Almond calories, by the kernel
Dry roasted almonds are 598 calories per 100 g. USDA does something unusually useful here and defines the ounce serving as 22 whole kernels, which means this is one of the very few foods you can log accurately by counting.
Per 100 g, dry roasted, unsalted
| Serving | Weight | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 oz (22 whole kernels) | 28 g | 170 | 5.9 g | 6.0 g | 14.9 g |
| 1 cup whole kernels | 138 g | 825 | 28.9 g | 29.0 g | 72.5 g |
USDA defines the 1 oz serving as 22 whole kernels.
Count them. Genuinely.
An ounce is 28.35 g and 170 calories. At 22 kernels that is about 7.7 calories per almond. Nobody wants to count nuts, but the alternative is worse: a handful is a physiological measure, not a unit, and a generous one is easily 40 kernels — 309 calories, nearly double the serving on the packet.
Counting to 22 takes about eight seconds and is exact. Weighing is faster. Guessing, on a food this dense, is where several hundred untracked calories a day come from in an otherwise careful log.
What is in them
Per 100 g: 52.5 g fat, 21.0 g protein, 21.0 g carbohydrate. The protein figure gets quoted a lot and it is real, but 79% of the calories are fat — the same shape as peanut butter, which is not a coincidence, since peanut butter is a nut that has been ground.
As a protein source per calorie almonds are poor. As a source of fat you actually want to eat, with fiber and vitamin E attached, they are excellent. Log them as a fat.
Roasted, raw, salted, and oil
These figures are dry roasted without salt. Dry roasting uses no added oil, so raw and dry roasted land close together. Oil roasted is different — the nut absorbs some of what it was cooked in. Salted versions match on calories and differ on sodium. Check which one you bought; the packet says.
Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy release 2018-04. Figures are per 100 g as published; serving weights are USDA’s own. Records used: Nuts, almonds, dry roasted, without salt added (FDC 170158).
Common questions
About 170. USDA puts an ounce at 28.35 g, defined as 22 whole kernels, at 598 calories per 100 g.
About 7.7, based on USDA’s 22 kernels per ounce.
22 whole kernels, which is USDA’s one-ounce serving.
They contain 21 g per 100 g, but 79% of their calories come from fat. Per calorie they are a weak protein source and an excellent fat source.
Compare it with
| Food | Per 100 g | Protein | The page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avocado | 160 kcal | 2.0 g | The label serving is a third of the fruit |
| Olive oil | 884 kcal | 0 g | 8.84 calories a gram, and the free pour |
| Peanut butter | 598 kcal | 22.2 g | Why a tablespoon is a matter of opinion |
All twenty-four are on the food macros index.
Log it without doing this arithmetic
Scan the barcode or weigh it in grams and EatSleepRep does the conversion. The scanner is free forever, there are no ads, and every entry exports as CSV whenever you want it.