Spoonful of sugar calories come to 15 for 1 teaspoon (4 g) of white granulated sugar and 385 per 100 g. Almost all of it is carbohydrate: 99% of the calories, with no protein and barely any fat. The number to watch is how many spoons you stir in, because a few teaspoons add up faster than they feel.
15kcal
1 teaspoon · 4 g, granulated, white
0%protein
0 gProtein
4 gCarbs
0 gFat
How to burn off 15 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
Skip the math. BodyPal counts these calories from your steps and workouts automatically.
Nutrition facts
Granulated, white · per 4 g
Calories
15 kcal
Protein
0 g
Carbohydrate
4 g
Fat
0 g
Sodium
0 mg
Potassium
0 mg
Iron
0 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 September 2026. How we verify our data →
Spoonful of 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 teaspoon (4 g)
15
0 g
4 g
0 g
0 mg
1%
Brown, packed (4.6 g)
17
0 g
4.5 g
0 g
1 mg
1%
1 cup (188 g)
724
0 g
187.2 g
0.6 g
2 mg
36%
100 g
385
0 g
99.6 g
0.3 g
1 mg
19%
3 × 1 teaspoon (4 g)
46
0 g
0 mg
5 × 1 teaspoon (4 g)
77
0 g
0 mg
Three teaspoons are already 46 calories
A level teaspoon of white sugar weighs 4 g and carries 15 calories. That is 1% of a 2000-calorie daily value, small enough to ignore once. The catch is that sugar rarely arrives one spoon at a time.
Two teaspoons in a mug of coffee come to 31 calories. Three teaspoons reach 46, and five teaspoons total 77 calories from 20 g of sugar. Repeat that across several cups a day and the total climbs without any change in what the cup looks like.
Baking is where the numbers jump. A full cup of granulated sugar weighs 188 g and holds 724 calories, or 36% of the daily value in one measuring cup. Spread across a whole batch it thins out per piece, but it is worth knowing before you add an extra half cup to taste.
Nearly every calorie is carbohydrate
Per 100 g, sugar holds 99.6 g of carbohydrate, 0.3 g of fat and 0 g of protein. In calorie terms that is 99% carbs and 1% fat. Few foods in a pantry are this one-sided.
A teaspoon gives you 4 g of carbs and nothing else worth logging. Against the 275 g daily value for carbohydrate, one spoon barely registers. A full cup, at 187.2 g of carbs, covers most of it on its own.
The minerals sit close to zero too. Sodium is 1 mg per 100 g and potassium is 2 mg, so no row on the label offsets the calories. What a spoonful delivers is energy and sweetness, and that is the whole deal.
Level, heaped or brown: the spoon changes the count
The 15-calorie figure assumes a level teaspoon of 4 g. A slightly fuller teaspoon of granulated sugar weighed at 4.2 g comes to 16 calories, and a packed spoon of brown sugar at 4.6 g lands at 17. Per spoon, those gaps are tiny.
A heaped kitchen spoon is another story. A spoon of sugar often means whatever spoon is in the drawer, and that can hold twice a level teaspoon or more. At that size each spoon behaves like the two-teaspoon row: about 31 calories rather than 15.
If you track closely, weigh it once. Put your usual spoonful on a kitchen scale, compare it with the 4 g teaspoon, and log the matching multiple from then on. BodyPal can also log a sweetened drink or dessert from a photo.
Sugar adds calories without adding protein
With 0 g of protein per spoon, sugar adds calories without moving you toward the 50 g protein daily value. That is not a reason to ban it. It is a reason to count it, because the calories are real even when the portion looks like nothing.
The easiest wins are in drinks. Cutting from three teaspoons to one in a daily coffee drops that cup from 46 calories to 15. Using sweetness where it does the most work, such as on tart fruit or in plain yogurt, gets more flavor per spoon than stirring it into something already sweet.
If you bake, measure rather than pour. A cup is 724 calories whether it ends up in many muffins or a few, so the count per serving depends on how you slice the batch.
How does spoonful of sugar compare?
Here is how a spoonful of white sugar compares with plain sugar, brown sugar and granulated sugar, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: The calorie gap is tiny: brown sugar has 380 per 100 g against 385 for white, and a 4.2 g teaspoon of granulated sugar is 16 calories against 15 here. Pick on taste, and if you watch sodium, white sugar at 1 mg per 100 g beats brown sugar at 28 mg.
Spoonful of sugar FAQs
How many calories are in a spoonful of sugar?
A level teaspoon of granulated sugar weighs 4 g and has 15 calories. A full cup, 188 g, comes to 724 calories.
Does a spoonful of sugar fit into a weight loss diet?
One teaspoon adds 15 calories and 4.0 g of carbohydrate, and three teaspoons (12 g) come to 46 calories. The amount matters more than the spoon itself.
Granulated sugar or brown sugar: which has more calories?
They are close: 385 calories per 100 g for granulated sugar and 380 for brown. A teaspoon of granulated is 15 calories, while a packed teaspoon of brown sugar (4.6 g) is 17.
How many carbs are in a teaspoon of sugar?
Granulated sugar is 99.6 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a 4 g teaspoon holds 4.0 g of carbs and no protein.
How many calories are in 3 teaspoons of sugar?
Three level teaspoons of white sugar come to 46 calories from 12 g of sugar. Nearly all of it is carbohydrate, with no protein. Two teaspoons are 31 calories and five are 77, so each extra spoon adds about 15.
Is a spoon of sugar the same as a teaspoon?
The 15 calories on this page are for a level 1 teaspoon (4 g), so a spoon only matches if it is level. A heaped or larger spoon can hold twice that, which puts it closer to the two-teaspoon total of 31 calories.
How many calories are in a pinch of sugar?
A pinch is well under the 4 g in a level teaspoon, so it stays well below 15 calories. It is small enough to skip logging, unless pinches happen many times a day.
How much of a day's calories is one spoon of sugar?
One level teaspoon of sugar is 15 calories, or 1% of a 2000-calorie daily value. A cup of 188 g reaches 36% of that value, which is why baking amounts matter more than a single spoon in tea.
