Spices pack a lot of flavor which brings your favorite foods and drinks to life. If you’re counting calories for any reason, do you need to worry about spices?
All spices are considered low in calories given the typical serving sizes. Most spices contain fewer than 10 calories per teaspoon. The highest-calorie spice is nutmeg which contains around 12 calories per teaspoon.
Even nutmeg doesn’t end up contributing many calories when used in recipes. For example, a pumpkin pie recipe might call for ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg for the entire recipe.
We did some research and gathered the calorie information for several of the most popular spices, which we’ll share in this article.
Which spices have the lowest calories?
Virtually all spices are very low in calories – most bottles of dried spices state that they contain zero calories per serving or don’t even have a nutrition label because they don’t provide any significant nutritional value. Keep in mind that the serving size for dried spices is very small since a little goes a long way in terms of potency. Most recipes call for spices in quantities of teaspoons or smaller.
Some of the most popular spices are low in calories, including (but not limited to):
- Allspice: 5 calories per teaspoon
- Black pepper: 6 calories per teaspoon
- Cardamom: 7 calories per teaspoon
- Chili powder: 8 calories per teaspoon
- Cinnamon: 7 calories per teaspoon
- Cloves: 6 calories per teaspoon
- Curry powder: 7 calories per teaspoon
- Cumin: 8 calories per teaspoon
- Garlic powder: 10 calories per teaspoon
- Ginger (ground): 6 calories per teaspoon
- Onion powder: 8 calories per teaspoon
- Paprika: 6 calories per teaspoon
All nutrition data is from USDA FoodData Central
If you’re using teaspoons of spices for recipes, do the calories add up to be significant? Not really, since recipes usually make several servings. Even if you ate an entire recipe with a teaspoon’s worth of ground spices it would only contribute around 10 calories at the most, which isn’t significant.
Which spices have the most calories?
Most spices and spice blends (like taco seasoning and garam masala) are very low in calories and fall under 10 calories or fewer per teaspoon. We did some research and only found one spice that is significantly higher than most, and it’s (drumroll)…nutmeg!
Ground nutmeg contains around 12 calories per teaspoon (11.6 to be exact, but we round to the nearest whole number for our lists). That’s still not a lot, which is why spices aren’t considered a significant source of calories on their own.
Sure, if you mix cinnamon with sugar to make cinnamon sugar it’ll be higher in calories, but sugar isn’t a spice – just cinnamon is. That’s the case with any spice; it can become a higher-calorie food when you mix it with sugar or other foods, but spices on their own are all low in calories.
That’s good news if you’re counting calories or are on any special diets! Spices pack a lot of flavor without many calories, carbs, or fat. Using spices in place of salt and sugar is a healthier option and can even come with potential health benefits, so it’s a win-win all around.
Are spices okay on special diets?
If you’re on special diets like a vegan diet, Whole30, paleo, or keto, are spices allowed? The answer is YES 99% of the time, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are usually spice blends and seasoning mixes, not plain spices).
- Store-bought garlic SALT (not powder) can have added sugar, which isn’t paleo- or Whole30-friendly. Even with sugar, it’s still considered keto-friendly given the serving size, though.
- Garlic powder is a bit higher in carbs compared to most spices with around 6 grams of net carbs per tablespoon. Using garlic powder in smaller amounts is generally just fine on keto diets, though.
- Some spices have added sugar and/or cornstarch, which aren’t Whole30 or paleo-friendly. Some of the most likely spices that aren’t Whole30 or paleo-friendly (in addition to garlic salt) are:
- Taco seasoning (store-bought brands often contain added sugar and cornstarch)
- Jerk seasoning (added sugar)
- Seasoning salt (added sugar, sometimes cornstarch)
All spices are vegan-friendly because they’re plant-based without added animal-derived ingredients. The main exception is dry ranch dressing seasoning mix which contains milk-derived ingredients like buttermilk and sometimes whey.
FAQs:
Spices generally add a negligible amount of calories. Most spices contain fewer than 10 calories per teaspoon, and recipes generally call for spices in amounts of teaspoons or smaller and recipes typically make more than one serving.
Salt and pepper provide negligible calories given the serving size. Salt provides a significant amount of sodium, not calories – and ground black pepper contains 6 calories per teaspoon, which is very low.
It’s usually not worth the time and effort to count calories from ground spices because they are so low in calories.
Most spices are so low in calories that you don’t need to worry about counting them for dieting purposes (usually fewer than 10 calories per teaspoon). Most containers of herbs and spices don’t have nutrition fact labels because they are so low in calories, and those that do list the calories as 0 per serving.
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