How many calories are in mozzarella?
One cup of shredded mozzarella weighs 113 g and carries 334 calories. Per 100 g the cheese runs 296 calories, with 23.7 g of protein and 20.4 g of fat. A single 21 g slice is only 62. Mozzarella is the lightest of the four cheeses compared below, but the cup is where it stops being light.
You'd need to walk about 67 minutes to burn the 334 calories in one cup of shredded mozzarella (113 g).
How long does it take to burn off mozzarella?
One cup of shredded mozzarella (113 g) is 334 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 334 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 1 hr 7 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 42 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 48 min |
| Jogging | 39 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 1 hr 14 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 (113 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Mozzarella quick facts
- US servings from one slice to a melted cup
- Whole milk part skim and the shredded bag
- Breaded mozzarella sticks are a different food
- Saturated fat runs out before the calories do
- How does mozzarella compare?
- Most popular mozzarella brands
- Mozzarella FAQs
Mozzarella quick facts
The row on this page is FNDDS 2705722, "Cheese, Mozzarella, NFS". NFS stands for "not further specified," and that is exactly the cheese most people are holding: a block, a ball in water, or a resealable bag of shreds, bought without checking whether it was made from whole milk or part-skim. It is the honest default when the package does not say.
Two other USDA records describe mozzarella too, and both are narrower. Foundation 329370 is a fresh laboratory measurement of low-moisture part-skim at 298 calories per 100 g, and SR Legacy 171244 is an older reading of the same product at 295. They differ from the number above by the preparation they describe, not by the source — all three are USDA.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup, shredded (113 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 296 | 334 | — |
| Total fat | 20.4 g | 23.1 g | 30% |
| Saturated fat | 11.7 g | 13.2 g | 66% |
| Carbohydrate | 4.44 g | 5.0 g | 2% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 1.81 g | 2.0 g | — |
| Protein | 23.7 g | 26.8 g | 54% |
| Sodium | 699 mg | 790 mg | 34% |
% 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 →
Added sugars and trans fat are not in the table because USDA does not publish those values for the generic mozzarella record. Cholesterol and potassium are: the cup holds 73 mg of cholesterol, 24% of the Daily Value, and 131 mg of potassium, only 3%. The 790 mg of sodium works out to roughly a third of a teaspoon of table salt.
US servings from one slice to a melted cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 slice | 21 g | 62 kcal |
| 1 oz, or one string cheese stick | 28.35 g | 84 kcal |
| 1 cup, shredded | 113 g | 334 kcal |
| 1 cup, diced | 132 g | 391 kcal |
| 1 cup, melted | 244 g | 722 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 296 kcal |
Every serving above the 100 g row is a USDA household measure for record 2705722, which is unusual — most foods give you one or two. The spread is the whole story. A cup of shreds is 113 g because shredded cheese is mostly air. Dice the same cheese and the cup takes 132 g. Melt it and the cup takes 244 g, more than double the shredded weight, which is how a "cup of mozzarella" on a casserole recipe can quietly mean 722 calories.
The slice-to-cup jump is the trap people actually fall into. A cup of shreds is 334 calories against 62 for one slice — more than five slices in a single scoop, and the scoop takes two seconds. If you log cheese by handfuls, a kitchen scale will change your numbers more than switching brands ever will.
Whole milk part skim and the shredded bag
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk mozzarella | 299 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 85 kcal |
| Part skim mozzarella | 254 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 72 kcal |
| Shredded low-moisture part-skim | 304 kcal | 1 cup, shredded (113 g) | 344 kcal |
| Nonfat mozzarella | 141 kcal | 1 cup, shredded (113 g) | 159 kcal |
| Low sodium mozzarella | 280 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 79 kcal |
Whole milk versus part skim is a smaller decision than the labels suggest: 299 against 254 per 100 g, which is 13 calories an ounce. Drying is the bigger lever. Whole milk mozzarella that has been made low-moisture jumps to 318 calories per 100 g, because pulling water out concentrates everything left behind. That is why the soft ball floating in brine feels lighter than the firm block — it partly is, and partly it is just wetter.
Nonfat mozzarella is the one genuine outlier at 141 calories per 100 g. A full cup of it is 159 calories, 175 fewer than the regular cup, and it carries 31.7 g of protein per 100 g because removing the fat leaves protein as the bulk of what remains. It also melts poorly and tastes like it. Low-sodium mozzarella saves calories almost by accident, at 280 per 100 g.
On the retail shelf the branded numbers land close to the generic row. A Galbani or Santa Barbara Creamery string cheese stick reads 80 calories for 28 g, and fresh mozzarella packed in water — BelGioioso and Galbani Fresh both — reads 70 calories an ounce at 250 per 100 g. The water is doing the work there, not a lighter recipe.
Breaded mozzarella sticks are a different food
Search "mozzarella calories" and half the results are really about the fried appetizer. FNDDS 2705817 puts breaded mozzarella sticks at 325 calories per 100 g, and a typical 44 g stick at 143 calories. Six of them, a standard basket, clear 850 calories before anyone touches the marinara.
The interesting part is not the calorie count but the composition. Breaded sticks carry 25.14 g of carbohydrate per 100 g against 4.44 g for plain mozzarella, and only 14.75 g of protein against 23.7 g. Sodium climbs to 861 mg. You are eating a fried carbohydrate shell with cheese inside it, and it should be logged as its own item, never as "cheese."
Saturated fat runs out before the calories do
The cup of shreds is 334 calories, which is under 17% of a 2,000-calorie day — a reasonable lunch component. The same cup is 13.2 g of saturated fat, or 66% of the FDA Daily Value of 20 g. That mismatch is the single most useful fact on this page. Mozzarella is not calorie-dense for a cheese; it is saturated-fat-dense for a lunch.
Practically, that means the ceiling arrives from the fat side. Two slices, 42 g, is 124 calories and about 4.9 g of saturated fat by our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure — comfortable. A pizza's worth of melted shreds is not. If you are watching saturated fat rather than calories, part-skim at 10.11 g per 100 g is the version to buy, and MyPlate counts mozzarella toward the dairy group either way.
The protein side is genuinely good news. At 26.8 g in a cup, mozzarella covers 54% of the protein Daily Value, and an ounce delivers about 6.7 g for 84 calories. Few snack foods do that.
How does mozzarella compare?
| Cheese | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mozzarella | 296 kcal | 1 oz, 28.35 g | 84 kcal |
| Cheddar, reduced fat | 316 kcal | 1 oz, 28.35 g | 90 kcal |
| Brie | 334 kcal | 1 oz, 28.35 g | 95 kcal |
| American | 340 kcal | 1 oz, 28.35 g | 96 kcal |
Our take: mozzarella is the lightest of these four per ounce, but by twelve calories against American cheese — that is a rounding error, not a strategy. Where it actually wins is protein: 23.7 g per 100 g against 16.79 g for American, so you get more of what keeps you full for the same money in calories. For weight loss, buy part skim and weigh the shreds. For fullness, whole milk mozzarella on something with fiber does more work than either brie or American ever will.
Most popular mozzarella 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) |
|---|---|
| Galbani Mozzarella String Cheese | 286 cal |
| Galbani Mozzarella Fresca | 286 cal |
| Galbani Fresh Mozzarella Cheese | 250 cal |
| Santa Barbara Creamery Mozzarella Cheese | 286 cal |
| BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella | 250 cal |
| BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella Zesty | 286 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Mozzarella FAQs
How many calories are in 1 cup of shredded mozzarella?
A cup of shredded mozzarella weighs 113 g and carries 334 calories. That same cup brings 26.8 g of protein, 23.1 g of fat and 790 mg of sodium. A loosely filled cup weighs less than a packed one, so a kitchen scale beats a measuring cup for anything shredded.
How many calories are in 1 oz of mozzarella?
One ounce of mozzarella is 84 calories, from the USDA figure of 296 calories per 100 g. An ounce is 28.35 g, which is a slice and a third, or one string cheese stick. Scaled from that same row, the ounce holds about 6.7 g of protein and 198 mg of sodium.
How much protein is in mozzarella?
Mozzarella carries 23.7 g of protein per 100 g, so a 113 g cup of shreds delivers 26.8 g, which is 54% of the Daily Value. An ounce is roughly 6.7 g by our own arithmetic from the 100 g figure. Nonfat mozzarella is higher still, at 31.7 g per 100 g.
Is mozzarella lower in calories than cheddar?
Yes, but barely: mozzarella is 296 calories per 100 g against 316 for reduced-fat cheddar, which is 84 calories an ounce against 90. That six-calorie gap is not a diet decision. Brie at 334 and American at 340 per 100 g are the heavier picks on the same cheese board.
How much sodium is in mozzarella cheese?
Mozzarella has 699 mg of sodium per 100 g, so a cup of shreds is 790 mg, or 34% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. That is about a third of a teaspoon of table salt. Whole milk mozzarella is milder at 486 mg per 100 g; nonfat is the saltiest at 743 mg.
How many calories in a mozzarella string cheese stick?
A standard mozzarella string cheese stick is 28 g and 80 calories on the label, close to the 84 that the generic USDA row gives for a 28.35 g ounce. Sticks stay honest because someone else portioned them. The same cheese loose in a bag runs 334 calories a cup.
Is part-skim mozzarella good for weight loss?
Part skim mozzarella is 254 calories per 100 g against 299 for whole milk, a gap of 45 calories, or 72 against 85 per ounce. It also carries slightly more protein, 24.26 g against 22.17 g. It is the better pick if you are watching calories, though portion size moves the total far more.
How many calories in mozzarella sticks?
Breaded mozzarella sticks run 325 calories per 100 g, and a typical 44 g stick is 143 calories, so a basket of six clears 850 before the marinara. The breading pushes carbohydrate to 25.14 g per 100 g, where plain mozzarella sits at 4.44 g, and sodium to 861 mg.
Similar foods
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- Sausage — 210 cal per link
- Italian sub — 610 cal per regular sub
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the mozzarella for you, shreds and all.
