How many calories are in a samosa?
One medium deep-fried potato samosa — about 100 g — is roughly 250 to 300 kcal. The filling is a minority shareholder in that number. The rest is refined flour, the fat worked into the dough, and the oil the pastry takes up in the fryer.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mini or cocktail samosa (~30 g) | ~80–95 kcal | 1.5 g | 9 g | 5 g |
| 1 small street samosa (~70 g) | ~180–210 kcal | 3 g | 22 g | 11 g |
| 1 medium samosa (~100 g) | ~250–300 kcal | 4.5 g | 30 g | 16 g |
| 1 large Punjabi samosa (~150 g) | ~380–450 kcal | 7 g | 45 g | 24 g |
| 1 medium, baked or air-fried | ~150–180 kcal | 4.5 g | 29 g | 5 g |
| 2 medium with both chutneys | ~600–680 kcal | 9 g | 70 g | 33 g |
What changes the number
Frying is the whole story. A medium samosa breaks down roughly like this:
- 30 to 35 g of maida: 110 to 125 kcal
- the moyan, the fat rubbed into the dough, 5 to 8 g: 45 to 70 kcal
- 70 to 80 g of spiced potato and peas with a teaspoon of oil: 70 to 100 kcal
- oil absorbed during frying, 5 to 10 g: 45 to 90 kcal
So the potato — the part you came for — is under a third of the total, and fat is over half the calories. That last line is the one nobody can measure from outside, which is why an honest answer is a range.
Oil temperature matters. Pastry fried in oil that is not hot enough spends longer in the pan and drinks more of it. Fried at around 180 °C (350 °F) the same samosa can carry several grams less fat than one eased into lukewarm oil — 30 to 50 kcal for identical ingredients.
Pastry and filling swaps. A patti or spring-roll-wrapper samosa is thinner, nearer 150 to 200 kcal. Baking or air-frying saves roughly 80 to 120 kcal and gives a drier food — worth knowing, not worth pretending is the same thing. Keema filling adds 20 to 40 kcal and some protein; cheese or paneer, 50 to 80.
The chutneys are not free. Tamarind or meethi chutney is built on sugar or jaggery: roughly 60 to 80 kcal for two tablespoons, against 15 to 30 for green mint-coriander. A samosa chaat — crushed under chole, yoghurt, sev and both chutneys — is a 500 to 700 kcal plate.
Where it fits in a deficit
The useful figure is protein per calorie, and it is poor: about 4.5 g for 275 kcal, roughly what one egg gives for a sixth of the energy. Two samosas with chutney is around 600 kcal, near a third of an 1,800 to 2,000 kcal day, eaten in four minutes.
None of that makes a samosa a problem. It makes it a meal rather than a snack: eat it as lunch rather than alongside lunch, and put something with protein next to it.
For contrast, 275 kcal is four Medjool dates or two medium mangoes, both of which take far longer to get through — the entire argument behind high-volume eating. It does not change the arithmetic of a calorie deficit, only how much food you get for the number.
Size is the real unknown
No shop tells you what a samosa weighs, and the regional range is enormous. A Punjabi halwai samosa can be 150 g and the size of a fist; a Bengali shingara is smaller, often filled with cauliflower and peanuts; a Hyderabadi lukhmi is squarer and meat-filled. Party-platter minis are 25 to 35 g, so six match two medium samosas almost exactly.
Frozen supermarket samosas are the one case with a real answer: typically 55 to 70 g, with the weight and figures on the pack — though often for the uncooked parcel, so check which column you are reading. For street food, estimate from size, and if it is large or glossy with oil take the top of the range.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.