Food

Calories in butter

Salted butter has 717 kcal (3,000 kJ) per 100 g, which is about 102 kcal in a level tablespoon. It is almost all fat.

Updated 21 October 2026. Sources named on the page.

Key factCalories in butter is 717 kcal per 100 g (3,000 kJ per 100 g).

Per 100 g and per teaspoon and tablespoon
Why a small amount counts
Saturated fat and sodium
Where the numbers come from

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Calories in butter, per 100 g and per serve

Per 100 g of: Butter, salted.

Per 100 g

Per 100 g	kcal	kJ	Protein	Fat	Carbs
butter	717	3,000	0.9 g	81.1 g	0.1 g

butter next to similar foods, per 100 g

Food	kcal	kJ	Protein	Fat
Olive oil	884	3,699	0 g	100 g
Margarine	717	3,000	0.2 g	80.7 g
Cream, thickened	340	1,423	2.8 g	36.1 g
Cream cheese	350	1,464	6.2 g	34.4 g

Common serves

Serve	Weight	kcal	kJ	Protein	Fat
A teaspoon	4.7 g	34 kcal	141 kJ	0 g	3.8 g
A tablespoon	14.2 g	102 kcal	426 kJ	0.1 g	11.5 g
A thick spread on toast	10 g	72 kcal	300 kJ	0.1 g	8.1 g
A 20 g portion in a recipe	20 g	143 kcal	600 kJ	0.2 g	16.2 g

Sources: USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy, April 2018, fdc 173410

Values for butter vary by brand and how it is cooked. Check the pack. General information, not medical advice.

A small amount adds up quickly

Butter is the densest food most people log. A single tablespoon is about one hundred calories, so the butter on toast, in the pan and on vegetables can add up to a whole snack without looking like one.

Spread, tablespoon and cup

The food planner holds the tablespoon, the stick and the cup. A level tablespoon is the one to use for cooking, and a thin scrape on bread is closer to a teaspoon.

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Salted and unsalted

These figures are for salted butter. Unsalted butter has almost the same calories and much less sodium, so check which one you bought.

Melted or solid, it weighs the same

Butter has the same calories melted or solid, so a tablespoon melted into a pan is the same as a tablespoon from the tub. What changes is how easy it is to lose track: a knob in a hot pan is hard to judge by eye, so weigh it once.

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Ghee, cultured butter and spreads

Ghee, cultured butter and the soft spreads sold beside butter are separate products with their own labels. Ghee is more concentrated because the water is cooked off, so do not swap its figure for this one.

Butter in baking

A recipe that calls for 100 g of butter brings in more than seven hundred calories before anything else goes into the bowl. Divide the whole recipe by the number of serves to see what each slice carries; that is more useful than looking at the butter alone.

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Butter, oil and cream side by side

The comparison table puts butter beside olive oil, margarine, cream and cream cheese. The gaps between them come mostly from how much water each one holds, so read the table for the numbers instead of guessing from how rich a food feels.

Questions

How many calories are in a tablespoon of butter?

A tablespoon of about 14 g is roughly 102 kcal.

How many calories are in a teaspoon of butter?

A teaspoon of about 5 g is roughly 34 kcal.

Is butter lower in calories than margarine?

Not by much. Many spreads have fewer calories because they hold water, but read the label for the one you use.

How much saturated fat is in a tablespoon of butter?

A tablespoon of about 14 g has 7.3 g of saturated fat out of 11.5 g of fat in total, on these figures.

How many calories are in 20 g of butter?

About 143 kcal, or 600 kJ, from 16.2 g of fat.

Calories in butter

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