Powdered sugar calories come to 467 for 1 cup (120 g) and 389 per 100 g. A tablespoon is 31 calories and a teaspoon is 10. Nearly all of it is sugar, 97.8 g in every 100 g, with zero protein, fat or fiber. That leaves one variable that matters: how much you sift on.
467kcal
1 cup · 120 g, white confectioner's sugar
0%protein
0 gProtein
120 gCarbs
0 gFat
How to burn off 467 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
Skip the math. BodyPal counts these calories from your steps and workouts automatically.
Nutrition facts
White confectioner's sugar · per 120 g
Calories
467 kcal
Protein
0 g
Carbohydrate
120 g
Fat
0 g
Saturated fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
2 mg
Potassium
2 mg
Iron
0.1 mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
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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 October 2026. How we verify our data →
Powdered sugar: calories, protein and sodium by serving
Percent of daily value uses the FDA reference of 2,000 kcal a day.
Serving
kcal
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Sodium
% DV kcal
1 cup (120 g)
467
0 g
119.7 g
0 g
2 mg
23%
1 tbsp (8 g)
31
0 g
8 g
0 g
0 mg
2%
1 tsp (2.5 g)
10
0 g
2.5 g
0 g
0 mg
0%
100 g
389
0 g
99.8 g
0 g
2 mg
19%
3 × 1 cup (120 g)
1,400
0 g
7 mg
5 × 1 cup (120 g)
2,334
0 g
12 mg
A tablespoon is 31 calories, a cup is 467
Powdered sugar is light and airy, so the spoon you use decides the number. A level tablespoon weighs 8 g and carries 31 calories. A teaspoon, at 2.5 g, is 10 calories. A full cup of 120 g reaches 467 calories, about 23% of the daily calorie value used on this page.
Recipes are where the total climbs. A frosting that calls for 2 cups puts 934 calories of sugar in the bowl before any butter or cream cheese goes in. Three cups bring it to 1,400, and a big batch with 5 cups lands at 2,334. Split across a tray of cupcakes the share per piece looks small, but it sits on top of everything else in the recipe.
Measuring also matters. Scooping straight from the bag packs the sugar down, so a cup can weigh more than the 120 g the label assumes. If you track closely, weigh it. A kitchen scale turns a guess into a real number in seconds.
Every calorie is carbohydrate
The calorie split is as simple as food labels get: 100% carbohydrate, 0% protein, 0% fat. Per 100 g there are 99.8 g of carbs, and 97.8 g of those are sugars. The small remainder is carbohydrate that is not counted as sugar. Fiber, saturated fat and cholesterol all read 0.
A cup holds 119.7 g of carbs and 117.4 g of sugars. Against the 275 g carbohydrate daily value, that one cup is well over a third of the day's carbs. A tablespoon is a far gentler 8 g of carbs and 7.8 g of sugars, and a teaspoon adds 2.5 g of carbs.
What this means in practice: powdered sugar brings sweetness, texture and energy, and nothing else on the label. There is no protein to balance it and no fat to slow it down. If you want a dessert that holds you longer, the other ingredients on the plate have to do that work.
Dusting costs far less than glazing
The same ingredient can add 10 calories or several hundred depending on how you use it. A light shake through a sieve over French toast, waffles or a beignet is closer to a teaspoon than a tablespoon. That is roughly 10 calories, barely a blip in a meal.
Glazes and frostings are a different story. A thick glaze or a buttercream starts with cups, not spoons, so 467 calories per cup becomes the baseline. If you want the look without the load, dust instead of glaze, or frost only the top of a cake instead of the sides and middle.
A thin layer also reads as sweeter than you expect because the fine powder hits the tongue first. Start with less than the recipe suggests, taste, then add. It is easier to sift a little more on than to scrape it off.
Sodium is not the problem here, portion size is
Most packaged sweets have a second row to watch. Powdered sugar does not. A full cup has just 2 mg of sodium, which rounds to 0% of the 2300 mg daily value, and potassium sits at 2 mg per 100 g. The only number that moves is calories.
That makes it easy to plan around. If you enjoy a dusted dessert, count it like any other sweet: a tablespoon is 31 calories, a cup is 467. Pairing a sugared treat with something that has protein or fiber, like Greek yogurt or berries, gives the plate what the sugar lacks.
Brands such as Imperial Sugar, C&H Cane and Wegmans Organic all sell the same basic product, so pick on price and texture. When you log a dessert, BodyPal can record it from a photo, and you can adjust the sugar amount to match what you actually used.
How does powdered sugar compare?
Here is how powdered sugar stacks up against granulated white sugar and brown sugar, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: Per 100 g they are a wash: 389 calories for powdered, 385 for white and 380 for brown, so swapping one for another saves almost nothing. Choose by texture, not calories, and if sodium matters note that brown sugar carries 28 mg per 100 g against 1 mg for white.
Most popular powdered sugar brands in the United States
Ranked by popularity in the BodyPal database
# Productkcal / 100 g
1Imperial Sugar Powdered Sugar1/4 cup · 30 g400 kcal
2GW Powdered Sugar1/4 cup · 30 g400 kcal
3C&H Cane Powdered Sugar1/4 cup · 30 g400 kcal
4Wegmans Organic Pure Cane Powdered Sugar1/4 cup · 30 g400 kcal
About 467 calories in 1 cup unsifted (120 g). A sifted cup weighs 100 g and has 389 calories.
Is powdered sugar good for weight loss?
It is almost pure sugar, with 97.8 g of sugar per 100 g and no protein, fat or fiber. A tablespoon adds 31 calories.
Powdered sugar vs granulated sugar: which has more calories?
Per 100 g they are close: 389 calories for powdered and 385 for granulated. A cup of powdered sugar weighs less (120 g, 467 calories) than a cup of granulated (188 g, 724 calories).
How much sugar is in powdered sugar?
97.8 g of sugar per 100 g, so a tablespoon (8 g) holds about 7.8 g of sugar and 8.0 g of carbs.
How many calories does powdered sugar add to a funnel cake?
A tablespoon of powdered sugar adds 31 calories and a teaspoon adds 10. The funnel cake itself is not covered on this page, so add these numbers to the fried dough's own calories.
How many calories are in the powdered sugar on a beignet?
A light teaspoon dusting adds about 10 calories, and a heavy tablespoon adds 31. Beignets are often buried in sugar, so a generous pile can easily reach the tablespoon figure or more.
How many carbs does powdered sugar add to a funnel cake?
A tablespoon of powdered sugar adds 8 g of carbs, nearly all sugar at 7.8 g. A teaspoon adds 2.5 g. Count these on top of the carbs in the funnel cake itself.
How many calories are in a tablespoon of powdered sugar?
A tablespoon (8 g) of powdered sugar has 31 calories, 8 g of carbs and no protein or fat. That is about 2% of the daily calorie value used on this page.
Does powdered sugar contain sodium?
Barely. A full cup has 2 mg of sodium and 100 g has 2 mg, which is 0% of the daily value. Calories, not sodium, are the number worth tracking.
