Menu calorie counter
A dish's calories from its recipe, rounded the way menus show them.
You'll need: What goes into one dish and how much of each, weighed if you can, and how many plates the recipe makes.
Free calculator
Work out a dish's calories
Add what goes into one dish and get its calories for the menu. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Example numbers. Replace them with yours.
Ingredient 1
USDA: Beef, ground, 80% lean meat / 20% fat, patty, cooked, pan-broiled · FDC 171798
Pan-broiled, a patty keeps about 73% of its raw weight (USDA cooking yield). Enter the weight after cooking. Weighed it raw? Pick “Ground beef 80/20, raw”.
Calories in this ingredient305.46
Ingredient 2
USDA: Rolls, hamburger or hotdog, plain · FDC 172796
Calories in this ingredient122.76
1 each = 44 g
Ingredient 3
USDA: Cheese, cheddar (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) · FDC 173414
Calories in this ingredient112.84
1 each = 28 g
Ingredient 4
USDA: Catsup · FDC 168556
Calories in this ingredient17.17
1 tbsp (US) = 17 g
Ingredient 5
USDA: Lettuce, iceberg (includes crisphead types), raw · FDC 169248
Calories in this ingredient1.12
1 each = 8 g
Ingredient 6
USDA: Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average · FDC 170457
Calories in this ingredient3.6
1 each = 20 g
- Enter what goes on the plate, after trimming. Weigh it if you can: cups of flour vary a lot.
- Pick the item that matches how you weighed it, raw or cooked. A burger patty loses about a quarter of its weight in the pan, and some of that is fat.
- Fried? Add the oil it soaks up as its own row. Weigh the fryer oil before and after a batch, and the difference is what the food took in.
- Not on the list? Pick “Other: from the pack label” and type the kcal per 100 g from its nutrition panel.
1 for a single plate.
With the example numbers
560 calories a plate
Exactly 562.95 before rounding. US menus round to the nearest 10 above 50 calories.
An estimate from USDA nutrition data and your recipe. It isn't a lab test.
Nutrient values: USDA FoodData Central (public domain). FDC ID shown for each ingredient.
How we worked it out
- Dish
- Burger plate
- 1. Beef, ground, 80% lean meat / 20% fat, patty, cooked, pan-broiled (FDC 171798)
- 124.17 g × 246 ÷ 100 = 305.46
- 2. Rolls, hamburger or hotdog, plain (FDC 172796)
- 1 each = 44 g; × 279 ÷ 100 = 122.76
- 3. Cheese, cheddar (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) (FDC 173414)
- 1 each = 28 g; × 403 ÷ 100 = 112.84
- 4. Catsup (FDC 168556)
- 1 tbsp (US) = 17 g; × 101 ÷ 100 = 17.17
- 5. Lettuce, iceberg (includes crisphead types), raw (FDC 169248)
- 1 each = 8 g; × 14 ÷ 100 = 1.12
- 6. Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average (FDC 170457)
- 1 each = 20 g; × 18 ÷ 100 = 3.6
- Whole recipe
- added up = 562.95 calories
- Rounded for a US menu
- 562.95 → 560
- Nutrient data
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018)
How the counter works
Each ingredient's calories come from USDA nutrition data, by weight: the amount on the plate times the food's calories per 100 g. The counter adds them up for the whole recipe, divides by the plates it makes or by the portion's weight, and rounds once, at the end, the way menus where you are show calories.
Pick each food the way you weighed it, raw or cooked: a burger patty loses about a quarter of its weight in the pan. Something not on the list can come from its pack's nutrition panel, as kcal per 100 g.
Most independent restaurants don't have to post calories at all. The guide to calories on restaurant menus covers who does, country by country, what a menu that posts them has to show, and the mistakes that throw the number off.
Common questions
Do I have to put calories on my menu?
Probably not, if you're independent. The US rule covers chains with 20 or more locations under the same name, and restaurants that register with FDA; New York City's covers chains with 15 or more. Ontario's covers chains with 20 or more locations in Ontario, and England's businesses with 250 or more employees. In Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and the EU it's voluntary.
Where do the calorie figures come from?
USDA FoodData Central, with each food's FDC ID shown under it, so every figure can be checked. A food that isn't on the list can come from its pack's nutrition panel. It's an estimate from your recipe, not a lab test.
Should I weigh ingredients raw or cooked?
Either, as long as you pick the food the way you weighed it: ground beef is on the list raw and as a pan-broiled patty, which keeps about 73% of its raw weight. For a pot of soup or stew, weigh the whole batch after cooking and one portion: simmering drives off water, not calories.