How many calories are in Swiss cheese?
One deli slice of Swiss cheese weighs 21 g and carries 83 calories. Per 100 g it runs 393 calories, because Swiss is 31 g fat and 27 g protein with almost no carbohydrate. That slice is small, though: shred a cup and you are at 424 calories before anything melts.
You'd need to walk about 17 minutes to burn the 83 calories in one slice (21 g).
How long does it take to burn off Swiss cheese?
One slice (21 g) is 83 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 83 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 17 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 10 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 12 min |
| Jogging | 10 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 18 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 (21 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Swiss cheese quick facts
- US servings from a cracker slice to a full cup
- Reduced-fat and process Swiss
- Saturated fat is the row to watch
- How does Swiss cheese compare?
- Most popular swiss cheese brands
- Swiss cheese FAQs
Swiss cheese quick facts
The row behind every number here is FNDDS 2705735, "Cheese, Swiss". That is the natural cheese you actually pick up: a wedge with small holes from the deli case, or the pre-sliced pack next to it. It is also the only Swiss record that comes with USDA household measures — a slice, a cup shredded, a cup diced — so the arithmetic below starts from measured portions instead of guesses.
Two other USDA editions describe the same cheese and land in the same place: SR Legacy 171251 reads 393 calories, 26.96 g protein and 187 mg sodium, and Foundation 326135 reads 393 calories as well. When three independent editions agree to the calorie, you can stop shopping for a number.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 slice (21 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 393 | 83 | — |
| Total fat | 31 g | 6.5 g | 8% |
| Saturated fat | 18.2 g | 3.8 g | 19% |
| Carbohydrate | 1.44 g | 0.3 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g | — |
| Protein | 27 g | 5.7 g | 11% |
| Sodium | 185 mg | 39 mg | 2% |
% 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 adds 93 mg per 100 g, or 20 mg in a slice — 7% of the Daily Value. Potassium is minor at 71 mg per 100 g, 15 mg in a slice, which rounds to 0%. There is no added-sugars row and no trans-fat row on this page: this FNDDS edition does not publish either value for Swiss cheese, and a blank is not the same as a zero.
US servings from a cracker slice to a full cup
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cracker-size slice | 9 g | 35 kcal |
| 1 deli slice | 21 g | 83 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28.4 g | 111 kcal |
| 1 cup, shredded | 108 g | 424 kcal |
| 1 cup, diced | 132 g | 519 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 393 kcal |
Four of those are USDA household measures attached to the record itself. The ounce is not — 111 calories is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, scaled at 28.4 g. It matters because packaged Swiss is labeled per ounce while deli Swiss is sliced by the piece, and an ounce is about a slice and a third.
The cup lines are where food logs go wrong. A cup of shredded Swiss weighs 108 g; a cup of diced Swiss weighs 132 g. Same cup, same cheese, 95 calories apart, purely because cubes stack tighter than shreds. If a recipe says "1 cup Swiss" and you are tracking, the honest move is to weigh it once and remember the number.
Two slices on a sandwich come to 166 calories, again our own scaling of the 83-calorie slice. That is a useful anchor, because two slices is the default at almost every deli counter.
Reduced-fat and process Swiss
Swiss is one of the few cheeses where the label variants are genuinely different foods, not marketing. Each of these is its own USDA record, and the per-slice column is scaled from each record's 100 g figure at 21 g.
| Version | USDA record | Per 100 g | 1 slice (21 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss, natural | 2705735 | 393 kcal | 83 kcal |
| Reduced-fat Swiss | 2705737 | 179 kcal | 38 kcal |
| Low-sodium Swiss | 168124 | 374 kcal | 79 kcal |
| Nonfat Swiss | 170897 | 127 kcal | 27 kcal |
| Pasteurized process Swiss | 170855 | 334 kcal | 70 kcal |
| Process Swiss cheese food | 171253 | 323 kcal | 68 kcal |
| American and Swiss blend | 2705763 | 340 kcal | 71 kcal |
Natural Swiss is the heaviest row in that table, and the gap to reduced-fat is the big one. SR Legacy 168141 shows the low-fat version at 179 calories per 100 g with 5.1 g fat, 3.3 g saturated fat and 28.4 g protein — more protein than the full-fat cheese, at 45 fewer calories a slice. The milk is skimmed before the curd is set, so the protein survives and the fat does not.
Process Swiss is a different animal. It melts beautifully and costs less, but the emulsifying salts show up on the label: 1,370 mg of sodium per 100 g, which is 288 mg in a 21 g slice by our own arithmetic, against 39 mg for the natural cheese. Process Swiss cheese food, thinned with milk or whey, is higher still at 1,552 mg. Nonfat Swiss looks like a win at 127 calories per 100 g until you read its sodium: 1,000 mg per 100 g, because salt has to do the work the fat used to.
Packaged brands sit across the same spread. Boar's Head Imported Switzerland Swiss matches the USDA record at 393 calories per 100 g, or 110 calories for its labeled 2-slice (28 g) serving. Great Value deli-style slices come in at 381 per 100 g and 80 per slice. The reduced-fat shelf runs lighter — Alpine Lace 25% Reduced Fat at 321 per 100 g, Jarlsberg Lite at 250 — while Kraft 2% Milk Singles Swiss slices are 237 per 100 g and 45 calories a slice, but they are a process product carrying 1,421 mg of sodium per 100 g. Cheap calories, expensive salt.
Saturated fat is the row to watch
The calorie count on a slice of Swiss is not the interesting number. 83 calories is roughly 4% of a 2,000-calorie day, which is nothing. The saturated fat is 3.8 g, and that is 19% of the FDA Daily Value of 20 g. One slice, almost a fifth of the day's ceiling.
Put two slices on a sandwich and you are at 7.6 g, or 38% of the Daily Value, from an ingredient most people think of as a garnish. That is the honest trade with any aged cheese, and it is worth knowing before you decide where the cheese goes in your day rather than after.
Sodium runs the other way, and this is where Swiss earns its place. At 185 mg per 100 g it is one of the mildest cheeses on the counter — 39 mg in a slice, 2% of the Daily Value, and about a sixtieth of a teaspoon of table salt. Process Swiss carries 7.4 times as much sodium per 100 g. If you are watching blood pressure, the natural wedge is the pick and the wrapped singles are not, even though they look like the same food. MyPlate counts either one as dairy; your sodium tally does not.
How does Swiss cheese compare?
| Cheese | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss | 393 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 111 kcal |
| Mozzarella, NFS | 296 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 84 kcal |
| Queso Asadero | 297 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 84 kcal |
| Queso Fresco | 298 kcal | 1 oz, 28.4 g | 84 kcal |
Our take: Swiss is the densest cheese in this group by a clear margin — 111 calories an ounce against 84 for all three of the others, about a third more. It earns some of that back on protein: at 27 g per 100 g it is the highest of the four, against 23.7 g for mozzarella and 18.88 g for queso fresco. So for a melt on a burger where you want the flavor to carry, Swiss is worth the extra 27 calories an ounce; for a bowl or a salad where the cheese is volume rather than accent, mozzarella or queso fresco gets you a third more cheese for the same calories. Cheddar is the comparison people ask for, and we have left it out on purpose: it was not in the USDA pull behind this page, and we do not mix numbers across sources to fill a row.
Most popular swiss cheese 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) |
|---|---|
| Great Value Deli Style Sliced Swiss Cheese | 381 cal |
| Alpine Lace 25% Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese | 321 cal |
| Jarlsberg Lite Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese | 250 cal |
| Boar's Head Imported Switzerland Swiss Cheese | 393 cal |
| Sargento Deli Style Sliced Baby Swiss Cheese | 389 cal |
| Kraft 2% Milk Singles Swiss Cheese Slices | 237 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Swiss cheese FAQs
How many calories are in a slice of Swiss cheese?
A 21 g deli slice of Swiss cheese has 83 calories. That is 6.5 g fat, 3.8 g saturated fat, 5.7 g protein and only 0.3 g carbohydrate. A thin cracker-size slice of 9 g drops to 35 calories, and two slices on a sandwich come to 166 calories by our own arithmetic.
How many calories in 1 oz of Swiss cheese?
One ounce of Swiss cheese is 111 calories, scaled from the USDA figure of 393 calories per 100 g rather than taken from a USDA serving. An ounce is closer to a slice and a third than to one slice, which is why deli counters weigh instead of counting. Protein in that ounce is 7.7 g.
How much protein is in Swiss cheese?
Swiss cheese carries 27 g of protein per 100 g, which is 5.7 g in a 21 g slice and 11% of the Daily Value. That is the highest protein figure among the four cheeses compared on this page, ahead of mozzarella at 23.7 g and queso fresco at 18.88 g per 100 g.
Is Swiss cheese low in sodium?
Yes — natural Swiss has just 185 mg of sodium per 100 g, or 39 mg in a slice, which is 2% of the Daily Value. Pasteurized process Swiss carries 1,370 mg per 100 g, about 7.4 times as much, and process Swiss cheese food reaches 1,552 mg.
How many carbs are in Swiss cheese?
Almost none: 1.44 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, which works out to 0.3 g in a 21 g slice and 0% of the Daily Value. Total sugars are listed as 0 g, so nearly all of the 83 calories in a slice come from fat and protein.
Is Swiss cheese good for weight loss?
One slice at 83 calories fits most days easily, and the 5.7 g of protein helps a sandwich hold. The problem is volume, not the slice: a cup of diced Swiss is 519 calories. If you weigh the cheese instead of shredding by eye, Swiss behaves well.
How many calories in a cup of shredded Swiss cheese?
A cup of shredded Swiss is 424 calories at 108 g. Diced is the trap: the same cup holds 132 g and 519 calories, a 95-calorie gap for what looks like the same amount. Both are USDA household measures for this record, so the difference is packing, not the source.
Is reduced-fat Swiss cheese worth it?
It saves 45 calories a slice: 38 against 83, from 179 calories per 100 g instead of 393. Saturated fat drops from 18.2 g per 100 g to 3.3 g, and protein holds at 28.4 g. Nonfat Swiss goes further at 127 calories, but its sodium jumps to 1,000 mg per 100 g.
Similar foods
- Cheese — 113 cal per slice
- Oat flour — 105 cal for 1/4 cup
- Thousand Island Dressing — 216 cal per dipping-size container
- Gouda cheese — 75 cal per slice
- Condensed Milk — 122 cal per 2 tbsp
- Honey — 64 cal per tablespoon
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the sandwich and BodyPal counts the Swiss for you, slice or shredded.
