How many calories are in chocolate milk?
A 1-cup (248 g) glass of chocolate milk carries 161 calories, and the milk itself runs 65 calories per 100 g, lighter gram for gram than most people guess for something this sweet. That cup brings 8.5 g of protein along with 23.7 g of total sugars. Fat is barely in the story at 2.1 g.
You'd need to walk about 32 minutes to burn the 161 calories in a 1-cup (248 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off chocolate milk?
A 1-cup (248 g) serving is 161 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 161 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 32 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 20 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 23 min |
| Jogging | 19 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 36 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 (248 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chocolate milk quick facts
- US servings, from a fluid ounce to a 16 fl oz bottle
- Whole, 2%, 1%, skim and reduced sugar
- The sugar row, and what USDA does not print
- How does chocolate milk compare?
- Most popular chocolate milk brands
- FAQ
Chocolate milk quick facts
The record used here is FNDDS 2705466, "Chocolate milk, NFS". NFS means "not further specified", which is exactly the situation most people are in: you poured a glass from a jug, or grabbed a carton, and nobody wrote down whether the base was whole or 1%. It is the average of what Americans actually drink, and every milk-fat level gets its own numbers further down the page.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (248 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 65 | 161 | — |
| Total fat | 0.83 g | 2.1 g | 3% |
| Saturated fat | 0.46 g | 1.1 g | 6% |
| Carbohydrate | 10.98 g | 27.2 g | 10% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.1 g | 0.2 g | 1% |
| Total sugars | 9.55 g | 23.7 g | — |
| Protein | 3.44 g | 8.5 g | 17% |
| Sodium | 68 mg | 169 mg | 7% |
% 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 might expect are missing. There is no added sugars figure, because this edition of FNDDS does not publish added sugars for this record, and there is no trans fat line for the same reason. Filling either one in from a carton label would mean mixing sources, so they stay off the table.
Cholesterol lands at 10 mg a cup, 3% of the Daily Value. Potassium is the sleeper: 432 mg, 9% of the Daily Value the FDA sets for the Nutrition Facts label, which is more than twice the sodium in the same glass. The 169 mg of sodium works out to less than a tenth of a teaspoon of table salt.
US servings, from a fluid ounce to a 16 fl oz bottle
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz | 31 g | 20 kcal |
| 1 oz by weight | 28 g | 18 kcal |
| 1 cup, 8 fl oz | 248 g | 161 kcal |
| 1 school carton, 8 fl oz | 248 g | 161 kcal |
| 1 bottle, 16 fl oz | 496 g | 322 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 65 kcal |
The cup, the school carton and the fluid ounce are USDA household measures for this record. The 16 fl oz bottle and the 1 oz weight line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings.
Here is the trap that costs people calories. A fluid ounce of chocolate milk weighs 31 g, while an ounce on a kitchen scale is 28 g, so "8 oz" on a carton is 248 g, not 227 g. Log the carton as eight weight ounces and you are short by about 14 calories every time. The single-serve bottle at the gas station is usually the 16 fl oz size, and that is two cups: 322 calories before anything else in the bag.
Whole, 2%, 1%, skim and reduced sugar
| Version | Per 100 g | Per cup (248 g) | Fat | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole | 83 kcal | 206 kcal | 8.4 g | 23.7 g | 7.9 g |
| Reduced fat (2%) | 76 kcal | 188 kcal | 4.7 g | 23.7 g | 7.4 g |
| Low fat (1%) | 64 kcal | 159 kcal | 2.8 g | 24.7 g | 8.6 g |
| Fat free (skim) | 67 kcal | 166 kcal | 0 g | 20.8 g | 8.4 g |
| Reduced sugar, NFS | 65 kcal | 161 kcal | 4.9 g | 19.5 g | 7.7 g |
| Nesquik ready-to-drink | 74 kcal | 184 kcal | 5.3 g | 23.9 g | 8.5 g |
The per-cup calories come straight from the USDA records; the fat, sugar and protein columns are our own arithmetic from the same 100 g figures, not USDA servings.
Whole to skim is a 40-calorie swing on a single glass, 206 down to 166, and the protein hardly notices: 7.9 g against 8.4 g. Everything you give up is fat, all 8.4 g of it. That makes fat free the easy pick if fat is the thing you are trimming, and whole the pick if you want the drink to hold you until lunch.
Two entries surprise people. Low fat 1%, the school-cafeteria standard, is the lightest of the bunch at 159 calories a cup, yet it carries the most sugar, 24.7 g, because the recipe leans harder on the syrup. And reduced sugar does not mean reduced calories: it lands at exactly the same 161 calories as the plain NFS cup, because the sugar it drops comes back as fat from a richer milk base.
Watch the wording on the bottle, too. USDA keeps a separate record for a "chocolate milk drink" at 49 calories per 100 g, roughly 122 calories a cup by our own arithmetic, but with about 1.6 g of protein instead of 8.5 g. It is flavored water with cocoa in it, not milk, and the protein column is where you can tell.
Store cartons spread wider than the generic records do. Across the USDA Branded entries, 1% cartons from Clover Sonoma and Organic Valley sit at 62 calories per 100 g, or 149 per labeled cup, while organic whole from Kalona SuperNatural and the 365 Whole Foods Market carton both hit 96 per 100 g, or 230 a cup. Same aisle, an 81-calorie gap per glass.
The sugar row, and what USDA does not print
A cup shows 23.7 g of total sugars and only 1.1 g of saturated fat. For a drink with this reputation, that is backwards from what people assume: the calories here are a sugar story, not a fat story, and the saturated fat in this cup is 6% of a day.
But total sugars and added sugars are not the same number, and this is where most pages get sloppy. Milk brings its own lactose before anyone stirs in cocoa, so a chunk of that 23.7 g was already in the glass. USDA does not publish an added sugars value for this record, which means the honest answer is that nobody can tell you from this data how much of the 23.7 g came from the syrup. Comparing the total against the 50 g added-sugars Daily Value would be a false comparison, and the Dietary Guidelines limit is written for added sugars specifically.
The number that flatters chocolate milk is protein: 8.5 g a cup, 17% of a day, from a drink that costs 161 calories. That is a better protein-per-calorie return than most things people drink, and it is why MyPlate counts a cup of it as a full dairy serving, flavored or not.
How does chocolate milk compare?
| Drink | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate milk, NFS | 65 kcal | 1 cup, 248 g | 161 kcal | 8.5 g |
| Strawberry milk, low fat (1%) | 69 kcal | 1 cup, 248 g | 171 kcal | 7.8 g |
| Strawberry milk, reduced sugar | 59 kcal | 1 cup, 248 g | 146 kcal | 8.1 g |
| Hot chocolate, NFS | 72 kcal | 1 cup, 248 g | 179 kcal | 4.5 g |
Our take: chocolate milk wins this group on the thing that matters after the calorie count. Only reduced-sugar strawberry milk is lighter per cup, by 15 calories, and chocolate milk has the most protein of the four at 8.5 g. Hot cocoa is the one to think twice about: it costs 18 more calories than the cold glass and gives back just over half the protein, 4.5 g, because much of it is water and cocoa mix rather than milk. If you are choosing a flavored dairy drink and want the calories to do some work, the plain cold cup is the pick.
Most popular chocolate milk 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) |
|---|---|
| Clover Sonoma 1% Lowfat Chocolate Milk | 62 cal |
| Battenkill Valley Creamery Chocolate Milk | 88 cal |
| Kroger Mountain Dairy 1% Lowfat Chocolate Milk | 75 cal |
| Kalona SuperNatural Organic Whole Chocolate Milk | 96 cal |
| Organic Valley Organic 1% Lowfat Chocolate Milk | 62 cal |
| 365 Whole Foods Market Chocolate Milk | 96 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chocolate milk FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of chocolate milk?
161 calories in a 1-cup (248 g) glass, based on the USDA record for chocolate milk with no milk fat specified. That works out to 65 calories per 100 g. The same cup carries 8.5 g of protein, 27.2 g of carbohydrate and 2.1 g of fat.
How many calories are in 8 oz of chocolate milk?
161 calories, because 8 fl oz of chocolate milk weighs 248 g rather than the 227 g you would get from eight ounces on a scale. That weight difference is worth about 14 calories, so logging a carton by weight instead of volume undercounts it slightly every single time.
Is chocolate milk high in sugar?
A cup holds 23.7 g of total sugars, which is a lot for a drink. Part of it is lactose that was in the milk before any cocoa arrived. USDA does not publish an added sugars figure for this record, so the split between milk sugar and syrup cannot be pinned down here.
How much protein is in chocolate milk?
8.5 g per cup, which is 17% of the Daily Value from a 161-calorie drink. Milk fat barely changes it: whole gives 7.9 g and fat free 8.4 g per cup. Low fat 1% is actually the highest of the common types at 8.6 g a cup.
Whole versus 1% chocolate milk calories?
Whole is 206 calories a cup and 1% is 159, a gap of 47 calories per glass. All of it is fat, 8.4 g against 2.8 g. Protein goes the other way slightly, 7.9 g for whole and 8.6 g for 1%, so the lighter option loses nothing that matters.
Is chocolate milk good for recovery after a workout?
One cup delivers 8.5 g of protein with 27.2 g of carbohydrate for 161 calories, which is the carb-and-protein mix athletes usually look for in a drink. Whether that beats other options depends on the rest of your day, but the numbers are genuinely favorable for the calorie cost.
How many calories are in a school carton of chocolate milk?
A standard 8 fl oz carton is 248 g and 161 calories. School cartons are usually low fat 1%, which comes in slightly lower at 159 calories, with 8.6 g of protein and 24.7 g of sugars. Fat free cartons land at 166 calories with no fat at all.
How much sodium is in chocolate milk?
169 mg per cup, or 7% of the Daily Value, which is less than a tenth of a teaspoon of table salt. Potassium is the bigger mineral in the glass at 432 mg, 9% of a day. Fat free versions run a little saltier, near 196 mg per cup.
Similar foods
- Protein Shake — 156 cal per cup
- Bubble Tea — 239 cal per drink
- Apple cider — 114 cal per cup
- Eggnog — 112 cal for 1/2 cup
- Root beer — 152 cal for 12 fl oz glass
- Tonic Water — 124 cal per can or bottle (12 fl oz)
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the glass and BodyPal counts it for you, carton size and all.
