How many calories are in an apple?
A medium apple is about 95 kcal. That number assumes 180–200 g (6–7 oz) of fruit, which is one particular apple rather than any apple — and the spread between the small one in a lunchbox and the large one in a fruit bowl is wider than most people expect.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small apple, ~150 g (5 oz) | ~75 kcal | 0.4 g | 20 g | 0.2 g |
| Medium apple, ~180 g (6 oz) | ~95 kcal | 0.5 g | 25 g | 0.3 g |
| Large apple, ~230 g (8 oz) | ~120 kcal | 0.6 g | 31 g | 0.4 g |
| 100 g (3.5 oz), skin on | ~52 kcal | 0.3 g | 14 g | 0.2 g |
| 1 cup sliced, ~110 g (4 oz) | ~57 kcal | 0.3 g | 15 g | 0.2 g |
| 30 g (1 oz) dried apple rings | ~75 kcal | 0.3 g | 20 g | 0.1 g |
The carbohydrate is almost entirely sugar and fibre. A medium apple carries roughly 4 g of fibre, much of it in and just beneath the skin.
What changes the number
Size does most of the work. Apples are sold loose and graded loosely. A 130 g apple is about 68 kcal; a 250 g one is about 130. Two apples a day at the large end is a 100 kcal difference from the same habit at the small end. If you want one figure to carry in your head, 50 kcal per 100 g travels better than “95 per apple”.
Variety barely matters. Granny Smith is a little less sweet and Fuji or Honeycrisp a little more, but across common varieties the range is roughly 45–60 kcal per 100 g. Choose on flavour.
Peeling costs the fibre, not the calories. Skinless apple is a touch lower per 100 g and noticeably less filling.
Drying concentrates it. Remove the water and you remove the volume: 30 g of dried rings is a few mouthfuls and about the energy of a small whole apple.
What arrives with it. A tablespoon of peanut butter is about 95 kcal, a toffee coating 100–150, and apple crumble with custard can pass 400. The apple is rarely the expensive part.
Where it fits in a deficit
An apple is close to the best satiety per calorie you can buy. It is about 85% water, takes several minutes to eat, and the fibre slows things down — which is the whole mechanism behind high-volume, low-calorie eating. What it does not give you is protein: 0.5 g is a rounding error, so an apple fills a gap rather than feeding a protein target.
Honest practical note: the sugar in whole fruit is not worth engineering around. Three apples a day is about 300 kcal, which has to fit the budget like anything else, but nothing about the sugar makes it harder to lose weight than 300 kcal of bread. Pair an apple with something protein-dense if it has to carry you to the next meal — two boiled eggs and an apple is about 250 kcal and behaves very differently from the apple alone.
Whole apple versus apple juice
This is the comparison worth making, because the calories are close and the experience is not. A medium apple is ~95 kcal; 250 ml (8 fl oz) of apple juice is ~115 kcal and takes twenty seconds to drink. Juicing removes nearly all the fibre and all of the chewing, and “no added sugar” juice still holds the sugar of three or four apples in a glass.
Cooked and puréed forms sit in between. Unsweetened apple sauce is about 45 kcal per 100 g; sweetened versions roughly double that. None of this makes juice a bad food, but in a calorie deficit it is poor value — you pay an apple’s calories and get none of its appetite suppression.
For contrast with a staple at the other end of the density scale, 300 g of cooked white rice is about 390 kcal. The same weight of apple is about 155.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.