Cloves calories come to 6 for 1 tsp (2.1 g) of the ground spice and 274 per 100 g. That 100 g figure looks heavy, but nobody eats cloves by the cup. At a normal pinch-to-teaspoon dose, cloves barely register in a day, and the real story is how much fiber hides in a tiny amount.
6kcal
1 teaspoon · 2 g, ground, dried spice
6%protein
0.1 gProtein
1 gCarbs
0.3 gFat
How to burn off 6 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
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Nutrition facts
Ground, dried spice · per 2 g
Calories
6 kcal
Protein
0.1 g
Carbohydrate
1.4 g
Fat
0.3 g
Saturated fat
0.1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
6 mg
Potassium
21 mg
Iron
0.2 mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
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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 October 2026. How we verify our data →
Cloves: calories, protein and sodium by serving
Percent of daily value uses the FDA reference of 2,000 kcal a day.
Serving
kcal
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Sodium
% DV kcal
1 tsp (2.1 g)
6
0.1 g
1.4 g
0.3 g
6 mg
0%
1 tbsp (6.5 g)
18
0.4 g
4.3 g
0.8 g
18 mg
1%
100 g
274
6 g
65.5 g
13 g
277 mg
14%
3 × 1 tsp (2.1 g)
17
0.4 g
17 mg
5 × 1 tsp (2.1 g)
29
0.6 g
29 mg
A teaspoon is 6 calories, a tablespoon is 18
Ground cloves are measured in teaspoons, and at that scale the numbers stay tiny. One level teaspoon weighs 2.1 g and carries 6 calories, 0.1 g of protein and 0.3 g of fat. That rounds to 0 percent of the daily calorie value. A tablespoon, at 6.5 g, lands at 18 calories, which is still only 1 percent of the daily value.
Recipes rarely stop at one spoon, so it helps to see how the total moves. Two teaspoons bring 12 calories, three teaspoons 17, and five teaspoons (about 11 g) reach 29. Even a heavily spiced batch of mulled cider, ham glaze or chai concentrate usually holds less clove than that, and the calories get split across every serving.
The 100 g line, 274 calories and 14 percent of the daily value, is there for comparison with other foods, not as a realistic portion. If you are logging a recipe, weigh or measure the cloves you actually used. For a single teaspoon stirred into oatmeal or a spice rub, logging 6 calories is accurate enough and you can move on.
Carbs supply about two thirds of the calories
Per 100 g, ground cloves hold 65.5 g of carbohydrate, 13 g of fat and 6 g of protein. Translated into calories, carbs account for 65 percent, fat for 29 percent and protein for just 6 percent. That makes cloves a carb-led spice, but the carbs are not what most people picture.
Sugars are only 2.4 g per 100 g, and a teaspoon shows 0 g. Most of the carbohydrate is fiber, which explains why a dried flower bud can post such a high carb number without tasting sweet. The fat share comes from the natural oils that give cloves their sharp, numbing bite; saturated fat is 4 g per 100 g, and cholesterol is 0.
Protein is too small to count on. A teaspoon gives 0.1 g and a tablespoon 0.4 g. Treat cloves as flavor, not as a source of any macro you are trying to hit.
Fiber is the standout row, sodium stays modest
The most striking number on the label is fiber: 33.9 g per 100 g. That is more than the full 28 g daily value used on this page, packed into a spice. In a real portion, a teaspoon adds 0.7 g and a tablespoon 2.2 g. Helpful, but not something to build a fiber plan around.
Sodium is 277 mg per 100 g, or 12 percent of the daily value at that weight. Spoon for spoon it hardly moves: 6 mg in a teaspoon and 18 mg in a tablespoon, both at 0 to 1 percent of the daily value. If you watch sodium, cloves are a way to add strong flavor to a dish without leaning on salt.
Potassium reads 1,020 mg per 100 g, another figure that looks impressive on paper and shrinks fast at teaspoon scale. The pattern repeats across the whole label: dense numbers per 100 g, small numbers per serving.
Cloves add flavor at almost no calorie cost
Because a teaspoon costs 6 calories, cloves earn their place in lower-calorie cooking. They give baked apples, roasted squash, oatmeal, black tea and braised meats a warm, sweet impression without adding sugar. The calories that matter in those dishes come from the butter, syrup or meat around the spice, so that is where your attention should go.
The figures here are for ground cloves, matching the USDA row for the dried, ground spice. Brands on this page such as Sugar 'N Spice, Cub, La Criolla and La Flor sell whole cloves too, which are usually simmered and then removed, so less of them ends up eaten. Chefzito Spices sells a ground version that fits these numbers directly.
One naming trap: cloves the spice are not garlic cloves. A single garlic clove is a different food with its own page. If you snap your plate, BodyPal can log the dish from a photo, and you can adjust the spice amount by hand.
How does cloves compare?
Here is how ground cloves stack up against garlic clove, honey mustard and cheese whiz, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: Per 100 g, cloves at 274, honey mustard at 275 and cheese whiz at 276 calories are nearly identical, but real servings tell the story: 6 calories in a teaspoon of cloves versus 41 in a tablespoon of honey mustard. For flavor at the lowest cost pick cloves or a garlic clove at 4 calories each, and treat cheese whiz, with 1,638 mg of sodium per 100 g, as the one to limit.
Most popular cloves brands in the United States
Ranked by popularity in the BodyPal database
# Productkcal / 100 g
1Sugar 'N Spice Cloves Whole1/4 tsp · 0.5 g0 kcal
2Sugar 'N Spice Cloves Ground1/4 tsp · 0.5 g0 kcal
Spice labels use tiny servings such as 0.5 g, which round down to 0 calories, so their listed values read lower than the numbers above. Source: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cloves FAQs
How many calories are in a teaspoon of cloves?
A teaspoon of ground cloves (2.1 g) has about 6 calories, and a tablespoon (6.5 g) has about 18.
Are cloves good for weight loss?
A teaspoon of ground cloves adds 6 calories and 0.7 g of fiber, so the amount used in cooking barely changes a day's total.
Cloves vs garlic clove: which has more calories?
Ground cloves have 274 calories per 100 g, while garlic has 149 per 100 g.
How much fiber is in cloves?
Ground cloves have 33.9 g of fiber per 100 g, about 0.7 g per teaspoon. Total carbs are 65.5 g per 100 g.
How many calories are in a garlic clove?
One garlic clove (3 g) has about 4 calories, and garlic comes to 149 calories per 100 g. That is a different food from ground cloves, the spice on this page, which has 6 calories per teaspoon.
How many calories are in a tablespoon of ground cloves?
A tablespoon of ground cloves (6.5 g) has 18 calories. It brings 4.3 g of carbs, 0.8 g of fat, 0.4 g of protein and 2.2 g of fiber, about 1 percent of the daily calorie value.
How much sodium is in ground cloves?
Ground cloves have 6 mg of sodium per teaspoon and 18 mg per tablespoon. Per 100 g the figure is 277 mg, or 12 percent of the daily value, a weight nobody uses in cooking.
Do cloves have sugar?
A teaspoon of ground cloves shows 0 g of sugar, and a tablespoon has 0.2 g. Per 100 g, sugars are 2.4 g out of 65.5 g of carbohydrate, since most of the carbs are fiber.
How many carbs are in a teaspoon of cloves?
A teaspoon of ground cloves has 1.4 g of carbs, and 0.7 g of that is fiber. Per 100 g, cloves carry 65.5 g of carbs, which supply 65 percent of their calories.
