How many calories are in papaya?
A 1-cup serving of 1-inch papaya cubes weighs 145 g and carries 62 calories. Raw papaya runs 43 calories per 100 g, which puts it among the lightest fruits you can pile into a bowl. Half a small papaya, the way most people actually eat it, is 34. The sugar is all its own.
You'd need to walk about 12 minutes to burn the 62 calories in a 1-cup (145 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off papaya?
A 1-cup (145 g) serving is 62 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 62 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 12 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 8 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 9 min |
| Jogging | 7 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 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 (145 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Papaya quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a whole large fruit
- Canned, dried, nectar and juice
- Fiber and potassium beat the calorie count
- How does papaya compare?
- Most popular papaya brands
- FAQ
Papaya quick facts
The row behind every number here is SR Legacy 169926, "Papayas, raw" — the full analytical entry for fresh papaya, seeds scooped out, flesh only. That is what a person is holding when they cut one open at the counter. USDA also carries a survey mirror of the same food (FNDDS 2709246) with identical values, so nothing changes if you land on that page instead.
Everything else on the shelf — canned, dried, nectar — is a different food with a different calorie count, and each one gets its own section further down.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup 1" pieces (145 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 43 | 62 | — |
| Total fat | 0.26 g | 0.4 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 0.08 g | 0.1 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 10.82 g | 15.7 g | 6% |
| Dietary fiber | 1.7 g | 2.5 g | 9% |
| Total sugars | 7.82 g | 11.3 g | — |
| Protein | 0.47 g | 0.7 g | 1% |
| Sodium | 8 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 →
There is no added sugars row because the SR Legacy edition does not publish added sugars at all, and fresh papaya has none to publish. Cholesterol is 0 mg, as it is in every fruit. Potassium is the quiet win: 182 mg per 100 g, so 264 mg in a cup, which is 6% of the Daily Value.
US servings, from one ounce to a whole large fruit
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 12 kcal |
| Half a small papaya | 78.5 g | 34 kcal |
| 1 cup, 1-inch pieces | 145 g | 62 kcal |
| One small papaya | 157 g | 68 kcal |
| One large papaya | 781 g | 336 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 43 kcal |
The cup of 1-inch pieces, the small fruit and the large fruit are USDA household measures. The ounce and the half-fruit line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings — useful, because half a papaya with a squeeze of lime is how the fruit usually leaves the cutting board.
The gap between the two whole fruits is the thing worth remembering. A small papaya is 157 g and 68 calories. A large one is 781 g, five times the flesh and 336 calories, which is lunch-sized rather than snack-sized. If you log "one papaya" without weighing it, you can be off by 268 calories in either direction. MyPlate counts a cup of cut fruit as one cup-equivalent from the Fruit Group, so the 145 g cup is also the tidiest unit for tracking servings, not just calories.
Canned, dried, nectar and juice
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical portion | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw papaya | 43 kcal | 1 cup pieces, 145 g | 62 kcal |
| Canned in juice or light syrup | 52 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 15 kcal |
| Canned in heavy syrup, drained | 206 kcal | one piece, 39 g | 80 kcal |
| Dried papaya | 302 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 85 kcal |
| Papaya nectar, canned | 57 kcal | 1 cup, 250 g | 143 kcal |
| Papaya juice, 100% | 57 kcal | 1 cup, 248 g | 141 kcal |
Dried papaya is the one that catches people out. At 302 calories per 100 g it is seven times the fresh fruit by weight, because the water is gone and the sugar is not: 67.55 g of sugars per 100 g against 7.82 g fresh. One ounce of dried chunks is 85 calories — our own scaling from the USDA 100 g figure — while an ounce of fresh papaya is 12.
Retail bags run higher than the generic record. USDA's branded entries put several dried papaya chunks at 350 calories per 100 g, so the 40 g serving printed on the bag is 140 calories, and a low-sugar diced version at 354 per 100 g reaches 202 calories in its 57 g (2 oz) serving. Frozen or fresh-packed chunks stay honest: one supermarket pack lists 43 calories per 100 g, 59 for its 138 g serving, which is the raw fruit exactly.
Heavy syrup does the same damage in liquid form. The drained canned fruit is 206 calories and 52.2 g of sugars per 100 g, so a single 39 g piece is 80 calories — more than a whole small papaya's worth of sugar in one bite. Canned in juice or light syrup, papaya lands at 52 per 100 g, close enough to fresh that it barely moves a log; the one-ounce line there, 15 calories, is our own scaling from that 100 g figure rather than a USDA serving.
Nectar and 100% juice both sit at 57 calories per 100 g, about a third more than the fruit, and a cup of either is roughly 141 to 143 calories. What you give up is fiber: 0.6 g per 100 g in the juice against 1.7 g in the fruit.
Fiber and potassium beat the calorie count
A cup of papaya is 62 calories and 2.5 g of fiber — 9% of the Daily Value from something that costs 3% of a 2,000-calorie day. Very few foods return fiber at that rate. Sodium is 12 mg, 1% of the DV, or roughly a two-hundredth of a teaspoon of table salt: papaya is effectively a zero-sodium food, which matters if you are watching that row elsewhere on the plate.
The sugar question comes up constantly, and the answer is in the label rules. Papaya's 11.3 g of sugars per cup are intrinsic to the fruit, and total sugars have no Daily Value at all — only added sugars do, at 50 g. The Dietary Guidelines cap added sugars at less than 10% of daily calories, and fresh papaya contributes nothing to that cap. Canned-in-heavy-syrup papaya does, which is the whole argument for reading the can.
If you are choosing between forms for a breakfast bowl, fresh wins on volume per calorie by a wide margin. Two full cups of cubes, 290 g, come to 124 calories — still less than a 40 g handful of dried chunks off the shelf.
How does papaya compare?
| Fruit | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papaya | 43 kcal | 1 cup pieces, 145 g | 62 kcal |
| Blackberries | 43 kcal | 1 cup, 144 g | 62 kcal |
| Mulberries | 43 kcal | 1 cup, 140 g | 60 kcal |
| Nectarines | 44 kcal | 1 cup slices, 143 g | 63 kcal |
Our take: these four are effectively the same food from a calorie standpoint — 43 or 44 per 100 g, and 60 to 63 for a cup. Pick on texture and price, not on numbers. Where papaya loses is protein: 0.47 g per 100 g, the lowest of the four, against 1.44 g in mulberries and 1.39 g in blackberries. Where it wins is bulk per dollar and the fact that half a fruit is a ready-made 34-calorie portion with no measuring cup involved.
Most popular papaya 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) |
|---|---|
| Valued Naturals Dried Papaya Chunks | 350 cal |
| PCC Low Sugar Diced Papaya | 354 cal |
| Signature Select Papaya Chunks | 43 cal |
| Best Choice Papaya Chunks | 350 cal |
| Mavuno Harvest Papaya | 250 cal |
| Free Range Snack Co Papaya Dices | 300 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Papaya FAQs
How many calories are in 1 cup of papaya?
A cup of 1-inch papaya pieces, 145 g, is 62 calories. That comes with 15.7 g of carbohydrate, 2.5 g of fiber and 11.3 g of natural sugars. It is one of the cheapest cups of fruit you can add to a breakfast bowl, and it takes up real space on the plate.
How many calories in half a papaya?
Half a small papaya is about 34 calories at 78.5 g, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure of 43 calories rather than a USDA serving. Scoop the seeds out, squeeze lime over it, and you have a breakfast that costs less than a single slice of bread.
How many calories are in a whole papaya?
A small whole papaya, 157 g of flesh, is 68 calories. A large one is a different animal: 781 g and 336 calories, which is a meal-sized bowl rather than a snack. Both figures come from the USDA record for raw papaya at 43 calories per 100 g.
How many carbs are in papaya?
Raw papaya has 10.82 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a 145 g cup carries 15.7 g, or 6% of the Daily Value. Fiber accounts for 2.5 g of that cup. Dried papaya is the outlier at 75.43 g per 100 g, because the water has been taken out.
How much sugar is in papaya?
Papaya has 7.82 g of total sugars per 100 g, so a cup holds 11.3 g. None of it is added sugar; total sugars carry no Daily Value on the label. Canned papaya in heavy syrup is the version to watch, at 52.2 g of sugars per 100 g.
Is papaya good for weight loss?
At 43 calories per 100 g, papaya is one of the lighter fruits by weight, and a full cup is only 62 calories with 2.5 g of fiber. That combination fills a bowl for very little. The dried and syrup-packed versions do the opposite, at 302 and 206 calories per 100 g.
How many calories in dried papaya?
Dried papaya is 302 calories per 100 g in the USDA record, so one ounce is about 85 calories, our own arithmetic from that figure. Retail dried chunks run higher still, around 350 per 100 g, and a 40 g bag on the label lands at 140 calories.
How many calories in papaya juice?
Papaya juice is 57 calories per 100 g, so a 248 g cup is 141 calories. Canned papaya nectar matches it at 57 per 100 g, or 143 for a 250 g cup. Both drop the fiber to 0.6 g per 100 g, against 1.7 g in the fresh fruit.
Similar foods
- Grapefruit — 52 cal for 1/2 medium grapefruit
- Nectarine — 31 cal for 1/2 medium
- Plum — 30 cal per plum
- Blood Orange — 62 cal per medium blood orange
- Cara Cara Orange — 69 cal per medium orange
- Pineapple — 83 cal per cup chunks
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the papaya for you, half a fruit or a full cup.
