How many calories are in a sleeve of saltines?
A full sleeve of saltines weighs 115 g and carries 481 calories. The crackers run 418 calories per 100 g, which is heavy for something that feels like air. That is the sleeve on its own: no butter, no peanut butter, no soup underneath it. Five crackers, the label serving, are 63.
You'd need to walk about 96 minutes to burn the 481 calories in one sleeve (115 g).
How long does it take to burn off 481 kcal of sleeve of saltines?
One sleeve (115 g) is 481 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 481 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 1 hr 36 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 1 hr |
| Swimming, moderate | 1 hr 9 min |
| Jogging | 57 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 1 hr 47 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 (115 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Saltine quick facts
- US servings, from one cracker to the whole sleeve
- Unsalted tops, whole wheat and the other sleeves
- Sodium is the row that matters
- How does a sleeve of saltines compare?
- Most popular saltine crackers brands
- FAQ
Saltine quick facts
USDA carries eight saltine records, and only one of them is measured by the sleeve. That is FNDDS 2708167, "Crackers, saltine", which lists a household measure of one sleeve at 115 g. A sleeve is the paper tube inside the box, the thing you tear open and stand upright next to a bowl of soup, so that is the number this page leads with.
The same product also lives in the older SR Legacy file as record 172746, with identical calories, protein, carbs, fat and sodium. The only thing the older record adds is trans fat: 0.17 g per 100 g, or 0.2 g in a sleeve. Neither file publishes added sugars for crackers, so that row is left out rather than guessed at.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 sleeve (115 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 418 | 481 | — |
| Total fat | 8.64 g | 9.9 g | 13% |
| Saturated fat | 1.65 g | 1.9 g | 10% |
| Carbohydrate | 74.05 g | 85.2 g | 31% |
| Dietary fiber | 2.8 g | 3.2 g | 12% |
| Total sugars | 1.29 g | 1.5 g | — |
| Protein | 9.46 g | 10.9 g | 22% |
| Sodium | 941 mg | 1082 mg | 47% |
% 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 worth a second look. Cholesterol is 0 mg, because there is no dairy or egg in a plain saltine, and potassium is only 152 mg per 100 g, 175 mg in a sleeve, which is 4% of the Daily Value. The Daily Values used above are the FDA reference amounts printed on every US Nutrition Facts label.
US servings, from one cracker to the whole sleeve
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cracker, square | 3 g | 13 kcal |
| 5 crackers, the label serving | 15 g | 63 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 119 kcal |
| 1 cup, whole crackers | 50 g | 209 kcal |
| 1 sleeve | 115 g | 481 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 418 kcal |
The single cracker, the cup and the sleeve are USDA household measures attached to record 2708167. The 5-cracker line and the 1 oz line are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, but 5 crackers is what the box prints and 1 oz is how a lot of people log dry snacks.
Here is the trap nobody warns you about: "a cup of saltines" means two different things. A cup of whole crackers is 50 g and 209 calories. A cup of crushed saltines, the way you measure them for meatloaf or a casserole topping, is 70 g in the USDA file, which works out to 293 calories. Same word, 84 calories apart, and the crushed version is the one recipes call for.
The sleeve itself is worth pinning down too. At 115 g it is just over 4 oz, and at 3 g per square cracker it holds roughly 38 crackers, our own arithmetic rather than a USDA count. A standard box holds four of those sleeves, so a full box is on the order of 1,900 calories sitting in the pantry.
Unsalted tops, whole wheat and the other sleeves
| Version | Per 100 g | Serving | Calories | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original saltines | 418 kcal | 1 sleeve (115 g) | 481 kcal | 1082 mg |
| Unsalted tops | 434 kcal | 1 sleeve (115 g) | 499 kcal | 881 mg |
| Whole wheat / multigrain | 398 kcal | 1 sleeve (115 g) | 458 kcal | 1396 mg |
| Reduced sodium | 416 kcal | 1 sleeve (115 g) | 478 kcal | 743 mg |
| Low salt | 421 kcal | 1 cup oyster crackers (45 g) | 189 kcal | 89 mg |
| Fat-free, low sodium | 393 kcal | 6 saltines (30 g) | 118 kcal | 255 mg |
Calories and sodium per serving are both our own scaling of each record's USDA per-100 g figure to the serving beside it.
Unsalted tops are not the diet option. They are the highest-calorie saltine of the eight USDA recipe records at 434 per 100 g, about 18 calories more per sleeve than the salted version, because the recipe leans a little harder on fat in the dough. What drops is sodium: 766 mg per 100 g instead of 941 mg. Buy them for the salt, not for the calories.
Whole wheat saltines are the surprise. They are genuinely lighter, 398 per 100 g and 458 per sleeve, and they carry 6.7 g of fiber per 100 g, more than double the 2.8 g in the plain cracker. A whole sleeve would put 7.7 g of fiber on your log, 28% of the Daily Value. The catch is sodium, 1,214 mg per 100 g, the saltiest record in the file.
Reduced sodium barely moves the calories, 416 versus 418 per 100 g, and cuts sodium about a third, to 646 mg per 100 g. Low salt goes further still, down to 198 mg per 100 g by swapping in a potassium-based salt substitute. Fat-free, low sodium is the lightest record at 393 per 100 g, with 1.6 g of fat instead of 8.64 g, though the starch takes the space back: 82.3 g of carbohydrate per 100 g.
Of the eight saltine records USDA publishes, only three recipes land under the plain cracker's 418 per 100 g, and none of them by much. The store brands sit in the same narrow band: Nabisco Premium Original and Great Value both list 438 per 100 g with a 5-cracker (16 g) serving at 70 calories, while Gold Emblem and Sunshine Krispy come in at 400 per 100 g, 60 calories for 5 crackers. Gamesa Saladitas are sold in single 11 g packages, 45 calories each.
Sodium is the row that matters
One sleeve delivers 1,082 mg of sodium, 47% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. That is roughly half a teaspoon of table salt, and it happens before anything goes on top of the cracker. Add cheese, deli meat or a bowl of canned soup and a single snack can clear the whole day's reference amount.
For context, the CDC puts average US intake well above the 2,300 mg limit that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans set, and crackers are one of the everyday categories that quietly does the lifting. If you are watching sodium, the reduced sodium sleeve at 743 mg or the low salt cup at 89 mg are the meaningful swaps. Unsalted tops help less than the name suggests, and whole wheat makes it worse.
The calorie side is milder than the salt side. Saturated fat is only 1.9 g in a sleeve, 10% of the Daily Value, and total sugars are 1.5 g, which is nothing. Protein is the pleasant surprise: 10.9 g in a sleeve, 22% of the Daily Value, more than you would guess from a cracker. That protein is why saltines with peanut butter hold longer than saltines alone.
How does a sleeve of saltines compare?
| Cracker | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saltines, original | 418 kcal | 1 sleeve, 115 g | 481 kcal |
| Saltines, unsalted tops | 434 kcal | 1 sleeve, 115 g | 499 kcal |
| Saltines, whole wheat | 398 kcal | 1 sleeve, 115 g | 458 kcal |
| Saltines, fat-free, low sodium | 393 kcal | 6 crackers, 30 g | 118 kcal |
Our take: the type of saltine you buy is nearly irrelevant to calories, since the whole range, store brands included, spans 393 to 438 per 100 g, a difference you could erase by eating three or four fewer crackers. What decides your number is how many you eat, and a sleeve standing next to a soup bowl is very easy to finish. For weight loss, count out 5 or 10 crackers, 63 or 126 calories, and put the sleeve back in the box. For sodium, reduced sodium is the only version that changes the math in a way you can feel on a label.
Most popular saltine crackers 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) |
|---|---|
| Nabisco Premium Original Saltine Crackers | 438 cal |
| Nabisco Premium Whole Grain Saltine Crackers | 438 cal |
| Gamesa Saladitas Saltine Crackers | 409 cal |
| Great Value Original Saltine Crackers | 438 cal |
| Gold Emblem Saltine Crackers | 400 cal |
| Sunshine Krispy Original Saltine Crackers | 400 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Saltine FAQs
How many calories are in a sleeve of saltines?
A sleeve of saltines is 481 calories. USDA measures a sleeve at 115 g of crackers running 418 calories per 100 g. That is the plain cracker only, with nothing spread on it, and it also brings 85.2 g of carbohydrate and 10.9 g of protein.
How many crackers are in a sleeve of saltines?
About 38 crackers. USDA weighs one square saltine at 3 g and a sleeve at 115 g, so the count is our own arithmetic rather than a published number. Brands vary by a cracker or two, but 38 squares at 13 calories each is the working figure.
How much does a sleeve of saltines weigh?
115 g, which is just over 4 ounces. That is the household measure USDA attaches to its saltine record, and a standard box holds four sleeves. So a full unopened box is roughly 460 g of crackers, or around 1,900 calories on the shelf.
How many calories in 5 saltine crackers?
63 calories for 5 crackers, the 15 g serving printed on most boxes. That is our own scaling of the USDA 100 g figure of 418 calories, not a USDA serving. Name brands print 60 to 70 calories for five, depending on whether their crackers weigh 15 or 16 g.
How much sodium is in a sleeve of saltines?
1,082 mg of sodium in one sleeve, which is 47% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value and roughly half a teaspoon of table salt. Per 100 g the crackers hold 941 mg. Anything you put on top, especially cheese or soup, adds to that before you finish the sleeve.
Do unsalted top saltines have fewer calories?
No, they have slightly more: 434 calories per 100 g against 418, or 499 per sleeve against 481. The recipe uses a bit more fat in the dough, 11.8 g per 100 g. What you actually save is sodium, 766 mg per 100 g instead of 941 mg.
How many carbs are in a sleeve of saltines?
85.2 g of carbohydrate in a 115 g sleeve, which is 31% of the Daily Value, with 3.2 g of that as fiber and only 1.5 g as sugars. Per 100 g the figure is 74.05 g. Five crackers come to roughly 11 g of carbohydrate.
How many calories in a cup of crushed saltines?
293 calories, because a cup of crushed saltines weighs 70 g in the USDA file while a cup of whole crackers weighs only 50 g and comes to 209 calories. If a recipe calls for crushed crackers, use the heavier number: the same measuring cup holds 84 more calories.
Similar foods
- Prime Rib — 340 cal for 3 oz slice
- Torta — 215 cal per serving
- Salami — 102 cal for 3 slices
- Summer Sausage — 203 cal for 4 slices
- Coconut — 283 cal per cup, shredded
- Chia Seeds — 138 cal per oz
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the crackers for you, sleeve or handful.
