How many calories are in a pickle?
One large dill pickle, the 4-inch kind that comes out of the jar whole, weighs 135 g and carries 16 calories. Per 100 g the figure is 12 calories. That makes it one of the lightest things you can put on a plate. The salt is where it stops being free: 1,092 mg of sodium in that single pickle.
On this page
- Pickle quick facts
- US servings, from one slice to a full cup
- Sweet, sour, reduced sodium and fried
- Sodium is the row that matters
- How does a pickle compare?
- Most popular pickle brands
- FAQ
Pickle quick facts
In American English, "pickle" with no adjective means a dill or kosher dill cucumber, so that is the record this page is built on: SR Legacy 168558, "Pickles, cucumber, dill or kosher dill". It is the only entry for this food with a complete label profile, including sugars, saturated fat and cholesterol.
The serving column below is the USDA household measure for one large pickle, roughly 4 inches long, at 135 g.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 large pickle (135 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 12 | 16 | — |
| Total fat | 0.3 g | 0.4 g | 1% |
| Saturated fat | 0.08 g | 0.1 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 2.41 g | 3.3 g | 1% |
| Dietary fiber | 1 g | 1.4 g | 5% |
| Total sugars | 1.07 g | 1.4 g | — |
| Protein | 0.5 g | 0.7 g | 1% |
| Sodium | 809 mg | 1092 mg | 47% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0% |
| Potassium | 117 mg | 158 mg | 3% |
% 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 here, because the SR Legacy edition of this record does not carry one. For a plain dill pickle that hardly matters: the brine is vinegar, water and salt, and the 1.07 g of total sugars per 100 g is what the cucumber brought with it. Sweet pickles are a different food entirely, and their numbers are further down the page.
Two other USDA entries describe the same cucumber, and they are worth knowing about because a nutrition app or a search result may quote either one.
| Record | Type | Calories per 100 g | Sodium per 100 g | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 168558 | SR Legacy | 12 | 809 mg | The full label profile used on this page |
| 324653 | Foundation | 12 | 808 mg | A newer lab analysis of the same pickle, with no sugars or saturated fat reported |
| 2710078 | FNDDS | 14 | 808 mg | The survey code used in dietary recalls, rounded up from the same analysis |
The gap is rounding and reporting, not disagreement about the food. Nobody is pickling a cucumber that is 17% denser in calories than the one next to it.
US servings, from one slice to a full cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 slice | 7 g | 1 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 3 kcal |
| 1 small spear | 35 g | 4 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 12 kcal |
| 1 large pickle, about 4 inches | 135 g | 16 kcal |
| 1 cup, sliced (about 23 slices) | 155 g | 19 kcal |
The slice, the spear, the large pickle and the sliced cup are all 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 because that is the unit printed on most American jar labels.
Notice what a cup does here. With most foods, moving from one piece to a full cup is where the calories arrive. With dill pickles a whole packed cup of slices is 19 calories, three more than a single large pickle. The volume is water and brine. If you are logging a burger and you add two sandwich slices at 7 g each, you have added 2 calories, and rounding will erase them.
Store labels tell the same story from a different direction. Claussen Kosher Dill Sandwich Slices list 5 calories per 1 oz serving and Safie's Deli Style Dill Pickles list 5 per 1 to 1.5 spears; both round from figures in the same neighborhood as the USDA record. The bread and butter jars break the pattern: Vlasic Stackers Bread & Butter come in at 10 calories per ounce and Mt. Olive Bread & Butter at 30, which is the sugar in the brine, not the cucumber.
Sweet, sour, reduced sodium and fried
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dill or kosher dill | 12 kcal | 1 large, 135 g | 16 kcal |
| Dill, reduced sodium | 12 kcal | 1 large, 135 g | 16 kcal |
| Sour, fermented | 11 kcal | 1 cup, 155 g | 17 kcal |
| Sweet, bread and butter | 91 kcal | 1 cup sliced or chips, 153 g | 139 kcal |
| Sweet, low sodium | 122 kcal | 1 cup sliced, 170 g | 207 kcal |
| Sweet pickle relish | 130 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 36 kcal |
| Fried pickles | 213 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 60 kcal |
Sweet and bread and butter are the same idea: cucumber in a sugared brine. At 91 calories per 100 g they carry more than seven times the calories of a dill pickle, and a 153 g cup of chips lands at 139 with about 28 g of total sugars. If you eat sweet chips on a sandwich the way other people eat dill spears, that swap alone is worth around 120 calories.
Sour pickles are fermented rather than vinegar-packed, and at 11 calories per 100 g they are the lightest of the lot. They pay for it in salt: 1,208 mg of sodium per 100 g, the highest per-100 g figure on this page.
Reduced sodium dill is the one label that does exactly what it says without a catch. Same 12 calories per 100 g, same cucumber, but 18 mg of sodium per 100 g instead of 809. The low sodium sweet record is the trap: it also drops to 18 mg, but it climbs to 122 calories per 100 g, well above the 91 of regular sweet pickles. Taking the salt out of a sweet brine leaves more room for sugar.
Fried pickles stop being a vegetable in any useful sense. Battered and fried, they run 213 calories per 100 g, close to eighteen times the plain pickle, with 12.91 g of fat. An ounce is 60 calories, and an appetizer basket is many ounces.
Sodium is the row that matters
One large dill pickle delivers 1,092 mg of sodium against 16 calories. Set against the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg, that is 47% of the day's sodium from 0.8% of the day's calories. In salt terms it is a shade under half a teaspoon of table salt, by our own arithmetic from the 2,300 mg figure.
That ratio is the single most useful thing to know about pickles. The calorie count is so small that it barely registers in a log, so a pickle habit never shows up on the scale side of a food diary. It shows up on the sodium line, which most people never look at. The CDC's sodium guidance is the place to start if that line is one you have been told to watch; a reduced sodium dill at 18 mg per 100 g is the straightforward substitution, and it costs nothing in calories.
The other row worth a glance is fiber. A large pickle carries 1.4 g, 5% of the 28 g Daily Value, which is not nothing for something that costs 16 calories. Potassium is 158 mg, about 3% of the Daily Value.
How does a pickle compare?
| Pickled food | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickle, dill | 12 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 3 kcal |
| Hot peppers, pickled | 22 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 6 kcal |
| Beets, pickled | 65 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 18 kcal |
| Green olives | 145 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 41 kcal |
Our take: on the relish tray, the dill pickle is the cheapest thing there, at half the calories of pickled hot peppers and roughly a twelfth of green olives per ounce. If you want volume on the plate for almost nothing, pickles win outright, and it is not close. If you are building a snack you actually want to feel, olives at 15.32 g of fat per 100 g will hold you far longer than a jar of dills ever will. Pick pickles for bulk and crunch, olives for satiety, and treat sweet pickles as what they are, which is candy in a brine.
Most popular pickle 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) |
|---|---|
| Claussen Kosher Dill Sandwich Slices | 18 cal |
| Claussen Deli-Style Kosher Dill Halves | 11 cal |
| Safie's Deli Style Dill Pickles | 17 cal |
| Safie's Hot & Spicy Deli Style Dill Pickles | 18 cal |
| Vlasic Stackers Bread & Butter Pickles | 36 cal |
| Mt. Olive Bread & Butter Pickles | 107 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Pickle FAQs
How many calories are in a pickle?
One large dill pickle of 135 g has 16 calories, and per 100 g the figure is 12. A single 7 g slice is about 1 calorie and a packed cup of slices, 155 g, is 19. Sweet pickles are a different food and run far higher.
How many calories are in a dill pickle spear?
A small spear of 35 g carries 4 calories, using the USDA figure of 12 calories per 100 g. Four spears together are 16 calories, the same as one large whole pickle. The spear also brings roughly 283 mg of sodium, which matters far more than the calories do.
Are pickles zero calories?
No, but they are close: dill pickles are 12 calories per 100 g, so a slice rounds to 1 calorie and an ounce to 3. Labels that print zero are rounding a real number down. A large pickle is 16 calories, small enough that it will not move a daily total.
How much sodium is in a dill pickle?
One large dill pickle holds 1,092 mg of sodium, 47% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg, from 809 mg per 100 g. Sour fermented pickles are saltier still at 1,208 mg per 100 g. Reduced sodium dills drop to 18 mg per 100 g with no change in calories.
How many carbs are in pickles?
Dill pickles have 2.41 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a large 135 g pickle has 3.3 g, of which 1.4 g is fiber and 1.4 g is sugars. That is 1% of the Daily Value. Sweet pickles are the opposite case at 21.15 g of carbohydrate per 100 g.
Are pickles good for weight loss?
At 12 calories per 100 g, dill pickles add crunch and volume to a meal for almost no calories, which is genuinely useful when you are counting. The catch is 809 mg of sodium per 100 g. If you are watching sodium, reduced sodium dills at 18 mg per 100 g are the better pick.
How many calories are in a sweet pickle?
Sweet or bread and butter pickles run 91 calories per 100 g, so a 153 g cup of chips is 139 calories with about 28 g of total sugars. That is more than seven times a dill pickle. Low sodium sweet pickles are higher again at 122 calories per 100 g.
How many calories are in fried pickles?
Battered and fried pickles are 213 calories per 100 g with 12.91 g of fat, so a single ounce is 60 calories. That is close to eighteen times the plain pickle it started as. A shared appetizer basket is several ounces, which puts it in burger territory.
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 plate and BodyPal counts the pickles, brine and all.
