Gravy calories come to 27 for a 1/4 cup (57 g) of canned chicken gravy, and 48 per 100 g. Calories are rarely the problem here. Sodium is. That small ladle already carries 222 mg, 10% of the daily value, and a full cup climbs to 887 mg. Watch the pour, not the label's calorie line.
27kcal
1 quarter cup · 57 g, chicken, canned, ready to serve
6%protein
0.4 gProtein
3 gCarbs
1.5 gFat
How to burn off 27 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
Skip the math. BodyPal counts these calories from your steps and workouts automatically.
Nutrition facts
Chicken, canned, ready to serve · per 57 g
Calories
27 kcal
Protein
0.4 g
Carbohydrate
3 g
Fat
1.5 g
Saturated fat
0.4 g
Cholesterol
3 mg
Sodium
222 mg
Potassium
24 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 →
Gravy: 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
1/4 cup (57 g)
27
0.4 g
3 g
1.5 g
222 mg
1%
1 cup (228 g)
109
1.6 g
12.1 g
6 g
887 mg
5%
100 g
48
0.7 g
5.3 g
2.6 g
389 mg
2%
3 × 1/4 cup (57 g)
82
1.2 g
665 mg
5 × 1/4 cup (57 g)
137
2 g
1,109 mg
A full cup of gravy is 109 calories and 39% of your sodium
The reference serving is 1/4 cup (57 g), and it is a modest one: 27 calories, 1.5 g of fat and 3 g of carbs. That is about what lands on a scoop of mashed potatoes when someone is being careful. Most people are not that careful. A gravy boat gets passed around, and the pour grows.
Here is how the total moves. Two 1/4 cup servings (114 g) come to 55 calories and 443 mg of sodium. Three servings (171 g) reach 82 calories and 665 mg. Five servings, or 285 g, land at 137 calories and 1,109 mg of sodium. A full cup (228 g) is 109 calories, only 5% of the daily calorie value, but 39% of the daily sodium value.
So the calorie curve stays gentle while the sodium curve gets steep. Even a generous holiday helping rarely breaks the calorie budget on its own. If you log meals, measure the gravy once with a 1/4 cup scoop so you know what your usual ladle actually holds. BodyPal can also log the plate from a photo, which helps when the gravy is already poured.
Half the calories come from fat, almost none from protein
Per 100 g, canned chicken gravy has 2.6 g of fat, 5.3 g of carbs and just 0.7 g of protein. Translated into calories, fat supplies 50%, carbs 44% and protein only 6%. That split is typical of a sauce built from fat, starch thickener and broth, and it explains why gravy adds flavor without adding much staying power.
Saturated fat is low in this version at 0.6 g per 100 g. Sugars barely register at 0.3 g per 100 g, and a 1/4 cup holds just 0.2 g. Fiber is close to zero, 0.1 g per 100 g. Cholesterol sits at 5 mg per 100 g. In other words, the nutrition panel is mostly quiet apart from fat, starch and salt.
The takeaway: gravy is not a source of protein. A whole cup gives you 1.6 g, 3% of the daily value. If you want a meal to keep you full, the protein has to come from the turkey, chicken or beans underneath, not from the sauce on top. Treat gravy as a condiment with a small calorie cost and a bigger salt cost.
Sodium is the row to watch
Ready-to-serve chicken gravy carries 389 mg of sodium per 100 g, 17% of the daily value. Compare that with its calories: the same 100 g is only 2% of the daily calorie value. Few foods show a gap that wide between how little energy they deliver and how much salt they bring along.
At the plate level, a 1/4 cup holds 222 mg, 10% of the daily value. A cup holds 887 mg, 39%. And five 1/4 cup servings, a realistic total across a long holiday dinner with seconds, reach 1,109 mg. That is before counting salted mashed potatoes, stuffing, ham or bread, which usually share the plate.
If you watch sodium, gravy is where small changes pay off. Keep it to one measured 1/4 cup, spoon it over the food instead of flooding the plate, and skip the second ladle. Store-bought brands such as Swanson, Campbell's and Bisto Gravy Granules vary by recipe, so check the label on the jar or packet you actually use.
Gravy is cheap in calories, so count the plate under it
With 27 calories per 1/4 cup, gravy itself rarely decides whether a meal is light or heavy. The base does. Poured over roast chicken or turkey and vegetables, it adds flavor for a small price. Poured over biscuits, fries or a mountain of mashed potatoes, it rides along with foods that carry far more calories than the sauce.
Style matters too. This page covers thin, broth-based chicken gravy. Cream gravies made with sausage drippings and milk are a different food, as the comparison below shows, and brown beef gravies from a can or granules sit in their own range. If your gravy is thick, white and peppery, log it as sausage gravy, not this entry.
For a balanced plate, let gravy dress a lean protein and a pile of vegetables, and keep the starch portion in view. If the rest of the day runs salty, use less gravy or save it for one item on the plate. A little goes further than people expect when it is spooned on rather than poured.
How does gravy compare?
Here is how chicken gravy stacks up against sausage gravy, American cheese and pancake mix, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: For the lightest topping, chicken gravy wins easily at 48 calories per 100 g, while sausage gravy runs about 3.8 times higher at 180 and costs 432 calories per 1 cup serving. Sausage gravy does bring more protein at 6.8 g per 100 g, but if you want filling protein, get it from the food under the sauce, not the sauce itself.
Most popular gravy brands in the United States
Ranked by popularity in the BodyPal database
# Productkcal / 100 g
1Bisto Gravy Granules100 g398 kcal
2Odom's Tennessee Pride Sausage Gravy36 g167 kcal
3Swanson Beef Gravy1/4 cup · 60 ml25 kcal
4Campbell's Beef Gravy1/4 cup · 60 ml42 kcal
5Campbell's Beef Gravy (10.5 oz Can)60 ml42 kcal
6Campbell's Beef Gravy (13.8 oz Can)60 ml51 kcal
Granules and dry mixes are labeled as powder, so they read far higher than the ready-to-serve numbers above. Source: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Gravy FAQs
How many calories are in gravy?
A 1/4 cup serving of canned gravy has about 27 calories, and a full cup has 109 calories.
Is gravy good for weight loss?
A 1/4 cup pour adds 27 calories and 1.5 g fat, so the calories stay small. The same portion carries about 222 mg sodium.
Gravy or sausage gravy: which has more calories?
Sausage gravy has 180 calories per 100 g against 48 for canned gravy, close to four times as much.
How much sodium is in gravy?
Canned chicken gravy has 389 mg sodium per 100 g, about 222 mg in a 1/4 cup serving. Dry brown gravy mix has 4,843 mg per 100 g of powder.
How many calories are in a cup of gravy?
A cup (228 g) of canned chicken gravy has 109 calories. It also carries 887 mg of sodium, 39% of the daily value, which is the bigger concern than the calories.
How much fat is in gravy?
A 1/4 cup of chicken gravy has 1.5 g of fat, and 100 g has 2.6 g. Fat supplies 50% of the calories, while saturated fat stays low at 0.6 g per 100 g.
Does gravy have protein?
Barely. A 1/4 cup of chicken gravy has 0.4 g of protein and a full cup has 1.6 g. Protein makes up only 6% of its calories, so it will not do much to keep you full.
How many carbs are in gravy?
A 1/4 cup of chicken gravy has 3 g of carbs, and a cup has 12.1 g. Most of that is starch from thickening, since sugars are only 0.2 g per 1/4 cup.
Is there cholesterol in gravy?
Very little. Canned chicken gravy has 5 mg of cholesterol per 100 g. Sodium, at 389 mg per 100 g, is the number more worth tracking.
