How many calories are in lentils?
100 g of boiled lentils is about 115 kcal, with 9 g of protein and 8 g of fibre. A cup, around 200 g, is about 230 kcal and 18 g of protein. Measured dry the same lentils are 340 to 350 kcal per 100 g — the difference is water, and nothing else.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 g lentils, boiled and drained | ~115 kcal | 9 g | 20 g | 0.4 g |
| One cup boiled, about 200 g | ~230 kcal | 18 g | 40 g | 1 g |
| 100 g dry lentils or dal | 340–350 kcal | 24 g | 60 g | 1.5 g |
| 30 g dry, one serving’s worth | ~105 kcal | 7 g | 18 g | 0.5 g |
| One katori home dal, 150 g, 1 tsp ghee tadka | 140–180 kcal | 7 g | 20 g | 5 g |
| One cup dal makhani, restaurant | 350–500 kcal | 14 g | 40 g | 18–30 g |
What changes the number
The tadka. A teaspoon of ghee is about 40 kcal and a tablespoon about 120. In a thin everyday dal the tempering can be a quarter of the total energy, and it is the one ingredient nobody weighs.
How thick the dal is. This decides the per-100-g figure entirely. The same 30 g of dry dal can be a loose 250 ml bowl at roughly 45 kcal per 100 g or a thick 120 g serving at nearly 90. The water changes the number on the label and not the number you ate, which is why a “bowl of dal” is a poor unit.
Cream and butter. Dal makhani is a different dish from dal. Cream, butter and a long finish put a cup at 350 to 500 kcal, against 150 for a home dal.
What goes in with it. Vegetables and tamarind in a sambar barely register. Coconut, fried onion and whole chickpeas do.
Where it fits in a deficit
On protein per calorie, lentils are one of the strongest plant foods there is: roughly 8 g of protein per 100 kcal, against about 6 g for full-fat paneer and 8 g for eggs. They are cheap, filling, high in fibre and almost fat-free, which makes them one of the easier things to build around while eating less.
The caveat is worth stating plainly: lentils are a carbohydrate food that carries protein, not a protein food. Each 9 g of protein arrives with 20 g of carbohydrate, so hitting 120 g of protein from dal alone would take roughly 1,300 kcal. They are also lower in methionine than animal protein, which is why dal with rice or roti beats either alone. As the base of a meal, with soya chunks, yoghurt or eggs at the top end, dal does exactly what protein in a deficit asks of it.
The varieties barely differ
Per 100 g dry:
| Dal | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Masoor (red lentil) | ~350 kcal | 25 g |
| Toor / arhar | ~335 kcal | 22 g |
| Moong dal | ~345 kcal | 24 g |
| Urad dal | ~340 kcal | 25 g |
| Chana dal | ~360 kcal | 21 g |
The whole spread is about 25 kcal per 100 g dry, which on a 30 g serving is 8 kcal — less than the error in eyeballing the ghee. Whole versus split changes fibre and cooking time, not energy.
So choose dal by taste. The levers that matter are the tadka, the thickness and how much dry dal went in — the three things that make meal planning around dal workable, once you have measured your own version a single time.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.