How many calories are in a glass of Kool-Aid?
An 8 fl oz glass of Kool-Aid mixed from the powder is 102 calories, and the drink runs 41 calories per 100 g once it is in the pitcher. That is a glass of sweetened water: 25.9 g of carbohydrate, 24.2 g of it sugar, and no protein, fat or fiber at all.
You'd need to walk about 20 minutes to burn the 102 calories in one 8 fl oz glass (248 g).
How long does it take to burn off Kool-Aid?
One 8 fl oz glass (248 g) is 102 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 102 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 20 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 13 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 15 min |
| Jogging | 12 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 23 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 (248 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Kool-Aid quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a full glass
- Mix, bottle, pouch and sugar-free
- The sugar row is the one to watch
- How does Kool-Aid compare?
- Most popular kool-aid brands
- Kool-Aid FAQs
Kool-Aid quick facts
The record behind this page is FNDDS 2710584, "Fruit flavored drink, with high vitamin C, powdered, reconstituted". It is the drink you actually hold: powder stirred into a pitcher of water, sweetened, and fortified with vitamin C the way the packet is. USDA even carries the household measure that matches the packet directions, one tablespoon of dry mix making a single 8 fl oz glass.
Bottled fruit punch and the pouches are different products with their own records, so they stay out of this table and get their own section below. What changes between them is the preparation, not the source of the numbers.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 glass, 8 fl oz (248 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 41 | 102 | — |
| Total fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | 10.45 g | 25.9 g | 9% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 9.75 g | 24.2 g | — |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium | 5 mg | 12 mg | 1% |
% 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 on a label are missing on purpose. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this record, so we leave both out instead of estimating them, and the sweetness shows up as total sugars only.
The minerals are barely there. Cholesterol is 0 mg, sodium is 12 mg in a glass against a 2,300 mg Daily Value, and potassium comes to 50 mg, about 1%. Nobody drinks this for the nutrition panel; the whole story is in the carbohydrate line.
US servings, from one ounce to a full glass
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz, with ice | 23 g | 9 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.4 g | 12 kcal |
| 1 fl oz, no ice | 31 g | 13 kcal |
| One glass, 8 fl oz | 248 g | 102 kcal |
| 12 fl oz glass | 372 g | 153 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 41 kcal |
The 8 fl oz glass is the USDA household measure, the one tied to the packet directions. The 12 fl oz glass and the 1 oz row are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, which matters if you are logging a tall tumbler rather than a measuring cup.
Now the part almost nobody accounts for. USDA weighs a fluid ounce of this drink two ways: 31 g on its own, and 23 g when the glass is packed with ice. Ice takes up room the liquid would have filled. So a 12 fl oz glass poured over ice is 276 g and 113 calories, not the 153 you would get by filling the same glass with nothing but drink. That is a 40-calorie gap in a single pour, and across four glasses on a hot afternoon it is worth more than most people's snack.
The other trap is the word cup. A cup of Kool-Aid means 8 fl oz, which is 248 g and 102 calories. Kitchen glasses are rarely 8 oz. Restaurant and fast-food cups start at 16 and go up from there, so if you refill a 16 oz cup twice you are at roughly 400 calories of red water before dinner.
Mix, bottle, pouch and sugar-free
Kool-Aid is not one number. The format decides the count more than the flavor does.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made from drink mix, pitcher | 41 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 248 g | 102 kcal |
| Ready-to-drink fruit punch | 64 kcal | 6.75 fl oz bottle, 209 g | 134 kcal |
| Kool-Aid Jammers pouches | 19 kcal | 2 pouches, 354 g | 68 kcal |
| Sugar-free, made from mix | 2 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 248 g | 5 kcal |
| Lemonade flavor, from mix | 25 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 248 g | 62 kcal |
| Dry drink mix, unprepared | 380 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 108 kcal |
The pitcher you mix yourself is the middle of that range at 41 calories per 100 g. The ready-to-drink punch is 64, so pouring the same 8 fl oz glass from a bottle instead of the pitcher takes you from 102 to 159. That is the single most useful fact on this page: same glass, same color, 57 calories apart, entirely because of how much sugar the manufacturer chose versus how much you stirred in.
Sugar-free mix is the floor. At 2 calories per 100 g, a full glass lands near 5, which is a rounding error rather than a drink you need to log. The lemonade-style mix sits at 25 per 100 g and 62 a glass, roughly a lightly sweetened pitcher.
Dry mix is the number that surprises people. Unprepared, the powder is 380 calories per 100 g and 97.15 g of it is sugar, which is why a 1 oz scoop is 108 calories on its own, more than the glass it makes. Kids eating the powder straight from the packet are eating close to pure sugar.
Among the branded entries, the Jammers pouches are the lightest sweetened format per gram at 19 calories per 100 g, and the bottled Tropical Punch is 32. Four of the bottled flavors in USDA's Branded data, Grape, Lemonade, Watermelon and Peach Mango, all land on the same 42 calories per 100 g and 151 per 12 fl oz bottle.
The sugar row is the one to watch
A glass gives you 9% of the Daily Value for carbohydrate and almost nothing else: 0 g of protein, 0 g of fat, 0 g of fiber. Every calorie in it is sugar in water. That is a different thing from a food that costs you 102 calories and gives back protein or fiber, and it is why drinks are the first place most people trim when they start counting.
The record lists 24.2 g of total sugars in an 8 fl oz glass. USDA does not break out added sugars for this entry, so we do not convert that figure into a percentage of anything; total sugars and added sugars are different measures and mixing them gives a false number. For your own reference, FDA's Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g a day, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest keeping added sugars under 10% of daily calories. In a pitcher you sweeten yourself, you control that line directly with the scoop.
If sugary drinks are where your day leaks calories, CDC's Rethink Your Drink guidance is the practical version of all this: change the drink, keep the meal. Using less sugar in the pitcher moves the same glass from 102 to something near the 62 of the lightly sweetened record, and swapping to the sugar-free mix takes it to 5.
How does Kool-Aid compare?
| Drink | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kool-Aid from the mix | 41 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 248 g | 102 kcal |
| Ready-to-drink fruit punch | 64 kcal | 6.75 fl oz bottle, 209 g | 134 kcal |
| Lightly sweetened powdered drink | 25 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 248 g | 62 kcal |
| Diet fruit drink | 4 kcal | 8 fl oz glass, 240 g | 10 kcal |
Of these four, two sit below the pitcher's 41 calories per 100 g, the lightly sweetened mix at 25 and the diet drink at 4. The bottled punch at 64 is the only one above it.
Our take: if you are counting calories, the pitcher you mix at home is the better buy, and it is better mostly because you hold the sugar scoop. Use less than the packet suggests and you land near 62 a glass without noticing much; use the sugar-free mix and the drink stops counting at 5. If you are drinking for satiety, none of these do anything at all, and 102 calories of milk or a piece of fruit will hold you far longer. The bottled versions are the ones to watch, because a small 6.75 fl oz bottle carries 134 calories, more than a full 8 oz glass from the pitcher.
Most popular kool-aid 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) |
|---|---|
| Kool-Aid Jammers Tropical Punch | 19 cal |
| Kool-Aid Tropical Punch Bottle | 32 cal |
| Kool-Aid Grape Drink | 42 cal |
| Kool-Aid Lemonade Drink | 42 cal |
| Kool-Aid Watermelon Drink | 42 cal |
| Kool-Aid Peach Mango Drink | 42 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Kool-Aid FAQs
How many calories are in a glass of Kool-Aid?
An 8 fl oz glass mixed from the powder is 102 calories, based on USDA's 41 calories per 100 g for reconstituted fruit flavored drink. A 12 fl oz glass poured to the rim is 372 g and 153 calories, our own arithmetic from the same 100 g figure. Ice lowers both.
How many calories in Kool-Aid made with sugar?
102 calories for an 8 fl oz glass at the sweetness USDA records for a standard pitcher, 41 calories per 100 g. A more lightly sweetened batch, logged separately by USDA at 25 calories per 100 g, drops the same glass to 62. How much sugar goes in decides it.
How much sugar is in one cup of Kool-Aid?
One cup, 8 fl oz or 248 g, carries 24.2 g of total sugars, from 9.75 g per 100 g. USDA does not publish an added sugars figure for this record, so that row is left out here rather than estimated. Total sugars is the number the record gives.
Does sugar-free Kool-Aid have calories?
Yes, about 5 calories in an 8 fl oz glass. USDA's diet powdered fruit drink lists 2 calories per 100 g and 0 g of sugars, so a full glass is close to nothing but not a true zero. The carbohydrate is 0.73 g per 100 g.
How many calories in a Kool-Aid Jammers pouch?
Two pouches, the 354 mL label serving in USDA's Branded data, come to 68 calories, or 19 calories per 100 g. Halving that ourselves puts one pouch near 34. That is the lightest sweetened Kool-Aid format per gram we found, below the 41 of a pitcher mixed from powder.
How many carbs are in Kool-Aid?
An 8 fl oz glass has 25.9 g of carbohydrate, 9% of the FDA Daily Value, from 10.45 g per 100 g. Almost all of it is sugar, 24.2 g, with 0 g of fiber. There is no fat and no protein in the glass either.
Is Kool-Aid worse than soda?
Not by these numbers: mixed from powder it is 41 calories per 100 g and 102 in an 8 fl oz glass; the ready-to-drink fruit punch record is 64 per 100 g and 159 in that same glass. We do not quote a cola figure, since no cola record was used here.
How many calories in dry Kool-Aid drink mix?
The unprepared powder is 380 calories per 100 g, so a 1 oz scoop of 28.4 g is 108 calories, our own arithmetic from that figure. Sugars run 97.15 g per 100 g. One tablespoon of dry mix is what USDA expects to make a single 8 fl oz glass.
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
Pour the glass, point the camera at it, and BodyPal logs the pitcher, the bottle or the pouch for you.
