protein per 100 g against 7.38 g in the tamale, because a corn tortilla wraps less starch around the same meat than a jacket of masa does.
Store-bought tamales and the 85 to 170 gram problem
Packaged tamales are where "one tamale" stops meaning anything. A Kroger tamale is 85 g and 180 calories on the label; a Del Real Foods chicken tamale in red sauce is 170 g and 320 calories; Tucson Tamale's red chile version sits between them at 142 g and 290 calories. Same word, double the food.
Per 100 g the branded labels also read a little richer than the generic record, from 179 for The Authentic New Mexican tamales up to 212 for Kroger's, against 174 for the USDA record. Sauce, lard and a heavier masa all push in the same direction, so a two-tamale plate from a freezer box can land anywhere between 360 and 640 calories.
The practical move is to weigh the tamale once, not every time. Once you know your regular brand runs 85 g or 170 g, the number stays put and you never have to guess again.
Sodium is the row to watch
Calories are not the constraint on a tamale plate. Sodium is. One 140 g tamale carries 662 mg, which is 29% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value used on US labels. That is roughly a quarter teaspoon of table salt sitting inside a single piece.
Two tamales put you at 1,324 mg, 58% of the day, for only 487 calories. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans set that same 2,300 mg as the ceiling for adults, and most people are already over it before dinner. So the honest read is this: a tamale is calorie-reasonable and sodium-expensive, and it is the second half that should shape what you put next to it.
The rest of the label reads better than its reputation. A single tamale brings 3.4 g of fiber, 12% of the Daily Value, because whole corn masa is genuine fiber rather than a fortified add-on. Protein is 10.3 g, 21% of the Daily Value, decent for a corn-based dish though not a high-protein food. Saturated fat is the other row worth a glance at 3.8 g, 19% of the Daily Value, which is close to a fifth of a day from one piece.
If you are watching sodium, the fix is on the plate around the tamale, not in the tamale. Unsalted black beans, plain rice, a pile of shredded cabbage or the vegetable half of a MyPlate plate all add volume without adding milligrams. Salsa and canned refried beans do the opposite.
How does a chicken tamale compare?
| Food | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken tamale | 174 kcal | one tamale, 140 g | 244 kcal |
| Beef tamale | 174 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 49 kcal |
| Chicken enchilada | 178 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 50 kcal |
| Burrito bowl with beans and rice | 171 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 48 kcal |
USDA lists a piece measure only for the tamale itself, so the neighbors are shown per ounce and per 100 g, which is the fair way to line them up.
Our take: on calories per gram these four are effectively the same food, spread across just 7 calories per 100 g from the burrito bowl at 171 to the enchilada at 178. What separates them is protein. The burrito bowl leads at 12.49 g per 100 g, the enchilada follows at 10.03 g, and the tamale trails at 7.38 g, because masa takes up room that meat and beans would otherwise fill. For a filling lunch at a fixed calorie budget, the bowl wins. For a tamale night, eat the tamales and take the win somewhere else on the plate.
Most popular chicken tamale 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) |
|---|---|
| Del Real Foods Chicken Tamales in Red Sauce | 188 cal |
| Tucson Tamale Red Chile Chicken Tamales | 204 cal |
| Tucson Tamale Green Chile Chicken Tamales | 197 cal |
| Kroger Chicken Tamales | 212 cal |
| XLNT Chicken Tamale | 183 cal |
| The Authentic New Mexican Chicken Tamales | 179 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chicken tamale FAQs
How many calories are in one chicken tamale?
One tamale weighs 140 g and carries 244 calories, the USDA household portion for the "Tamale, chicken" record. Per 100 g the figure is 174 calories. Most of it comes from 12.7 g of fat and 22.1 g of carbohydrate in the masa, with protein landing at 10.3 g.
How many calories are in 2 chicken tamales?
Two tamales come to 487 calories at 280 g, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a listed serving. The calories stay modest for a full meal, but sodium doubles to 1,324 mg, which is 58% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, before any salsa.
How much protein is in a chicken tamale?
A 140 g tamale gives 10.3 g of protein, 21% of the 50 g Daily Value. Per 100 g that is 7.38 g, less than the same weight of chicken enchilada at 10.03 g. The masa dilutes the filling, so a tamale is a moderate protein food rather than a high one.
How much sodium is in a chicken tamale?
One tamale carries 662 mg of sodium, 29% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, or roughly a quarter teaspoon of table salt. Two tamales reach 1,324 mg. If you are watching sodium, that single row moves your day further than the 244 calories do.
Are chicken tamales healthy?
One tamale is 244 calories with 3.4 g of fiber, 12% of the Daily Value, and 10.3 g of protein. That is a reasonable plate by most standards. The pressure point is sodium at 662 mg per piece, so unsalted beans, plain rice or a raw vegetable side pair better than salsa does.
Chicken tamale vs beef tamale: which has more calories?
Neither: both are 174 calories per 100 g in FNDDS, so a 140 g piece is 244 calories either way. USDA gives chicken, beef, pork and unspecified tamales the same nutrient profile in the 2021-2023 release, which means the filling you choose does not change the number you log.
How many calories are in a cup of tamale?
One cup of tamale is 170 g and 296 calories, 21% more than a single 140 g tamale. The cup measure describes crumbled tamale served loose, not one wrapped piece, so logging a whole tamale as a cup adds 52 calories that were never on your plate.
Are store-bought tamales higher in calories than homemade?
Usually a little: branded labels run 179 to 212 calories per 100 g against 174 for the generic USDA record, and package sizes swing from 85 g at Kroger to 170 g at Del Real. That is 180 calories per tamale at one end and 320 at the other.
Similar foods
- Cosmopolitan — 224 cal per cocktail
- Martini — 241 cal per drink
- Shot Of Tequila — 97 cal per shot (1.5 fl oz)
- Prosecco — 135 cal per glass
- Cider — 202 cal per can or bottle (12 fl oz)
- Beer — 155 cal for 12 fl oz can
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the tamales for you, husk off and sauce included.
