Vegetables

Spinach nutrition, before and after the heat.

Weigh out 1 cup of spinach and you are looking at 7 calories, with 0.9 g of protein inside them. USDA files this under “Spinach, raw”, and that is the record used here. Beyond the headline number, it is notable for vitamin K and vitamin A. The panel underneath takes any serving and any amount, and the vitamin and mineral table tracks what you pick.

By Alen Yaco · Updated 20 September 2026

Numbers come from USDA FoodData Central records 168462, 168463 and are worked out locally, with no sign-up.

How many calories are in spinach?

Count 7 calories for 1 cup of spinach, or 23 for every 100 g. The portion weights in the table are USDA’s own measurements.

How much protein is in spinach?

For protein, 1 cup of spinach gives you 0.9 g, which fills 2 percent of the daily 50 g benchmark. At 50 percent protein by calories, spinach does the job of a main protein source comfortably.

Its energy is 12 percent fat, 49 percent carbohydrate and 39 percent protein, meaning it behaves as mostly a carbohydrate in a meal.

What cooking does to spinach

To keep it fair, all figures are for 30 g.

Choosing and cooking spinach

Choose between crinkled savoy leaves, which hold grit, and smooth flat-leaf varieties. Look for deep green colour and crisp stems. Avoid bags with wet, collapsed leaves or yellowing edges. Loose spinach allows you to inspect the crowns. Smaller baby leaves are tender, while mature bunched spinach has a stronger, slightly metallic flavour.

This green shrinks dramatically when heated, losing most of its volume. The commonest mistake is failing to squeeze cooked spinach dry before adding it to fillings, which makes pastry soggy. Cook it briefly until it just wilts. Prolonged heat turns the leaves dull grey and coaxes out an unpleasant, metallic bitterness.

Serve tender young leaves raw in salads with sharp vinaigrettes. Wilt mature leaves with butter and nutmeg for British roasts, or stir them into rich coconut curries. Spinach pairs naturally with dairy, cutting through the richness of fresh ricotta in Italian fillings or soft paneer in Indian dishes.

The complete spinach breakdown

Measured against FDA Daily Values, the strongest lines for 1 cup of spinach are vitamin K (121 percent of the Daily Value), vitamin A (16 percent of the Daily Value), folate (15 percent of the Daily Value). Adjust the panel at the top and these rows recalculate.

Fibre runs to 2.2 g per 100 g, or 8 percent of the Daily Value.

Putting spinach into a day of eating

1 cup of spinach uses 0 percent of a 2,000 calorie day and returns 2 percent of the protein reference. Your own budget is probably not 2,000; the TDEE calculator works it out, and the macro calculator splits it into protein, carbs and fat.

Three recipes built around spinach

Three recipes from the Calorie Counter Team, each costed ingredient by ingredient against USDA records, so the per-serving figures are sums, not guesses.

Breakfast · British

Spinach Scrambled Eggs

A quick breakfast of scrambled eggs cooked with wilted spinach and butter.

15 min · serves 2

158kcal

9.8gprotein

12gfat

3.5gcarbs

Ingredients

• Fresh spinach 150 g
• Large eggs 120 g
• Unsalted butter 15 g
• Table salt 2 g
• Ground black pepper 1 g

Method

1. Wash the spinach and shake off the excess water.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
3. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts completely.
4. Whisk the eggs, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl.
5. Pour the eggs into the pan and stir gently until they set.

5 USDA records went into this total. It describes the ingredients as weighed, not the dish after cooking losses.

Dinner · Indian

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

A spiced stew of chickpeas and fresh spinach served as a main course.

30 min · serves 2

355kcal

16gprotein

12gfat

53gcarbs

Ingredients

• Fresh spinach 200 g
• Canned chickpeas, drained 240 g
• Brown onion, chopped 100 g
• Garlic cloves, minced 10 g
• Olive oil 15 g
• Canned chopped tomatoes 400 g
• Curry powder 5 g
• Table salt 3 g

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Fry the chopped onion and garlic for five minutes until soft.
3. Stir in the curry powder, canned tomatoes, and drained chickpeas.
4. Simmer the mixture on low heat for ten minutes.
5. Add the spinach and stir until the leaves collapse.

Summed from 8 USDA records and divided by servings. Heat alters weight and a few nutrients, so read it as a close figure.

Side · French

Baked Spinach Gratin

Spinach baked with cream and cheddar cheese until bubbling.

25 min · serves 2

277kcal

11gprotein

24gfat

7.2gcarbs

Ingredients

• Fresh spinach 300 g
• Double cream 60 g
• Cheddar cheese, grated 50 g
• Unsalted butter 10 g
• Table salt 2 g
• Ground nutmeg 1 g

Method

1. Wilt the spinach in a dry saucepan over medium heat.
2. Press the spinach in a sieve to remove the excess water.
3. Mix the spinach, double cream, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl.
4. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and scatter the cheddar cheese on top.
5. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for fifteen minutes.

6 USDA records went into this total. It describes the ingredients as weighed, not the dish after cooking losses.

Calorie Counter Team, food critic

One meal, costed: spinach

A worked example, every line from the same USDA data as the table above. Swap any of it; the arithmetic is the point, not the menu.

Vegetables: where spinach sits

All figures are for 100 g. Check the form column before comparing a raw food with a cooked one.

Spinach, asked and answered

How many calories are in 1 cup of spinach?

Count 7 calories. The source is the USDA record “Spinach, raw” (FDC 168462), which lists 23 calories per 100 g.

Is there much protein in spinach?

1 cup of spinach has 0.9 g of protein. By weight that is 2.9 g per 100 g, and the serving covers 2 percent of the Daily Value.

Does spinach fit a calorie deficit?

That depends on the rest of the day, not on spinach. For planning: 1 cup of spinach is 7 calories and 0.9 g of protein, 50 percent protein by energy, a strong ratio for staying full on fewer calories.

How many carbs are in spinach?

1.1 g in 1 cup of spinach, of which 0.7 g is fibre and 0.1 g is sugar.

What is the best way to remove grit from sandy spinach?

Submerge the leaves in a large bowl of cold water, swish them gently, and let the grit settle to the bottom. Lift the spinach out of the water rather than pouring it into a colander, which dumps the dirt back on top.

Can you use the thick stems of mature spinach?

Yes, but they require separate cooking. Strip them from the leaves, chop them finely, and sauté them briefly before adding the delicate leaves. If the stems are very woody or stringy, discard them or save them for vegetable stock.

Sources

• Spinach, raw — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 168462
• Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 168463
• Daily Values for nutrition labelling, 21 CFR 101.9