How many calories are in pomegranate seeds?
Half a cup of pomegranate arils weighs 87 g and carries 72 calories. Per 100 g the seeds run 83 calories, and 13.67 g of that is sugar — all of it natural. The whole fruit is a bigger number than most people expect: 282 g of pomegranate comes to 234 calories.
You'd need to walk about 14 minutes to burn the 72 calories in a 1/2-cup (87 g) serving of arils.
How long does it take to burn off pomegranate seeds?
A 1/2-cup (87 g) serving of arils is 72 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 72 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 14 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 9 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 10 min |
| Jogging | 8 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 16 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 (87 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Pomegranate seed quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a whole fruit
- Whole fruit, juice, dried seeds and store tubs
- Fiber is the row that pays
- How do pomegranate seeds compare?
- Most popular pomegranate seeds brands
- Pomegranate seed FAQs
Pomegranate seed quick facts
The numbers below come from SR Legacy 169134, "Pomegranates, raw". It is the record built around the part you actually eat: its household measure is "0.5 cup arils (seed/juice sacs)" at 87 g, which is the scoop most people put on yogurt or a salad. A second USDA entry, FNDDS 2709267, carries identical per-100-g values for the same raw fruit but offers no aril-sized serving, so it adds nothing here.
One row is missing on purpose. SR Legacy publishes no added sugars figure for raw pomegranate, because there are none to publish — every gram of sugar in an aril grew there.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1/2 cup arils (87 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 83 | 72 | — |
| Total fat | 1.17 g | 1.0 g | 1% |
| Saturated fat | 0.12 g | 0.1 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 18.7 g | 16.3 g | 6% |
| Dietary fiber | 4 g | 3.5 g | 12% |
| Total sugars | 13.67 g | 11.9 g | — |
| Protein | 1.67 g | 1.5 g | 3% |
| Sodium | 3 mg | 3 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 →
Cholesterol is 0 mg, as it is in every plant food. Potassium is the quiet one: 236 mg per 100 g, or 205 mg in the half-cup serving, which is 4% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value. Sodium at 3 mg per serving is far below anything worth tracking — you would need roughly 800 half-cup servings to match a single teaspoon of table salt.
US servings, from one ounce to a whole fruit
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 24 kcal |
| 1/4 cup arils | 44 g | 36 kcal |
| 1/2 cup arils, USDA serving | 87 g | 72 kcal |
| 1 cup arils | 174 g | 144 kcal |
| 1 pomegranate, 4-inch | 282 g | 234 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 83 kcal |
Two of those weights are USDA's own: the 87 g half cup and the 282 g fruit. The quarter cup, the full cup and the ounce are our own arithmetic scaled from the 83-calories-per-100-g figure, not USDA household servings.
A cup of arils is a heavier thing than it sounds. At 174 g it is twice the standard serving and 144 calories, which is where a "handful on the oatmeal" habit quietly turns into a real addition. An ounce, by contrast, is 24 calories and about two tablespoons of seeds — small enough to be a garnish and nothing more.
Whole fruit, juice, dried seeds and store tubs
Same fruit, six very different numbers, depending on how much water is still in it.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arils (seeds), raw | 83 kcal | 1/2 cup (87 g) | 72 kcal |
| Whole pomegranate, raw | 83 kcal | 1 fruit, 4-inch (282 g) | 234 kcal |
| Store-packed fresh arils | 86 kcal | 1 cup (140 g) | 120 kcal |
| 100% bottled juice | 54 kcal | 1 cup (249 g) | 134 kcal |
| Light juice beverage | 27 kcal | 1 serving (240 g) | 65 kcal |
| Dried pomegranate seeds | 393 kcal | 2 Tbsp (28 g) | 110 kcal |
The whole fruit. A 4-inch pomegranate is 282 g of edible arils and 234 calories, more than three times the half-cup serving. It also carries 52.7 g of carbohydrate, 38.6 g of natural sugar and 11.3 g of fiber — 40% of the Daily Value from one piece of fruit. Deseeding a whole one and eating the lot in front of the TV is a 234-calorie evening, which is fine, but it is not the 72 most people have in their heads.
The store tub. Packaged arils, like the Market Pantry tubs sold at Target, are labeled at 86 calories per 100 g with a cup serving of 140 g and 120 calories. Note the trap: the label's cup weighs 140 g, USDA's cup weighs 174 g. Same word, 34 g apart, 24 calories apart. When you log a cup, log the one you actually measured.
The juice. Bottled 100% pomegranate juice is 54 calories per 100 g, so a cup (249 g) is 134 calories with 31.5 g of sugar and about 0.2 g of fiber. Lighter per gram than the seeds, heavier per glass. The diluted, sweetened "light" beverages go the other way — 27 calories per 100 g and 65 per 240 g serving — because they are mostly water with 40–50% juice.
The dried seeds. Dried pomegranate seeds, sold by brands like Sweet Heart, are 393 calories per 100 g. That is the concentrate: 2 tablespoons (28 g) is 110 calories, more than a whole half cup of fresh arils. Nothing was added; the water left.
Fiber is the row that pays
Most fruit at this calorie level gives you sugar and water. Pomegranate gives you a seed to chew, and the seed is where the fiber lives. A half cup delivers 3.5 g against the FDA Daily Value of 28 g — 12% of a day's fiber for 72 calories. A full cup is 7.0 g, or 25%.
Set that beside the juice. A cup of juice costs 134 calories, nearly double the half-cup of arils, and returns about 0.2 g of fiber — more than twenty-five times less than the cup of seeds at 7.0 g. If you are choosing between the two for a snack, the arils win on every row except convenience.
There is also the cup-equivalent question. The Dietary Guidelines put fruit intake at about 2 cups a day at a 2,000-calorie level, and MyPlate counts a cup of arils as a full cup-equivalent. At 144 calories, a cup of pomegranate seeds is a comparatively expensive way to hit that target next to a lower-calorie fruit — but it is one of the few that pays you back in fiber while doing it.
Protein is not the reason to eat this. 1.5 g in a serving is 3% of the Daily Value, and no amount of pomegranate is going to change that.
How do pomegranate seeds compare?
| Item | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pomegranate arils | 83 kcal | 1/2 cup (87 g) | 72 kcal |
| Pomegranate juice, bottled | 54 kcal | 1 cup (249 g) | 134 kcal |
| Light pomegranate juice beverage | 27 kcal | 1 serving (240 g) | 65 kcal |
| Ocean Spray Cran-Pomegranate | 47 kcal | 8 fl oz (248 g) | 117 kcal |
Our take: for weight loss, eat the seeds and skip everything in a bottle. The arils are the densest per gram of the four at 83 calories per 100 g, and only the diluted light beverage finishes lower per serving than their 72, because a serving of seeds is 87 g while a serving of anything drinkable is around 250 g. The light beverage is the only bottle that lands under a hundred calories, and it does so by being mostly water. For fullness, the whole fruit at 234 calories is the better buy: it takes ten minutes to eat and brings 11.3 g of fiber, which no glass on this table comes close to.
Most popular pomegranate seeds 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) |
|---|---|
| Market Pantry Pomegranate Seeds | 86 cal |
| Sweet Heart Dried Pomegranate Seeds (2 Tbsp pack) | 393 cal |
| Sweet Heart Dried Pomegranate Seeds (7 g pack) | 357 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Pomegranate seed FAQs
How many calories are in pomegranate seeds?
Pomegranate seeds are 83 calories per 100 g, so a half-cup of arils (87 g) is 72 calories and a full cup (174 g) is 144. The seeds are mostly water and carbohydrate, with 4 g of fiber per 100 g and almost no fat at 1.17 g.
How many calories in 1/2 cup of pomegranate arils?
A half-cup of arils weighs 87 g and comes to 72 calories, the USDA household serving for this food. That half cup carries 16.3 g of carbohydrate, 11.9 g of sugar, 3.5 g of fiber and 1.5 g of protein. Sodium is 3 mg, essentially nothing.
How many calories in a whole pomegranate?
One 4-inch pomegranate weighs 282 g and works out to 234 calories, three times a half-cup serving of arils. It also delivers 11.3 g of fiber, 40% of the Daily Value, plus 52.7 g of carbohydrate and 38.6 g of natural sugar. Few people finish one in a sitting.
How many carbs are in pomegranate seeds?
Pomegranate seeds hold 18.7 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a half-cup (87 g) is 16.3 g and a full cup (174 g) is 32.5 g. Fiber accounts for 4 g of every 100 g, which is why the net figure lands lower than the label total.
How much fiber is in pomegranate seeds?
There are 4 g of fiber in 100 g of pomegranate seeds, which makes a half-cup serving 3.5 g, or 12% of the 28 g Daily Value. A whole 282 g fruit brings 11.3 g, or 40%. The fiber sits in the crunchy seed inside each aril.
How much sugar is in pomegranate seeds?
Pomegranate seeds contain 13.67 g of total sugar per 100 g, or 11.9 g in a half-cup serving. All of it is naturally occurring; USDA lists no added sugars for the raw fruit, so none of it counts toward the 50 g added-sugar Daily Value on the label.
Are pomegranate seeds better than pomegranate juice?
For fiber, yes. A cup of 100% pomegranate juice (249 g) is 134 calories with about 0.2 g of fiber, while a cup of arils (174 g) is 144 calories with 7.0 g. Nearly the same calories, more than twenty-five times the fiber. Juice keeps the sugar and drops the chew.
How many calories in dried pomegranate seeds?
Dried pomegranate seeds run 393 calories per 100 g, nearly five times the fresh figure of 83. A 2-tablespoon portion (28 g) is 110 calories, more than a half-cup of fresh arils at 72. Drying removes the water and leaves the sugar behind, so portions shrink fast.
Similar foods
- Pomegranate — 72 cal for 1/2 cup arils
- Clam Chowder — 237 cal per cup
- Chinese Chicken and Broccoli — 206 cal per cup
- Ceviche — 158 cal per cup
- Pork And Beans — 273 cal per cup
- Turkey deli meat — 89 cal for 3 slices
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the arils for you, cup or handful.
