How many calories are in a zucchini?
One medium zucchini, 196 g with the skin on, is 33 calories. Raw zucchini runs 17 calories per 100 g, which makes it one of the cheapest vegetables you can put on a plate by weight. A cup of sliced zucchini is 19, a cup chopped 21, and even a large 323 g squash only reaches 55.
You'd need to walk about 7 minutes to burn the 33 calories in one medium zucchini (196 g).
How long does it take to burn off zucchini?
One medium zucchini (196 g) is 33 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 33 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 7 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 4 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 5 min |
| Jogging | 4 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 7 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 (196 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Zucchini quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a large zucchini
- Cooked, frozen, baby and pickled zucchini
- What about zucchini noodles?
- Fiber, potassium and the sodium trap
- How does zucchini compare?
- Most popular zucchini brands
- FAQ
Zucchini quick facts
The row used here is SR Legacy 169291, "Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw". That is the zucchini you actually hold: whole, green, skin on, straight off the counter. It is also the only raw zucchini record with the full label profile, including total sugars, saturated fat and cholesterol, plus USDA household measures for a medium, a large and a cup.
There is a newer Foundation record for raw zucchini, 2685568, which lists 19 calories per 100 g. Its energy is calculated by the Atwater method and it carries no sugars, saturated fat or cholesterol at all, so building a full label from it would mean leaving three rows blank. The 2-calorie gap between the two records is smaller than the difference between one zucchini and the next in the same bag.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 medium (196 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 17 | 33 | — |
| Total fat | 0.32 g | 0.6 g | 1% |
| Saturated fat | 0.08 g | 0.2 g | 1% |
| Carbohydrate | 3.11 g | 6.1 g | 2% |
| Dietary fiber | 1 g | 2.0 g | 7% |
| Total sugars | 2.5 g | 4.9 g | — |
| Protein | 1.21 g | 2.4 g | 5% |
| Sodium | 8 mg | 16 mg | 1% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0 mg | 0% |
| Potassium | 261 mg | 512 mg | 11% |
% 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 →
There is no added sugars row above because the SR Legacy edition does not carry that field for any of its foods, and a raw vegetable has none to declare anyway. The percentages follow the FDA Daily Values printed on US labels.
US servings, from one ounce to a large zucchini
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz, raw | 28 g | 5 kcal |
| 1 cup, sliced | 113 g | 19 kcal |
| 1 cup, chopped | 124 g | 21 kcal |
| One medium zucchini | 196 g | 33 kcal |
| One large zucchini | 323 g | 55 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 17 kcal |
The medium, the large and both cups are USDA household measures attached to record 169291, so those weights are not guesses. The 1 oz line is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not a USDA serving, and it is there because deli counters and recipe apps still speak in ounces.
Watch the cup. Sliced zucchini fills a cup at 113 g, chopped zucchini at 124 g, because cubes settle into each other while coins bridge and leave air. That is an 11 g gap hiding behind one word, worth 2 calories here and worth a great deal more when you carry the same habit over to cheese or nuts. If you log by cup all week, pick one cut and stay with it.
Cooked, frozen, baby and pickled zucchini
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw, skin on | 17 kcal | 1 medium, 196 g | 33 kcal |
| Boiled and drained, no salt | 15 kcal | 100 g | 15 kcal |
| Boiled with salt | 15 kcal | 100 g | 15 kcal |
| Frozen, unprepared | 17 kcal | 1/3 package, 10 oz (95 g) | 16 kcal |
| Frozen, then boiled, no salt | 17 kcal | 100 g | 17 kcal |
| Baby zucchini, raw | 21 kcal | 100 g | 21 kcal |
| Pickled | 35 kcal | 1 cup, 170 g | 60 kcal |
Boiled zucchini lands at 15 calories per 100 g instead of 17, and its sugars fall from 2.5 g to 1.71 g. Nothing burned off; the sugars simply went into the cooking water and down the drain. Boiling with salt changes the calorie count not at all, but sodium climbs from 3 mg to 239 mg per 100 g, which is 10% of a day's Daily Value for a plain side dish.
Frozen zucchini is blanched before it is bagged, so it holds slightly more carbohydrate, 3.58 g per 100 g, and more fiber, 1.3 g. A third of a 10 oz package is 95 g and 16 calories. Baby zucchini is a different cultivar rather than a young picking, and it is denser in every direction: 21 calories per 100 g and 2.71 g of protein, more than double the 1.21 g in a standard zucchini.
Pickled zucchini is the outlier at 35 calories per 100 g, double the raw squash. The vegetable did not change. The brine did the work, pushing sugars to 6.94 g per 100 g against 2.5 g raw, and sodium to 951 mg. A cup of it, 170 g, is 60 calories and roughly 1,617 mg of sodium by our own scaling of the USDA 100 g figure, which is about 70% of a day in one side bowl.
What about zucchini noodles?
USDA publishes no generic row for spiralized zucchini, so the honest answer is that zoodles are just raw zucchini in a different shape. The branded packages agree: US spirals from Tattooed Chef, Green Giant and Nora and Ashley's label 18 to 19 calories per 100 g, and their serving sizes, two nests at 78 g or a 3 oz nest at 85 g, land at about 15 calories each.
The calories in a bowl of zoodles come from what you pour over them, not from the squash. Two nests of spirals are about 15 calories, so on a plate of zoodles with sauce almost the whole count comes from the jar. That is the whole reason the swap works.
Fiber, potassium and the sodium trap
A medium zucchini gives 2.0 g of fiber, 7% of the 28 g Daily Value, and 512 mg of potassium, 11% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value. Potassium is the surprise on this label: most people think of bananas, but a single squash that costs 33 calories covers a ninth of the day. It is a decent contribution from a food you can eat two of without noticing.
Sodium is where zucchini can turn on you. Raw, it is 8 mg per 100 g, essentially nothing. Boiled in salted water, 239 mg. Pickled, 951 mg, or 41% of the Daily Value per 100 g. Same vegetable, three cooking decisions, and a hundredfold spread. If you are watching sodium, boil it plain and salt it at the table, where you can see how much goes on.
MyPlate counts zucchini in the vegetable group, and it is one of the easier ways to get volume into a meal: two cups of sliced zucchini is 38 calories, less than a tablespoon of the oil you might cook it in.
How does zucchini compare?
| Food | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zucchini, raw | 17 kcal | 1 medium, 196 g | 33 kcal |
| Frozen zucchini, unprepared | 17 kcal | 1/3 package, 10 oz (95 g) | 16 kcal |
| Pickled zucchini | 35 kcal | 1 cup, 170 g | 60 kcal |
| Zucchini bread | 306 kcal | 1 slice, 40 g | 122 kcal |
Our take: raw or plain-cooked zucchini is as close to free as a real food gets, and the frozen bag is the same deal with none of the prep, so keep both. Pickled zucchini is a condiment, not a vegetable serving, and the sodium is the reason, not the 60 calories. Zucchini bread is eighteen times the calories per 100 g of the vegetable in its name, and one 40 g slice costs more than three medium zucchini put together. Log it as cake, because that is what it is.
Most popular zucchini 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) |
|---|---|
| Tattooed Chef Zucchini & Yellow Squash Spirals | 19 cal |
| Veggie Nests Zucchini & Yellow Squash Spirals | 19 cal |
| Del Monte Zucchini with Italian Style Tomato Sauce | 25 cal |
| Green Giant Zucchini Veggie Spirals | 18 cal |
| Heinen's Zucchini Planks | 18 cal |
| Nora and Ashley's Zucchini Noodles | 18 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Zucchini FAQs
How many calories are in one zucchini?
One medium zucchini weighs 196 g and carries 33 calories, because raw zucchini with the skin runs 17 calories per 100 g. A large one, 323 g, comes to 55. For scale, that medium squash is about a quarter of a 40 g slice of zucchini bread at 122 calories.
How many calories in a cup of zucchini?
A cup of sliced zucchini is 19 calories at 113 g, and a cup of chopped zucchini is 21 at 124 g. The word cup hides an 11 g gap, because chopped cubes pack tighter than coins. Either way you are under 25 calories with 1 g of fiber per 100 g.
How many carbs are in zucchini?
Zucchini has 3.11 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, so a medium 196 g squash holds 6.1 g. Fiber accounts for 2.0 g of that, leaving about 4.1 g of net carbs by our own subtraction. Total sugars are 4.9 g in a medium, all of it naturally occurring.
Does cooking zucchini change its calories?
Boiled and drained zucchini is 15 calories per 100 g against 17 raw, and its sugars drop from 2.5 g to 1.71 g as they leach into the water. Boiling in salted water leaves the calories alone but takes sodium from 3 mg to 239 mg per 100 g.
How many calories in zucchini noodles?
Store-bought zucchini spirals label 18 to 19 calories per 100 g, so a 3 oz (85 g) nest of zoodles is about 15 calories. USDA has no generic row for spiralized zucchini, so the number tracks the raw squash it is cut from: 17 calories per 100 g.
Is zucchini good for weight loss?
At 17 calories per 100 g, zucchini is one of the cheapest ways to fill a plate: a whole medium squash is 33 calories with 2.0 g of fiber and 512 mg of potassium. If you are trying to cut calories without cutting volume, swapping half a pasta portion for zucchini is the obvious move.
How much fiber is in zucchini?
Raw zucchini has 1 g of fiber per 100 g, so a medium 196 g squash gives 2.0 g, or 7% of the 28 g Daily Value. Frozen zucchini is slightly higher at 1.3 g per 100 g. It is a modest contribution, not a fiber source you build a day around.
Is zucchini a fruit or a vegetable?
The calorie count is 17 per 100 g either way. Botanically zucchini is a fruit, since it grows from the flower and carries seeds, but MyPlate counts it in the vegetable group and every USDA row files it under summer squash. Cook it and log it as a vegetable.
Similar foods
- Pico de gallo — 41 cal per cup
- Cucumber — 45 cal per whole cucumber
- Lettuce — 10 cal per cup shredded
- Mushrooms — 15 cal per cup sliced
- Salad — 23 cal per side salad
- Cabbage — 22 cal per cup chopped
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the zucchini for you, cup or whole squash.
