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Shrimp protein and calories

Cooked shrimp is 24 g of protein for 99 calories per 100 g. That is 0.24 g of protein per calorie — the highest ratio of anything on this site, ahead of canned tuna, chicken breast and egg whites.

Per 100 g, cooked

Cooked, shelled.

Why the ratio is so good

0.28 g of fat per 100 g and 0.2 g of carbohydrate. There is essentially nothing in shrimp except protein and water. A 3 oz portion is 85 g — 20.4 g of protein for 84 calories.

The cholesterol thing

Shrimp is genuinely high in dietary cholesterol, which is why it spent decades on lists of foods to avoid. The understanding of dietary cholesterol has shifted substantially — for most people, dietary cholesterol has a much smaller effect on blood cholesterol than was assumed when those lists were written. That is a real change in mainstream guidance, not a fringe position, but it is also a medical question rather than a macro one. If you have been told to watch cholesterol specifically, that instruction came from someone who knows your numbers and this page does not.

What is done to it is the whole story

Shrimp is almost never eaten plain. Breaded and fried, it absorbs oil and gains a coating; scampi is shrimp delivered in butter. The 99-calorie figure is for shrimp that was boiled, steamed or grilled. Anything else, log the fat separately.

Weights, shells and the bag

USDA’s figures are cooked and shelled. Shrimp is sold by count per pound with the shell on, frozen shrimp carries a glaze of ice, and both mean the number on the bag is not the number you will eat. Weigh what goes on the plate.

Source: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy release 2018-04. Figures are per 100 g as published; serving weights are USDA’s own. Records used: Crustaceans, shrimp, cooked (FDC 175180).

Common questions

24 g per 100 g cooked, for 99 calories. A 3 oz portion of 85 g is about 20.4 g of protein.

The ratio is exceptional — 0.24 g of protein per calorie, the best of any common animal food, with almost no fat or carbohydrate. What it is cooked in is what changes that.

Yes, in dietary cholesterol. Mainstream guidance on how much that affects blood cholesterol has shifted considerably, but if you have been advised to watch it specifically, follow that advice rather than this page.

No. USDA’s figures are cooked and shelled. Shrimp is sold by count per pound with shells on, and frozen shrimp carries an ice glaze, so weigh what goes on the plate.

Compare it with

All twenty-four are on the food macros index.