Garlic clove calories come to 4 for one raw clove (3 g) and 149 per 100 g. Carbs supply 82% of those calories, yet the portions are so small that the total barely moves. Even five cloves add only 22 calories, so the oil, butter or bread you cook garlic with matters far more.
4kcal
1 clove · 3 g, raw
16%protein
0.2 gProtein
1 gCarbs
0 gFat
How to burn off 4 kcal
—Walking, brisk
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—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
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Nutrition facts
Raw · per 3 g
Calories
4 kcal
Protein
0.2 g
Carbohydrate
1 g
Fat
0 g
Saturated fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1 mg
Potassium
12 mg
Iron
0.1 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 September 2026. How we verify our data →
Garlic clove: 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 clove (3 g)
4
0.2 g
1 g
0 g
1 mg
0%
3 cloves (9 g)
13
0.6 g
3 g
0 g
2 mg
1%
1 tsp (2.8 g)
4
0.2 g
0.9 g
0 g
0 mg
0%
100 g
149
6.4 g
33.1 g
0.5 g
17 mg
7%
3 × 1 clove (3 g)
13
0.6 g
2 mg
5 × 1 clove (3 g)
22
1 g
3 mg
Five cloves still add only 22 calories
One raw garlic clove weighs about 3 g and carries 4 calories. Two cloves come to 9, three cloves to 13, and five cloves to 22. A teaspoon of garlic, at 2.8 g, lands on the same 4 calories as a single clove, so measuring by the spoon or by the clove gives you the same answer.
Against a 2000-calorie daily value, one clove rounds to 0% and three cloves reach just 1%. A full 100 g, far more than most home recipes call for, is 149 calories, or 7% of the daily value. That is the most garlic is likely to contribute to any single meal.
The practical takeaway is simple. You do not need to count cloves to stay on target. Doubling the garlic in a sauce changes the flavor a lot and the calorie total hardly at all, which makes garlic one of the cheapest ways to make lean food taste like more.
Carbs supply 82% of garlic's calories
Per 100 g, raw garlic has 33.1 g of carbs, 6.4 g of protein and 0.5 g of fat. Run that through the calorie split and carbs account for 82% of the energy, protein for 16% and fat for 3%. Garlic is, in plain terms, a starchy bulb with a little protein attached.
Very little of that carb load is sugar. There is only 1 g of sugars per 100 g, alongside 2.1 g of fiber. Per clove, the numbers shrink to 1 g of carbs, 0.2 g of protein, 0 g of fat and 0.1 g of fiber.
If you track carbs tightly, those figures are worth knowing but rarely worth worrying about. Three cloves add 3 g of carbs to a dish. The 6.4 g of protein per 100 g sounds respectable on paper, but at 0.2 g a clove, garlic is not a protein source in any meal you would actually eat.
Garlic adds flavor without the sodium
Sodium is where garlic quietly earns its place. Raw garlic has 17 mg of sodium per 100 g, which is 1% of the daily value. A single clove carries about 1 mg, and five cloves only 3 mg.
That matters because many of the flavor boosters people reach for are salt-heavy: bottled sauces, seasoning blends, stock cubes. Fresh garlic gives a dish depth and bite while adding almost nothing to the sodium row. If you watch sodium, leaning harder on garlic and easing off the salt shaker is an easy trade.
The rest of the label is just as clean. Raw garlic has 0 mg of cholesterol and 0.1 g of saturated fat per 100 g. It also brings 401 mg of potassium per 100 g, though at clove-sized portions that is a small contribution to the day.
The fat around the garlic is what counts
Garlic almost never travels alone. It gets sauteed in olive oil, mashed into butter, baked into bread or stirred into creamy sauces. Each of those carriers brings far more calories than the cloves themselves, so when a garlic dish runs high, the garlic is rarely the reason.
If you want the flavor with fewer calories, change the carrier rather than the garlic. Roast whole cloves dry, grate raw garlic into yogurt dressings, or add it to soups, stir-fries and tomato sauces where it needs little or no added fat. Use a measured spoon of oil instead of a free pour.
When you log a meal, log the oil, butter or bread as its own item and treat the garlic as a small extra. BodyPal can log the whole plate from a photo, which helps catch the cooking fat that is easy to forget.
How does garlic clove compare?
Here is raw garlic next to garlic knots and ketchup, compared per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: For flavor on a calorie budget, raw garlic wins easily at 149 calories per 100 g, while garlic knots run 2.3 times that at 349 and carry 620 mg of sodium. Ketchup looks lighter at 101 calories per 100 g, but its 907 mg of sodium makes fresh garlic the better seasoning if you watch salt.
Garlic clove FAQs
How many calories are in one garlic clove?
About 4 calories for a 3 g clove of raw garlic. Three cloves come to 13 calories.
Is garlic good for weight loss?
One clove adds 4 calories and about 1 g of carbs, so even three cloves stay at 13 calories.
Garlic clove vs garlic bread: how many calories?
Raw garlic is 149 calories per 100 g and garlic bread 349. One clove is 4 calories, while a medium slice of garlic bread (79 g) is 276.
How many carbs are in a garlic clove?
About 1 g of carbs in one 3 g clove, from 33.1 g per 100 g of raw garlic.
How many calories are in 3 garlic cloves?
Three raw garlic cloves (9 g) have 13 calories, with 3 g of carbs, 0.6 g of protein and 0 g of fat. That is 1% of a 2000-calorie daily value, so it rarely changes a meal's total.
How many calories are in two cloves of garlic?
Two raw cloves, about 6 g in total, come to 9 calories and 0.4 g of protein. Sodium is just 1 mg. Even in a large bowl of pasta or a stir-fry, that much garlic adds very little energy.
How many calories are in 4 cloves of garlic?
Four raw cloves fall between the 13 calories for three cloves and the 22 calories for five. Either way, the total stays small; the oil or butter you cook them in will add far more.
How do garlic calories per clove compare with per 100 g?
A raw clove has 4 calories, while 100 g of garlic has 149. The gap is pure portion size: a clove weighs only about 3 g, so 100 g is far more garlic than most recipes ever use.
