How many calories are in an ice cream cone?
One ice cream cone with the ice cream in it weighs 125 g and carries 286 calories. Per 100 g it runs 229 calories. The scoop does nearly all of the damage: the wafer holding it up is worth only about 17 of those calories, so the shape you order matters far less than the size of the scoop.
You'd need to walk about 57 minutes to burn the 286 calories in one cone (125 g).
How long does it take to burn off 286 kcal of ice cream cone?
One cone (125 g) is 286 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 286 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 57 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 36 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 41 min |
| Jogging | 34 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 1 hr 4 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 (125 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Ice cream cone quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to two scoops
- Vanilla, chocolate, soft serve and the dipped cone
- The wafer is barely in the math
- Saturated fat is the row to watch
- How does an ice cream cone compare?
- Most popular ice cream cone with ice cream brands
- Ice cream cone FAQs
Ice cream cone quick facts
The record on this page is FNDDS 2705647, "Ice cream cone, NFS", the generic entry for a cone that already has ice cream in it. That is what people are holding when they search this, and it comes with a documented household portion: one cone, 125 g. Flavored and soft serve entries exist too, and they sit further down this page as variants rather than being blended into one average.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cone (125 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 229 | 286 | — |
| Total fat | 11.13 g | 13.9 g | 18% |
| Saturated fat | 6.64 g | 8.3 g | 41% |
| Carbohydrate | 28.47 g | 35.6 g | 13% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.9 g | 1.1 g | 4% |
| Total sugars | 22.19 g | 27.7 g | — |
| Protein | 3.75 g | 4.7 g | 9% |
| Sodium | 97 mg | 121 mg | 5% |
% 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 would expect are missing. USDA does not publish added sugars for this record, so there is no honest way to say how much of the 27.7 g was stirred in versus how much is milk sugar, and total sugars carry no Daily Value at all. Trans fat is absent from this FNDDS edition for every cone entry, so it is left out rather than filled from another source.
Cholesterol lands at 50 mg per cone, 17% of the Daily Value, and potassium at 249 mg, 5%. Sodium is the quiet one: 121 mg is about a twentieth of a teaspoon of table salt, which is nothing next to the sugar and fat.
US servings, from one ounce to two scoops
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28.4 g | 65 kcal |
| Half a cone | 62.5 g | 143 kcal |
| One cone, as served | 125 g | 286 kcal |
| Two scoops in one cone | 250 g | 573 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 229 kcal |
Only the 125 g cone is a USDA household measure. The ounce, the half cone and the two-scoop line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings — useful because a shop scoop is not a standardized object. The two-scoop number is the one worth staring at. Double the ice cream and you are at 573 calories, which is more than most people budget for a whole lunch, from a thing eaten standing up in five minutes.
Weighing it beats guessing. A cone that looks generous is usually 150 to 170 g, which is 344 to 389 calories on the same 229 per 100 g. If you are logging by eye, log high.
Vanilla, chocolate, soft serve and the dipped cone
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical cone | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scooped vanilla | 215 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 269 kcal |
| Scooped chocolate | 224 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 280 kcal |
| Waffle cone with vanilla | 218 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 273 kcal |
| Soft serve vanilla | 189 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 236 kcal |
| Prepackaged dipped vanilla | 354 kcal | 1 cone (95 g) | 336 kcal |
| Empty cone shell, no ice cream | 417 kcal | 1 large waffle cone (29 g) | 121 kcal |
Vanilla and chocolate are 11 calories apart at the same weight, so flavor is not the lever. Chocolate does bring more carbohydrate, 30.23 g per 100 g against 25.82 g for vanilla, plus a little more fiber from the cocoa. The waffle cone version comes out four calories above the plain cake cone version at 125 g, which is not a difference anyone needs to plan around.
Soft serve is the real cut. Same 125 g cone, 236 calories instead of 286, because soft serve carries less milk fat and more whipped-in air.
The prepackaged dipped cone from the freezer aisle goes the other way. At 95 g it is smaller than a shop cone, yet it lands at 336 calories — 50 more than the heavier hand-scooped one — because the chocolate shell and the nuts push it to 354 calories per 100 g. Store brands agree: USDA's branded records list Hood's chocolate-dipped sundae cone at 270 calories for an 80 g cone, and Blue Bunny's reduced fat cookies 'n cream cone at 270 for a 92 g cone. Reduced fat gets you a bigger cone for the same number, not a smaller number.
The wafer is barely in the math
Here is the part nobody tells you at the counter. The shell inside a 125 g cone weighs roughly 4 g. At 417 calories per 100 g for a cake or wafer cone, that is about 17 calories — our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. Roughly 94% of what you are eating is the ice cream.
That flips the usual instinct. Skipping the cone and taking a cup saves almost nothing. Asking for a smaller scoop, or soft serve instead of hand-dipped, saves 50 calories on the same visit. If you want the number lower, work on the dairy, not the pastry.
The exception is the oversized empty shell sold on its own. A large waffle cone weighing 29 g is 121 calories before anything goes in it — at that size the shell finally starts to count.
Saturated fat is the row to watch
One cone brings 8.3 g of saturated fat, 41% of the Daily Value, from a portion that supplies 14% of a 2,000-calorie day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans put the ceiling at less than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat, about 22 g on 2,000 — so a single cone uses more than a third of it. Two scoops take roughly 17 g and most of the day's allowance.
The soft serve cone is the practical answer if that row bothers you: 3.6 g of saturated fat, 18% of the Daily Value, for the same 125 g. Percent Daily Values here follow the FDA's reference amounts for a 2,000-calorie diet.
Protein is thin at 4.7 g, 9% of the Daily Value, and fiber is close to nothing at 1.1 g. This is dessert doing dessert things — treat it as the sweet on top of a meal, not as part of one.
How does an ice cream cone compare?
| Cone | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ice cream cone, NFS | 229 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 286 kcal |
| Soft serve vanilla cone | 189 kcal | 1 cone (125 g) | 236 kcal |
| Prepackaged dipped vanilla cone | 354 kcal | 1 cone (95 g) | 336 kcal |
| Empty cake or wafer cone | 417 kcal | 1 large cone (29 g) | 121 kcal |
Our take: the per-100-g column is a trap here, and this table shows why. The empty shell is the densest thing on the list at 417 calories per 100 g and the smallest total on the plate at 121, because you eat 29 g of it instead of 125 g. For a lower number on a real order, ask for soft serve — 236 calories, and the saturated fat more than halves, from 8.3 g to 3.6 g. For the highest, buy the dipped cone from the freezer: 336 calories from just 95 g, the lightest of the three cones that come with ice cream.
Most popular ice cream cone with ice cream 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) |
|---|---|
| Hood Chocolate Dipped Sundae Cones with Peanuts | 338 cal |
| Harris Teeter Sundae Nut Cones Vanilla | 337 cal |
| Nutty Buddy Super Scoops Ice Cream Cones | 306 cal |
| Friendly's Ice Cream Cone Vanilla Krunch | 293 cal |
| Blue Bunny Reduced Fat Ice Cream Cones Cookies 'n Cream | 293 cal |
| Key Food Sundae Cones | 278 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Ice cream cone FAQs
How many calories are in an ice cream cone with ice cream?
A standard cone with a scoop is 286 calories at 125 g, or 229 calories per 100 g. That is USDA's generic record for a cone with the ice cream already in it. Shop portions vary, and a heavy hand on the scoop pushes the total past 350 without changing the cone.
How many calories in a waffle cone with one scoop?
A waffle cone with one scoop of vanilla is 273 calories for a 125 g cone, at 218 calories per 100 g. That is four calories more than the same scoop in a plain cake cone, which lands at 269. The waffle shell is denser, but the gap is trivial.
Is a sugar cone or a cake cone lower in calories?
Per 100 g they are close: 417 calories for a cake or wafer cone and 402 for a rolled sugar cone. Weight decides it. USDA lists a large cake or wafer cone at 29 g and 121 calories, so the shell you choose moves your total far less than the scoop does.
How many calories does the empty cone add?
About 17 calories. The shell inside USDA's 125 g cone weighs roughly 4 g, and at 417 calories per 100 g for cake and wafer cones that is our own arithmetic, not a USDA serving. A big empty waffle cone, 29 g on its own, is 121 calories before any ice cream.
Is soft serve lower in calories than scooped ice cream?
Yes — a 125 g soft serve vanilla cone is 236 calories against 286 for the scooped version, and saturated fat drops from 8.3 g to 3.6 g. Soft serve carries less milk fat and more whipped-in air, so the same size cone costs you 50 calories less.
How much sugar is in an ice cream cone?
27.7 g of total sugars in a 125 g cone, or 22.19 g per 100 g. USDA does not publish added sugars for this record, so there is no way to split the milk sugar from the sugar stirred into the ice cream. Total sugars carry no Daily Value.
How many carbs are in an ice cream cone?
35.6 g of carbohydrate in one 125 g cone, 13% of the Daily Value, with 27.7 g of that as sugars and 1.1 g as fiber. Per 100 g the cone runs 28.47 g. A soft serve cone is actually higher in carbohydrate, at 31.44 g per 100 g.
How many calories in a two-scoop cone?
About 573 calories for 250 g, which is our own arithmetic doubling the USDA 125 g figure rather than a USDA serving. Sugars go to roughly 55 g and saturated fat to about 17 g, which is most of a day's allowance from one dessert eaten in five minutes.
Similar foods
- Waffle cone — 556 cal per Waffle cone with 2 scoops
- Nachos — 663 cal per order
- Cannoli — 227 cal per cannoli
- Fries — 452 cal per medium fast food order
- Onion Rings — 282 cal for 8 rings
- Funnel cake — 318 cal per cake, 6-inch
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the cone and BodyPal counts it for you, scoop and shell together.
