Short answer: one cup of boiled kala chana, roughly 150 g drained, has 225 to 255 calories. Per 100 g, boiled chana lands at 150 to 170 kcal, with about 8 to 10 g of protein and 7 to 8 g of fiber. Chana is one of the most calorie-honest foods on a Pakistani plate. Almost all the variation between versions comes from oil and gravy, not the chickpeas themselves.
The USDA's standard reference for boiled chickpeas puts 100 g at 164 kcal, 8.9 g of protein, 27.4 g of carbs, and 7.6 g of fiber (nutritionvalue.org). Kala chana, the small dark desi variety most Pakistani homes use, tests close to that: around 160 to 167 kcal per 100 g boiled. The two chickpeas are near-twins once boiled; the differences that matter are what you cook them in.
The three chanas on your plate
Chana shows up in Pakistani kitchens in three very different forms, and the calorie story splits along those lines.
Boiled kala chana and chaat. The simplest version: chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled with salt. Eaten as is, or tossed as chaat with onion, tomato, green chilies, lemon, and chaat masala. The vegetables and lemon barely move the number. Chaat masala, imli, and a few cubes of boiled potato add a little. This is the version dietitians mean when they call chana a good diet food.
Curries: chole, kala chana salan, chana masala. Same chickpeas, now in a tomato-onion gravy. The gravy is where calories enter. Home-style versions with a measured spoon of oil run only slightly above boiled. Dhaba or restaurant versions, where oil goes in freely and the masala fries longer, run noticeably higher. One published chana masala recipe lands at 76 kcal per 100 g, a very watery one; a richer curried channa recipe lands at 148 (recipeofhealth.com, recipeofhealth.com). A restaurant chole plate runs about 150 kcal per 100 g (nutribit.app). The range is the gravy, every time.
Bhuna chana, the roasted snack. Dry-roasted chickpeas sold in paper cones at every market and bus stop in Pakistan. No water left, so the calories concentrate hard. A small 30 g cone, the typical street portion, carries 95 to 115 kcal, with about 6 to 7 g of protein. By weight it looks expensive compared to boiled chana, but the street portion is small and that is the number that counts.
Chana calories and macros
| Chana | Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kala chana, boiled, plain | 100 g | 150 to 170 | 8 to 10 g | 26 to 29 g | 2 to 3 g |
| Kala chana, boiled | 1 cup drained (~150 g) | 225 to 255 | 12 to 15 g | 39 to 44 g | 4 to 5 g |
| Kala chana chaat, home style | 100 g | 150 to 180 | 8 to 10 g | 27 to 32 g | 2 to 4 g |
| Chole / chana masala, home style | 100 g | 150 to 200 | 8 to 10 g | 24 to 28 g | 4 to 8 g |
| Chana salan, dhaba / restaurant | 100 g | 180 to 240 | 8 to 10 g | 22 to 27 g | 8 to 13 g |
| Bhuna chana, dry roasted | 100 g | 300 to 380 | 18 to 24 g | 55 to 63 g | 4 to 8 g |
| Bhuna chana, street cone | ~30 g | 95 to 115 | 6 to 7 g | 17 to 19 g | 1 to 2 g |
The boiled numbers anchor on the USDA reference; the curry numbers reflect published recipe analyses and food database entries. Chana daal, the split and skinned cousin, runs 130 to 160 per 100 g cooked and has its own numbers in our daal calories guide.
Why chana fills you up out of proportion to its calories
This is the interesting part. A cup of boiled chana is 240-ish calories and people report feeling full for hours. Two things are doing that work: fiber and protein. At 7.6 g of fiber per 100 g, one cup carries over 11 g of fiber, and fiber slows digestion and stretches out the feeling of fullness. The 12 to 15 g of protein per cup adds the second layer.
None of that makes chana magic. The fullness story holds for the boiled and chaat versions. Drown it in oil-heavy gravy and you get the same fiber and protein with a few hundred extra calories, which is a worse trade, not a better one.
Kala chana versus kabuli chana
Worth one paragraph because Pakistanis cook both. Kala chana is the small, dark, thick-skinned desi variety. Kabuli chana is the large, pale one sold as safed chana or chole. Nutritionally they are close: kabuli has the USDA's exact 164 kcal per 100 g boiled; kala chana runs a hair lower on carbs and a hair higher on protein per dry gram in most analyses, close enough that one range covers both for logging purposes. Pick by taste and price, not by macros. Kala chana usually wins on price in Pakistani markets anyway.
How to track chana in seconds
In CalsFlow, type:
"1 cup kala chana chaat, light imli, no potato"
You get the calorie and macro estimate plus the assumptions behind it: the drained weight it guessed for your cup, what it allowed for the imli and onion, the protein it credited. Had chana salan at a dhaba with visible oil on top? Say so in the entry, and the estimate moves up with the oil. The trick with chana is naming the version, not the chickpea. "Kala" versus "kabuli" barely moves the number; "boiled" versus "dhaba salan" moves it a lot.
This is the same describe-what-you-see approach from our guide to counting calories in Pakistani and desi food: plain wording, checked assumptions, adjusted portions.
Chana in a weight-loss diet
Boiled chana and chaat are among the easiest snacks to keep while cutting. A cup of kala chana chaat is a genuinely filling 240-ish kcal snack that beats a samosa by a few hundred calories and keeps you full longer than most packaged options. Bhuna chana works too, as long as the portion stays at one street cone and not the whole bag.
The one version to watch is restaurant chole eaten with bhature or naan. The chana is fine. The fried bread and the oil in the gravy are doing the damage, which is the same pattern as the bread side of most Pakistani meals. Full numbers for that side are in our roti calories guide.
FAQs
How many calories are in 1 cup of chana? About 225 to 255 kcal for a 150 g cup of boiled kala chana, drained. A cup of chana chaat lands in the same range. A cup of oily dhaba chole runs closer to 300.
Is chana good for weight loss? Boiled chana and chaat, yes: high fiber and protein for the calories, genuinely filling, easy to portion. Roasted bhuna chana is fine in small cones. The gravy-heavy restaurant versions are a different dish.
Does chana have a lot of protein? For a plant food, yes: 12 to 15 g per cup of boiled chana. Paired with rice or roti it covers a real share of daily needs. Our protein guide walks through the daily targets.
Which is healthier, kala chana or kabuli chana? Nearly identical for logging purposes. Kala chana has slightly more fiber and protein per dry gram in most analyses, kabuli has the firmer USDA data behind it. The preparation matters far more than the variety.
The bottom line
Boiled chana: 150 to 170 kcal per 100 g, 225 to 255 per cup, with fiber and protein doing the filling work. Chaat stays in the same range; restaurant gravy does not. Eating chana today? Describe it in CalsFlow with the preparation spelled out and get your real number.
CalsFlow provides nutrition estimates, not medical advice.