How many calories are in an ICEE?

A medium ICEE holds 660 g of slush and 185 calories. Per 100 g the drink is just 28 calories, because what comes out of the machine is mostly frozen water and air. That makes the cup size, not the flavor, the thing that decides what you log.

You'd need to walk about 37 minutes to burn the 185 calories in one medium cup (660 g).

On this page

• ICEE quick facts
• US cup sizes from one ounce to an extra large
• Every ICEE size and the sugar-free version
• Sugar is the only row that moves
• How does an ICEE compare?
• Most popular icee brands
• ICEE FAQs

ICEE quick facts

There is no ICEE-branded record for the machine drink in USDA FoodData Central, so the number here comes from the generic entry that describes exactly the same product: FNDDS 2710576, "Slush frozen drink". It is the row built around real US cup sizes, from small to extra large, which is what you actually hand over the counter for. Branded ICEE items do exist in the database, but they are bottled, pouched and tube products, not the frozen drink poured from the machine.

The column that matters is the middle one. A medium cup is 660 g of slush, and everything on the label except carbohydrate rounds to nothing.

% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

Two rows you would expect are missing. USDA does not publish added sugars for this FNDDS record, and it does not publish trans fat either, so neither line appears above rather than being guessed at. Cholesterol and potassium are both 0 mg, in the cup and per 100 g. The 66 mg of sodium in a medium is worth about one thirty-fifth of a teaspoon of table salt, which is why the FDA Daily Value for it lands at 3%.

US cup sizes from one ounce to an extra large

The small, medium and large lines are USDA household measures for this record. The 1 oz line is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not a USDA serving, and it is there for one reason: to show how little an ounce of slush is worth.

Here is the trap almost every slush estimate falls into. A measuring cup of slush is 240 g and 67 calories, so it is tempting to call a "cup" of ICEE about 70. The cup you are handed at a movie theater or a gas station is nothing like a measuring cup. A medium is 660 g, which is nearly three measuring cups, and 185 calories instead of 67. If you log slush by eye in cups, you will be under by a factor of about two and three quarters.

Every ICEE size and the sugar-free version

Every regular size runs off the same 2710576 row at 28 calories per 100 g, so the size is the whole story. An extra large is 336 calories, twelve times the per-100-g number, one of the widest gaps you will find between a food's density and its serving on a menu board.

The sugar-free option is a different USDA record, FNDDS 2710577, "Slush frozen drink, no sugar added", at 11 calories per 100 g. Swap it into a medium cup and you get 73 calories, less than a small regular ICEE at 101. That is the only substitution on this page that actually changes the arithmetic.

Flavor does not. USDA has no separate machine records for blue raspberry, cherry or fruit punch, and there is no nutritional reason to expect one, because the syrups are built to the same sugar spec. Where flavor labels do carry their own numbers is on the retail shelf: the bottled and pouched ICEE slush products run 68 to 76 calories per 100 g, and a freeze tube is 88 per 100 g but only 68 g, so it lands at 60 calories. Those retail items are denser than the drink because they are not whipped full of ice and air.

Sugar is the only row that moves

A medium ICEE carries 50.7 g of total sugars alongside 50.7 g of carbohydrate. Those are the same number, and that is not a typo: apart from a trace of fat, sugar is the only macronutrient in the cup. There is no protein, no fiber and no fat worth counting, which is unusual even among sweet drinks.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans cap added sugars at 10% of calories, about 50 g on a 2,000-calorie day. This page will not score the drink against that cap, because USDA does not break out added sugars for this record and total sugars are a different measurement. What can be said plainly is that in a machine slush, the sugars come from syrup rather than from fruit, and MyPlate treats sweetened drinks as the easiest place to cut back.

If you are watching sugar rather than calories, the size ladder matters more than the flavor: going from a large to a small takes 64.5 g down to 27.6 g. If you are watching calories only, an ICEE is a cheap treat by the standards of the drinks counter, and a small at 101 fits inside most snack budgets without any rearranging.

How does an ICEE compare?

Our take: the ice pop is the densest thing in this table per 100 g at 79 calories, and the smallest thing you can eat from it at 41 calories, because it is served in 52 g. The slush is the opposite — the second-lightest per gram and by far the biggest number on the plate, purely because the cup is 660 g. For a treat with a hard ceiling, take the pop or a scoop of Italian ice. If you want the ICEE, take the small and skip the free refill; that is 101 calories instead of 185, and it costs you nothing in sugar you would miss.

Most popular icee 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.

Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.

ICEE FAQs

Similar foods

• Tom yum soup — 191 cal per bowl
• Clementine — 35 cal per clementine
• Ceviche — 158 cal per cup
• Pomegranate — 72 cal for 1/2 cup arils
• Clam Chowder — 237 cal per cup
• Chinese Chicken and Broccoli — 206 cal per cup

Count it without the math

Point the camera at the cup and BodyPal counts the slush for you, size and all.