How many calories are in pistachios?
A 1 oz serving of shelled pistachios is 162 calories, and per 100 g the kernels run 572 calories. That ounce is about 49 kernels, and it brings 6 g of protein and 2.9 g of fiber along with the fat. Buy them in the shell and one cup gets you far less than you would guess.
You'd need to walk about 32 minutes to burn the 162 calories in a 1 oz serving of shelled kernels (28.35 g).
How long does it take to burn off pistachios?
A 1 oz serving of shelled kernels (28.35 g) is 162 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 162 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 32 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 20 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 23 min |
| Jogging | 19 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 36 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 (28.35 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Pistachio quick facts
- Serving sizes, from one ounce to a full cup
- Salted, lightly salted and unsalted
- Raw, dry roasted and the brands on the shelf
- Fiber, protein and potassium per ounce
- How do pistachios compare to other nuts?
- Most popular pistachio brands
- FAQ
Pistachio quick facts
The record used here is FNDDS 2707527, "Pistachio nuts, NFS". NFS means not further specified, which is exactly the bag most people are holding: pistachios, no note on the label about salted or unsalted, roasted or raw. It is also the only USDA record that carries the full set of American measures for this nut, in the shell and out of it, so the cup and ounce numbers further down all come from one place instead of being stitched together.
The salted and unsalted versions get their own rows later on. The short version: the salt moves the sodium a long way and the calories barely at all.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 oz shelled (28.35 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 572 | 162 | — |
| Total fat | 45.82 g | 13.0 g | 17% |
| Saturated fat | 5.64 g | 1.6 g | 8% |
| Carbohydrate | 28.28 g | 8.0 g | 3% |
| Dietary fiber | 10.3 g | 2.9 g | 10% |
| Total sugars | 7.74 g | 2.2 g | — |
| Protein | 21.05 g | 6.0 g | 12% |
| Sodium | 6 mg | 2 mg | 0% |
% 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 will see on a retail label are missing above: added sugars and trans fat. USDA does not publish either value for this record, so nothing is guessed in their place. Cholesterol is 0 mg, as it is for every plant food. Potassium is the quiet standout at 1,007 mg per 100 g, or 285 mg in an ounce.
Serving sizes, from one ounce to a full cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz in shell, kernels yielded | 15 g | 86 kcal |
| 1 oz shelled kernels | 28.35 g | 162 kcal |
| 1 package | 50 g | 286 kcal |
| 1 cup in shell, kernels yielded | 58 g | 332 kcal |
| 1 cup shelled kernels | 128 g | 732 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 572 kcal |
Every weight in that table is a USDA household measure for record 2707527, including the two shell-adjusted ones, which is unusual and very useful. USDA has already done the arithmetic that trips people up: an ounce of pistachios weighed in the shell leaves you 15 g of kernels, and a cup measured in the shell leaves you 58 g.
That is the number worth memorizing. A cup of pistachios in the shell is 332 calories. A cup of shelled kernels is 732 calories. Same cup, same nut, 400 calories of difference, all of it hidden in the shell you throw away. If you log "1 cup of pistachios" from a bowl you cracked yourself, you have just logged more than double what you ate.
The 50 g package row is the one that matches a gas-station or airport bag: 286 calories, close to two ounces of kernels.
Salted, lightly salted and unsalted
USDA keeps three salt levels as separate FNDDS records, and comparing them kills a common assumption. Salted pistachios are not the higher-calorie choice.
| Version | Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28.35 g) | Sodium per 100 g | Sodium per 1 oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pistachio nuts, NFS | 572 kcal | 162 kcal | 6 mg | 2 mg |
| Salted | 576 kcal | 163 kcal | 389 mg | 110 mg |
| Lightly salted | 579 kcal | 164 kcal | 198 mg | 56 mg |
| Unsalted | 582 kcal | 165 kcal | 6 mg | 2 mg |
Unsalted is the highest of the four at 582 calories per 100 g, salted the lowest of the three salt levels at 576, and the gap between them is 6 calories per 100 g, or 2 calories in an ounce. Nobody has ever lost weight on that margin. The salt itself contributes no calories; the tiny spread comes from moisture, since a salted nut holds a little more water and a dry unsalted kernel packs slightly more nut into the same gram.
Sodium is where the decision actually lives. An ounce of salted pistachios carries about 110 mg of sodium and lightly salted about 56 mg, both scaled by us from the USDA per-100-g figures rather than taken from a USDA serving. Against the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg, the salted ounce is 5% of a day. Snack on three ounces in front of the TV and you are at 330 mg, roughly what two slices of bread carry. Worth knowing if you are watching sodium; irrelevant if you are not.
Raw, dry roasted and the brands on the shelf
The older SR Legacy records cover the raw and dry roasted forms, and they behave the way you would expect: roasting drives off water, so the roasted kernel is denser per gram.
| Version | Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28.35 g) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw | 560 kcal | 159 kcal | Highest fiber of the group at 10.6 g per 100 g |
| Dry roasted, no salt | 572 kcal | 162 kcal | 6 mg sodium per 100 g |
| Dry roasted, salted | 569 kcal | 161 kcal | 428 mg sodium per 100 g |
| Raw, Foundation lab record | 598 kcal | 170 kcal | Energy calculated by Atwater factors, not measured |
Raw at 560 calories per 100 g is the lowest of the eight USDA pistachio records on this page, and the difference against dry roasted is 12 calories per 100 g, or 3 calories in an ounce. The per-ounce figures for the dry roasted, no salt row and the Foundation row are our own scaling from the USDA 100 g values, not USDA servings.
The last row is the odd one. USDA's newer Foundation analysis of raw pistachios lands at 598 calories per 100 g because the energy there is calculated from Atwater factors rather than carried over from the older analysis, and its fiber reads 6.97 g against 10.6 g in the SR Legacy record. Same nut, different lab method, a 38-calorie spread per 100 g. It stays in the table for honesty and out of the main numbers for consistency.
Retail labels add one more wrinkle. Wonderful's salted bag lists 160 calories for a 30 g serving described as half a cup with shells, its no-salt and natural raw bags list 160 calories for 28 g, and the BBQ version lists 170 calories for 28 g. Corliss lists 150 calories per 1 oz. The seasoned versions sit a little higher, and any label whose serving is weighed with the shells on is describing less nut than the gram number suggests.
Fiber, protein and potassium per ounce
One ounce of pistachios delivers 6.0 g of protein, 12% of the Daily Value, and 2.9 g of fiber, 10% of the DV, for 162 calories. That is a strong ratio for a nut, and it is the reason pistachios are counted in the protein group on MyPlate rather than treated as a plain fat.
Fat is the biggest row at 13.0 g an ounce, 17% of the DV, but only 1.6 g of it is saturated, which is 8% of the DV. Most of the fat here is unsaturated. Compare that with the same weight of cheese or chocolate and the saturated fat column is where pistachios win, not the calorie column.
Potassium is the surprise: 285 mg in an ounce, 6% of the 4,700 mg DV, and 1,007 mg per 100 g, which works out to 21% of a day. Sodium in the plain NFS record is 2 mg an ounce, essentially nothing until someone salts them.
None of this makes an unlimited food. At 572 calories per 100 g, pistachios are as dense as almost any nut, and the difference between a mindful ounce and an absent-minded cup of kernels is 570 calories.
How do pistachios compare to other nuts?
| Nut or seed | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories | Protein per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pistachios | 572 kcal | 1 oz shelled (28.35 g) | 162 kcal | 21.05 g |
| Cashews | 574 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 163 kcal | 15.31 g |
| Peanuts, unroasted | 567 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 161 kcal | 25.80 g |
| Pumpkin seeds | 574 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 163 kcal | 29.84 g |
The three one-ounce servings for the neighbors are our own arithmetic from their USDA 100 g figures.
Our take: stop shopping for the lower-calorie nut, because it does not exist. Across these four the spread is 2 calories per ounce, which is noise. Choose on the other columns instead. Peanuts and pumpkin seeds beat pistachios on protein per 100 g, cashews trail all three. Pistachios win on something none of the others offer: they come in a shell, and cracking them slows you down enough that a cup lands at 332 calories instead of 732. For anyone who eats nuts from a bowl while distracted, that mechanical brake is worth more than any nutrition column here.
Most popular pistachio 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) |
|---|---|
| Wonderful Pistachios | 533 cal |
| Wonderful No Salt Pistachios | 571 cal |
| Wonderful Natural Raw Pistachios | 571 cal |
| Wonderful BBQ Pistachios | 607 cal |
| Setton Farms Chipotle BBQ Pistachios | 567 cal |
| Corliss Pistachios | 536 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Pistachio FAQs
How many calories are in 1 oz of pistachios?
162 calories in a 1 oz serving of shelled kernels, from USDA's "Pistachio nuts, NFS" record at 572 calories per 100 g. That ounce carries 13.0 g of fat, 6.0 g of protein and 2.9 g of fiber. Salted kernels come to 163 calories and unsalted to 165 for the same weight.
How many calories in a cup of pistachios in the shell?
332 calories. A cup measured with the shells on yields 58 g of kernels, according to USDA's own household measure for this record. A cup of already-shelled kernels weighs 128 g and comes to 732 calories, so the shells account for a 400-calorie difference in the same cup.
Are unsalted pistachios lower in calories than salted?
No, they are slightly higher: 582 calories per 100 g unsalted against 576 salted, which is 165 versus 163 calories per ounce. Salt adds no calories, and the small gap comes from moisture. The real difference is sodium, 6 mg per 100 g unsalted against 389 mg salted.
How much sodium is in salted pistachios?
389 mg per 100 g, which scales to about 110 mg in a 1 oz serving, or 5% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg. Lightly salted pistachios run 198 mg per 100 g, roughly 56 mg an ounce. Unsalted and plain records sit at 6 mg per 100 g.
How much protein is in a serving of pistachios?
6.0 g of protein in a 1 oz serving, which is 12% of the Daily Value, from 21.05 g per 100 g. That comes alongside 2.9 g of fiber, 10% of the DV, for 162 calories. Among common nuts only peanuts and pumpkin seeds carry more protein per 100 g.
How many pistachios are in one ounce?
About 49 kernels make up an ounce, which is the household measure USDA lists for its dry roasted pistachio records. Those 49 kernels weigh 28.35 g and come to 162 calories. Weighed in the shell instead, one ounce yields only 15 g of kernels, or 86 calories.
Are raw pistachios healthier than dry roasted?
Raw pistachios are 560 calories per 100 g against 572 for dry roasted without salt, a difference of 3 calories per ounce. Raw carries slightly more fiber, 10.6 g against 10.3 g per 100 g, and slightly less protein, 20.16 g against 21.05 g. Roasting mostly removes water.
Do pistachio shells count toward the serving weight?
No. USDA lists 1 oz weighed in the shell as yielding 15 g of kernels, worth 86 calories, roughly half an ounce of edible nut. If your bag lists a 30 g serving described as half a cup with shells, the gram figure describes more package than food.
Similar foods
- Falafel Ball — 87 cal per ball
- S'more — 210 cal per s'more
- Chia Seeds — 138 cal per oz
- Prime Rib — 340 cal for 3 oz slice
- Torta — 215 cal per serving
- Salami — 102 cal for 3 slices
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the pistachios for you, shells or no shells.
