Calories in 1 Roti (Chapati): By Size and With Ghee

One medium roti (40 g, about 7 inches across) has about 120 calories, based on USDA data for whole wheat roti. A small roti has about 81 calories and a large one about 155. Each level teaspoon of ghee or oil you spread on top adds about 40 more.

In everyday use, roti and chapati are usually two names for the same flatbread, and USDA lists them as one food. Below are the calories in 1 roti by size, with ghee or oil, with curry and next to rice, with the math shown.

Calories in 1 roti (chapati) by size

USDA FoodData Central lists roti at 299 calories per 100 g, with 7.85 g of protein, 46.13 g of carbs, 9.2 g of fat and 9.7 g of fiber. It also gives a weight for each size:

Roti size	Weight	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat	Fiber
Small, 6 inches (15 cm)	27 g	81	2.1 g	12 g	2.5 g	2.6 g
Medium, 7 inches (18 cm)	40 g	120	3.1 g	18 g	3.7 g	3.9 g
Large, 8 inches (20 cm)	52 g	155	4.1 g	24 g	4.8 g	5.0 g

How we got these: weight × 299 ÷ 100. For a medium roti, 40 × 299 ÷ 100 = 119.6, or about 120 calories. Protein, carbs, fat and fiber use the same method.

Not sure which size yours is? Weigh one roti from your usual batch. Every 10 g of roti is about 30 calories.

Calories in 1 roti with ghee, oil or butter

Ghee and oil are almost pure fat, so a small spoonful adds a lot.

• Ghee: USDA lists a tablespoon at 14 g, so a teaspoon (a third of that) is about 4.7 g: 41 calories at 876 per 100 g.
• Oil: A teaspoon of soybean cooking oil is 4.5 g: 40 calories at 884 per 100 g.
• Butter: A tablespoon is 14.2 g, so a teaspoon is about 4.7 g: 34 calories at 717 per 100 g. It is lower because butter is about 16% water.

Roti size	Plain	+ 1 tsp ghee	+ 1 tsp oil	+ 1 tsp butter
Small (27 g)	81	122	121	115
Medium (40 g)	120	161	160	154
Large (52 g)	155	196	195	189

Totals add the rounded numbers, for example 120 + 41 = 161. For a chapati with butter, use the last column. A full tablespoon of ghee (14 g) has about 123 calories, more than a medium roti.

Roti without ghee: homemade vs store-bought

A plain roti with nothing on top is the number in the first table: about 120 calories for a medium one.

USDA’s roti numbers come from a store-bought, frozen whole wheat roti, though. It has 9.2 g of fat per 100 g, while whole wheat flour has only 2.5 g, so some fat is already in the dough. A homemade phulka made with just atta and water can come in a little lower.

For your own number, weigh the dry atta before you make the dough and divide by the number of rotis it makes. Water has no calories and a dry tawa adds none, so each roti has the calories of its share of the flour: about 34 for every 10 g of whole wheat flour (USDA lists 340 per 100 g).

A roti made from 30 g of atta (a quarter cup, since USDA puts a cup of whole wheat flour at 120 g) has about 102 calories. This is our estimate from USDA’s flour values.

Store-bought rotis can also be bigger. USDA’s plain commercial chapati weighs 68 g and has 297 calories per 100 g, about 202 calories a piece. If yours comes in a pack, check the label.

Roti with sabzi, salan or daal

In USDA’s data, a cup of each of these curries has more calories than a medium roti:

1 cup (240 g) of	Curry only	+ 1 medium roti	+ 2 medium rotis
Vegetable curry (like a sabzi)	206	326	445
Chicken curry (like a salan)	257	377	496
Daal	348	468	587

The curries are 86, 107 and 145 calories per 100 g in USDA data, multiplied by 2.4 for a 240 g cup. Two medium rotis are 239 calories (80 × 299 ÷ 100).

If your curry is oilier, count the extra: every tablespoon of oil (13.6 g) in your share adds about 120 calories. For roti with ghee and sabzi, add 41 for each teaspoon of ghee. A medium roti with ghee and a cup of vegetable curry is about 367 calories.

Roti vs rice

Gram for gram, roti has more than twice the calories of cooked rice (299 vs 130 per 100 g), mostly because cooked white rice is about 68% water and roti about 35%. Per serving, they are closer:

Serving	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fiber
1 medium roti (40 g)	120	3.1 g	18 g	3.9 g
2 medium rotis (80 g)	239	6.3 g	37 g	7.8 g
1 cup cooked white rice (158 g)	205	4.3 g	45 g	0.6 g

The clearest difference is fiber: 7.8 g in two whole wheat rotis against 0.6 g in a cup of white rice.

The NHS says adults should aim for 30 g of fiber a day, while most eat only about 20 g. It calls foods with 6 g or more per 100 g high fiber, and USDA’s whole wheat roti has 9.7 g per 100 g.

For a rice dish cooked with oil and meat, see calories in chicken biryani.

How to fit roti into your day

• Count the roti and the fat separately. About 120 calories for a plain medium roti, plus 41 for each teaspoon of ghee.
• Add protein. A cup of USDA’s daal adds about 21 g of protein (8.6 g per 100 g). Eggs are another easy option: see calories in 2 eggs.
• Count paratha on its own. A paratha has ghee or oil folded into its layers, so it is a different food. See calories in 1 paratha.
• Log it your way. MacroScout was built with desi meals like roti, daal and salan in mind. With Pro, snap a photo of your plate or describe it, then adjust the estimate before saving. On the free plan, enter the numbers from this page yourself.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before changing your diet, especially if you have a health condition.