How many calories are in coconut oil?
One tablespoon of coconut oil is 121 calories, and 100 g of it is 892. Every one of those calories is fat — 13.5 g in the spoon, 11.2 g of it saturated. There is no carbohydrate, no protein and no sodium to account for, which makes this an unusually simple food to log and an unusually easy one to over-pour.
You'd need to walk about 24 minutes to burn the 121 calories in one tablespoon (13.6 g).
How long does it take to burn off coconut oil?
One tablespoon (13.6 g) is 121 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 121 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 24 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 15 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 17 min |
| Jogging | 14 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 27 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 (13.6 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Coconut oil quick facts
- US servings, from a teaspoon to a full cup
- Virgin, refined, liquid and hydrogenated coconut oil
- Saturated fat is the row that matters
- Third number to know: your label will not say 892
- How does coconut oil compare?
- Most popular coconut oil brands
- Coconut oil FAQs
Coconut oil quick facts
The numbers below come from USDA SR Legacy 171412, "Oil, coconut". That is the record for the jar or bottle you buy at the store, and it is the only coconut oil entry that carries all three household measures — teaspoon, tablespoon and cup — so the arithmetic on this page never has to guess at a weight.
A second record, Foundation 330458, uses the same description but reports a lower energy figure of 833 calories per 100 g and a lighter 11.6 g tablespoon. It has gaps in its nutrient panel, so it stays in the variants table further down rather than in the headline numbers. Averaging the two would produce a figure that matches no jar at all.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 tablespoon (13.6 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 892 | 121 | — |
| Total fat | 99.06 g | 13.5 g | 17% |
| Saturated fat | 82.47 g | 11.2 g | 56% |
| Carbohydrate | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g | — |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0% |
% 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 →
There is no added sugars row here because the SR Legacy edition does not carry that field at all — a pure pressed fat with no ingredient list has nothing to add. Cholesterol and potassium are both 0 mg, which is why they sit in this sentence instead of the table. Trans fat is listed at 0.03 g per 100 g, which works out to four thousandths of a gram in a tablespoon.
US servings, from a teaspoon to a full cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 4.5 g | 40 kcal |
| 1 tablespoon | 13.6 g | 121 kcal |
| 2 tablespoons | 27.2 g | 243 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.35 g | 253 kcal |
| 1 cup | 218 g | 1945 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 892 kcal |
The teaspoon, tablespoon and cup are USDA household measures attached to record 171412. The two-tablespoon line and the 1 oz line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings — useful because an ounce of oil is what a lot of people actually pour into a skillet without measuring.
The cup is the line worth staring at. One cup of coconut oil is 1,945 calories, which is close to a whole day of eating for many adults, and a baking recipe that calls for a cup of fat will hand you that in a single pan. It also carries roughly 180 g of saturated fat, about nine times the FDA Daily Value. Swapping butter for coconut oil in that recipe because it sounds lighter does not make it lighter.
Two habits keep the math honest. Measure solid coconut oil packed level in the spoon rather than heaped, and if you are melting a jar for a stir-fry, pour into the pan from a measured spoon instead of eyeballing the stream.
Virgin, refined, liquid and hydrogenated coconut oil
USDA holds six coconut oil records, and the spread between the highest and lowest is 62 calories per 100 g — small in absolute terms, and driven mostly by how each record was compiled rather than by what is in the jar.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical tablespoon | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin or refined coconut oil (the jar) | 892 kcal | 13.6 g | 121 kcal |
| Coconut oil, survey record | 895 kcal | 14 g | 125 kcal |
| Coconut oil, Foundation record | 833 kcal | 11.6 g | 97 kcal |
| Confection fat, for candy coatings | 884 kcal | 13.6 g | 120 kcal |
| Candy coating, sprays and nut roasting | 884 kcal | 13.6 g | 120 kcal |
| Hydrogenated coconut oil | 880 kcal | 13.6 g | 120 kcal |
Virgin and refined are the same entry. USDA does not separate unrefined virgin oil from the refined, bleached and deodorized kind, because the processing changes flavor, color and smoke point without changing the fat. If a jar says virgin, cold-pressed or extra virgin, log it at 892 per 100 g.
The bottom three rows are industrial grades you will not see on a supermarket shelf. Two of them are the fractionated fats used for chocolate shells and cooking sprays; the third is hydrogenated coconut oil, made for whipped toppings and coffee whiteners, and it is the most saturated fat on the list at 93.54 g per 100 g. The confection grades sit at 86.5 g and 86 g.
Liquid coconut oil is worth a note because it sells as a separate product. It is coconut oil with the high-melting fractions removed so it stays pourable, and the national brand labels it at 120 calories per 1 Tbsp (14 g), the same as their solid jars. Most US brands land at that 120-calorie label figure — LOUANA, Vita Coco and the store-brand equivalents — with LOUANA Organic the outlier at 130 per tablespoon.
Saturated fat is the row that matters
Coconut oil is 82.47 g saturated fat per 100 g, the highest of any common cooking fat, and this is the single number that changes how you should treat it in a day of eating. One tablespoon is 11.2 g, or 56% of the 20 g Daily Value on the FDA nutrition label. A teaspoon is 3.7 g, about 19%.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend keeping saturated fat under 10% of daily calories, which on a 2,000-calorie day is the same 20 g the label uses. Two tablespoons of coconut oil clears that ceiling on its own, before the cheese, the meat or anything else in the day. That is not a reason to avoid it; it is a reason to count it. If you are watching saturated fat and you cook with oil daily, a liquid vegetable oil is the easier default, with coconut oil kept for the dishes where its flavor is the point.
Here is the gap nobody flags: the calories are not the problem. A tablespoon of coconut oil is five calories lighter than a tablespoon of olive oil. It is the fat split, not the energy, that separates them.
Third number to know: your label will not say 892
US brand labels print 120 calories per 14 g serving, which works out to about 857 calories per 100 g. USDA says 892. Nothing is wrong with either. Labels round to a clean 120, and FDA rules allow that rounding on the serving as declared; USDA reports the unrounded lab value per 100 g. Over one spoonful the difference is a rounding error. Over a cup of oil in a batch of granola, it is roughly 76 calories — still small, but it explains why a food-scale entry and a barcode entry rarely agree to the decimal.
How does coconut oil compare?
| Oil | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coconut oil | 892 kcal | 1 tbsp, 13.6 g | 121 kcal |
| Olive oil | 900 kcal | 1 tbsp, 14 g | 126 kcal |
| Canola oil | 900 kcal | 1 tbsp, 14 g | 126 kcal |
| Corn oil | 900 kcal | 1 tbsp, 14 g | 126 kcal |
The three tablespoon figures of 126 are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g values, not USDA servings. Note what is really driving the 121 against 126: USDA weighs a tablespoon of coconut oil at 13.6 g and a tablespoon of the liquid oils at 14 g. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so a level spoon of it holds slightly less. Gram for gram the four are within 8 calories of each other.
Our take: pick your cooking oil on flavor and on saturated fat, not on calories, because on calories every oil in this table is the same food. Coconut oil earns its place in curries, popcorn and anything where you want that coconut note, and it is the wrong tool for a fat you pour every single day. If one number should stick, make it 56% — the share of a day's saturated fat that rides along in a single tablespoon.
Most popular coconut oil 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) |
|---|---|
| LOUANA Coconut Oil | 857 cal |
| LOUANA Organic Coconut Oil | 929 cal |
| LOUANA Liquid Coconut Oil | 857 cal |
| LOUANA 100% Pure Coconut Oil | 857 cal |
| Vita Coco Coconut Oil | 857 cal |
| Vita Brand Extra Virgin Coconut Oil | 857 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Coconut oil FAQs
How many calories are in a tablespoon of coconut oil?
121 calories for one tablespoon, 13.6 g on the USDA scale. That is 13.5 g of fat, 11.2 g of it saturated, and nothing else — no carbohydrate, no protein, no sodium. Coconut oil is one of the few foods where a single number does the whole job, because fat is all there is.
How many calories in a teaspoon of coconut oil?
40 calories per teaspoon, 4.5 g. That teaspoon still carries 3.7 g of saturated fat, about 19% of the FDA Daily Value, so the small measure is not as small as it looks. Three teaspoons make a tablespoon, which is where the 121-calorie figure comes from.
Is coconut oil healthier than olive oil?
On calories it is a wash: 892 per 100 g for coconut oil against 900 for olive oil. The gap is saturated fat — 82.47 g per 100 g here, 56% of the Daily Value in one tablespoon. If you are watching saturated fat, olive oil is the easier daily pick.
How much saturated fat is in coconut oil?
82.47 g per 100 g, which is 11.2 g in a tablespoon and 56% of the 20 g FDA Daily Value. A teaspoon is 3.7 g, about 19%. Hydrogenated industrial coconut oil goes higher still at 93.54 g per 100 g, though that grade is a manufacturing ingredient, not a jar you buy.
Does coconut oil have carbs or protein?
Zero of both in the USDA record: 0 g carbohydrate, 0 g sugar, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, 0 mg sodium and 0 mg cholesterol. All 892 calories per 100 g come from fat. The survey record lists 0.84 g of carbohydrate, a difference in how that entry was compiled rather than sugar in the jar.
How many calories in 1 cup of coconut oil?
1,945 calories for one cup, 218 g, which is close to a full day for many adults. It also carries about 180 g of saturated fat, roughly nine times the 20 g Daily Value. Swapping a cup of butter for a cup of coconut oil in a recipe is not a light change.
Is virgin coconut oil lower in calories than refined?
No — both are 892 calories per 100 g. Virgin and refined coconut oil share one USDA record, because the label wording describes processing and flavor rather than energy. The industrial refined grades read 884 and 880, and those small gaps come from how each record was calculated, not from refining.
Does melting coconut oil change the calories?
No — 13.6 g of solid coconut oil and 13.6 g of liquid coconut oil are both 121 calories. Melting is a change of state, not of mass. Volume is where it gets you, since a melted tablespoon fills the spoon more completely than a scooped solid one, so weigh it if you can.
Similar foods
- Olive Oil — 126 cal per tbsp
- Butter — 102 cal per tbsp
- Yum yum sauce — 170 cal for 2 tbsp
- Oat flour — 105 cal for 1/4 cup
- Cheese — 113 cal per slice
- Thousand Island Dressing — 216 cal per dipping-size container
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the pan and BodyPal counts the oil along with everything else in it.
