How many calories are in popcorn?
One cup of popped popcorn weighs about 14 g and carries 73 calories. Per 100 g the same popcorn runs 518 calories, because over half of those calories come from fat rather than corn. A regular 85 g microwave bag lands at 440. Air-popped is a different animal at 385.
You'd need to walk about 15 minutes to burn the 73 calories in one cup popped (14 g).
How long does it take to burn off popcorn?
One cup popped (14 g) is 73 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 73 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 15 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 9 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 10 min |
| Jogging | 9 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 (14 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Popcorn quick facts
- US servings from one cup to a microwave bag
- Every popcorn style has its own number
- Movie theater popcorn is a different food
- Fiber is real and so is the sodium
- How does popcorn compare?
- Most popular popcorn brands
- Popcorn FAQs
Popcorn quick facts
The number above comes from the generic USDA record FNDDS 2708216, "Popcorn, NFS". NFS means "not further specified", and it is the right starting point for anyone typing "calories in popcorn" into a phone while holding a bowl. It sits close to what most people actually eat: microwave bags, ready-to-eat bags and whatever came out of the machine at a party, all of which arrive with fat and salt already on them.
Air-popped and movie theater popcorn get their own rows further down. The difference between them is the preparation, not the database, so nothing here is averaged.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup popped (14 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 518 | 73 | — |
| Total fat | 30.57 g | 4.3 g | 5% |
| Saturated fat | 14.3 g | 2.0 g | 10% |
| Carbohydrate | 54.99 g | 7.7 g | 3% |
| Dietary fiber | 10.2 g | 1.4 g | 5% |
| Total sugars | 0.61 g | 0.1 g | — |
| Protein | 9.13 g | 1.3 g | 3% |
| Sodium | 764 mg | 107 mg | 5% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0% |
| Potassium | 232 mg | 32 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 →
Two rows you would see on a bag are missing here: added sugars and trans fat. USDA does not publish either value for this generic popcorn record, so rather than guess, they are left out. Total sugars are 0.61 g per 100 g, which is close enough to nothing that plain popcorn is not a sugar problem, though caramel corn carries 52.77 g per 100 g. Cholesterol is zero, which follows from popcorn being a grain with vegetable oil on it. Daily Values used throughout come from the FDA nutrition label reference.
US servings from one cup to a microwave bag
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup, popped | 14 g | 73 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.35 g | 147 kcal |
| 1 small single-serving bag | 28 g | 145 kcal |
| 1 medium single-serving bag | 57 g | 295 kcal |
| 1 regular microwave bag, popped | 85 g | 440 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 518 kcal |
The cup, the small bag, the medium bag and the microwave bag are 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 most bagged snacks are labeled per ounce.
Notice how little a cup weighs. At 14 g, popcorn is one of the lightest things you will ever measure by volume, and that is exactly why cup counting goes wrong. Six loose handfuls out of a shared bowl are not six cups, they are closer to one and a half ounces, and the microwave bag most people treat as a single sitting is 440 calories before any topping. If you want an honest number, weigh the bowl once and remember the gram figure.
Bagged brands make the same point in a different way. SkinnyPop Popcorn Puffs list 130 calories for 28 g, which they describe as 1.5 cups; Werther's Original Caramel Popcorn lists 120 for 28 g, or five pieces. Unpopped brands are the trap: a Jolly Time white popcorn label counts 130 calories per 28 g of raw kernels, and those kernels become about 3.5 cups once they burst, so the bag's serving and your bowl are measuring two different objects.
Every popcorn style has its own number
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air-popped, no butter | 385 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 109 kcal |
| Popped in oil, no butter | 498 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 141 kcal |
| Ready-to-eat, plain bag | 482 kcal | 1 cup (11 g) | 53 kcal |
| Kettle corn | 531 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 151 kcal |
| Cheese flavored | 526 kcal | 1 oz (28.35 g) | 149 kcal |
| Caramel coated | 428 kcal | 1 cup (35 g) | 150 kcal |
| Movie theater, with butter | 656 kcal | 1 medium order (182 g) | 1194 kcal |
Air-popped popcorn is the honest baseline at 385 calories per 100 g, with 4.52 g of fat. Pop the same corn in oil and you are at 498 with 27.99 g of fat. That single decision, hot air versus a slick of oil, is 113 calories per 100 g before anyone reaches for butter or cheese powder.
Kettle corn is the surprise. At 531 calories per 100 g it is the densest style on this table outside the movie theater, denser than cheese popcorn at 526 and denser than the generic record at 518, because it carries both oil and sugar. Caramel corn goes the other way: 428 per 100 g is lower than plain oil-popped popcorn, since sugar carries fewer calories per gram than fat does. It only feels heavier because caramel corn is dense and sticky, so a cup of it weighs 35 g instead of 14 g and comes to 150 calories.
Cheese popcorn is worth flagging for a different reason. The calories are ordinary for a coated style, but the sodium is 889 mg per 100 g, the highest of any popcorn row on this page.
Movie theater popcorn is a different food
| Movie order | Per 100 g | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| One cup, no butter | 603 kcal | 11 g | 66 kcal |
| One cup, with butter | 656 kcal | 14 g | 92 kcal |
| Medium order, no butter | 603 kcal | 182 g | 1097 kcal |
| Medium order, with butter | 656 kcal | 182 g | 1194 kcal |
| Large order, with butter | 656 kcal | 238 g | 1561 kcal |
Theater machines pop in coconut oil and then add a butter-flavored topping on request, which is why the buttered record reaches 656 calories per 100 g against 385 for air-popped. That gap of 271 calories per 100 g is entirely fat: 4.52 g versus 58.78 g. The corn is the same corn.
The per-cup numbers look harmless, and that is the trick. A single cup of buttered theater popcorn is 92 calories, but a large tub is 238 g, or seventeen cups, which lands at 1,561 calories. The medium-order and large-order figures, and the per-cup figures with butter, are our own arithmetic from the USDA per-100-g values rather than USDA servings. Saturated fat is the row that should actually stop you: a medium buttered order carries roughly 64.6 g, more than three times a full day's 20 g Daily Value.
Fiber is real and so is the sodium
This is where popcorn earns its reputation. Whole-kernel popcorn is a whole grain, one of the few snack foods that counts as one, and MyPlate lists it in the grains group alongside oatmeal and brown rice. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans ask that at least half of the grains you eat be whole, and a bowl of popcorn is an unusually easy way to do that.
The generic record carries 10.2 g of fiber per 100 g, which is 36% of the 28 g Daily Value. A regular 85 g microwave bag works out to about 8.7 g of fiber, or 31% of a day's worth, which beats most things sold in a crinkly bag. Air-popped does better still at 14.4 g per 100 g, because there is no oil diluting the corn.
The same bag has a second face. It also brings around 649 mg of sodium, 28% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, and roughly 12.2 g of saturated fat, 61% of a day. In salt terms, that bag is about a quarter teaspoon of table salt. If sodium is the number you are watching, the air-popped record is the pick at 162 mg per 100 g, less than a quarter of the generic figure, and an ounce of it costs you 0.2 g of saturated fat.
How does popcorn compare?
| Popcorn style | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popcorn, NFS (this page) | 518 kcal | 1 cup popped (14 g) | 73 kcal |
| Ready-to-eat, plain | 482 kcal | 1 cup (11 g) | 53 kcal |
| Caramel coated | 428 kcal | 1 cup (35 g) | 150 kcal |
| Movie theater, no butter | 603 kcal | 1 cup (11 g) | 66 kcal |
Our take: rank these by 100 g and caramel corn looks like the lightest of the four, at 428 against 603 for theater popcorn. Rank them by the cup you actually eat and caramel is the heaviest of the four at 150 calories, nearly triple the plain bagged cup at 53. Density and portion pull in opposite directions here more than in almost any other snack, so popcorn is one of the few foods where guessing by eye is genuinely hopeless. For weight loss, air-popped and a kitchen scale; for a movie, share the tub and skip the butter pump.
Most popular popcorn 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) |
|---|---|
| Werther's Original Caramel Popcorn | 429 cal |
| Pop-Secret Premium Popcorn | 379 cal |
| Jolly Time White Popcorn | 464 cal |
| SkinnyPop Popcorn Puffs | 464 cal |
| Skinnygirl Snacks Popcorn | 429 cal |
| Pop Daddy Red Popcorn | 500 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Popcorn FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of popcorn?
73 calories for one cup of popped popcorn, about 14 g, using the generic USDA record. A cup of plain ready-to-eat popcorn from a bag is lighter at 11 g and 53 calories, while a cup of caramel corn weighs 35 g and hits 150. The cup is the problem, not the corn.
How many calories are in a bag of microwave popcorn?
440 calories for a regular popped bag of about 85 g, one of the USDA household portions for popcorn. A small single-serving bag of 28 g is 145 calories, and a medium 57 g bag is 295. Butter-flavored microwave varieties sit above the generic record used here.
How many calories are in air-popped popcorn?
109 calories in an ounce of air-popped popcorn, 385 per 100 g. That is 133 calories per 100 g below the generic record, and the fat drops from 30.57 g to 4.52 g. The ounce also brings 4.1 g of fiber, 15% of the Daily Value, for almost no saturated fat.
How many calories are in movie theater popcorn?
1,194 calories in a medium 182 g order of movie theater popcorn with butter, which runs 656 calories per 100 g. Without the butter topping the same 100 g is 603. A large 238 g order reaches 1,561 calories, our arithmetic from the USDA per-100-g figure.
How many calories are in caramel popcorn?
150 calories in a cup of caramel corn, 35 g, at 428 calories per 100 g. Caramel corn is actually less calorie-dense than oil-popped popcorn at 498, because sugar carries fewer calories per gram than fat. A cup of it weighs 35 g against 14 g for the generic cup, which is why it still costs double.
How much fiber is in popcorn?
10.2 g of fiber per 100 g, which is 36% of the Daily Value. A single cup gives 1.4 g and a regular microwave bag 8.7 g, or 31%. Air-popped is the fiber champion at 14.4 g per 100 g, since nothing is diluting the corn with oil.
How much sodium is in popcorn?
764 mg of sodium per 100 g in the generic record, 33% of the Daily Value, but only 107 mg in a single cup. A regular microwave bag carries 649 mg, roughly a quarter teaspoon of table salt. Cheese-flavored popcorn is the saltiest row at 889 mg per 100 g.
Is popcorn good for weight loss?
73 calories a cup makes popcorn one of the cheapest snacks by the bowl, and air-popped at 109 calories an ounce is cheaper still. The catch is the coating: cheese popcorn is 149 calories an ounce and a medium buttered movie order is 1,194. Portion by weight, not by bowl.
Similar foods
- Kettle corn — 74 cal per cup
- Sesame sticks — 151 cal per oz
- Peanuts — 164 cal per ounce
- Peanut Butter — 191 cal for 2 tbsp
- Churro — 189 cal each
- Fudge — 70 cal per piece
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the popcorn for you, butter and all.
