A 50g pack of plain roasted makhana contains about 159 kcal. Per 100g the figure is 318 kcal, calculated using the energy conversion factors that FSSAI requires on Indian food labels.
The full nutrition profile per 100g
| Nutrient | Per 100g | Per 50g pack |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 318 kcal | 159 kcal |
| Protein | 9.7 g | 4.9 g |
| Carbohydrate (total) | 76.9 g | 38.5 g |
| — of which dietary fibre | 14.5 g | 7.3 g |
| — of which available carbohydrate | 62.4 g | 31.2 g |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g |
| Total fat | 0.1 g | 0.05 g |
How the calorie figure is calculated
Energy on an Indian food label is not measured in a calorimeter. Under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, it is calculated from the declared macronutrients using fixed conversion factors. Applying them:
| Component | Amount | Factor | Energy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | 9.7 g | 4 kcal/g | 38.8 kcal |
| Available carbohydrate | 62.4 g | 4 kcal/g | 249.6 kcal |
| Dietary fibre | 14.5 g | 2 kcal/g | 29.0 kcal |
| Fat | 0.1 g | 9 kcal/g | 0.9 kcal |
| Total | 318.3 kcal |
Why some sources say 347 kcal instead
You will find 347 kcal per 100g quoted widely online. That number comes from the USDA database, which uses the general Atwater system and applies 4 kcal/g to all carbohydrate, including fibre. India’s labelling rules treat dietary fibre separately at 2 kcal/g, because most of it is not metabolised the way starch is.
Makhana is unusually high in fibre — 14.5g per 100g — so the two methods diverge by around 29 kcal. For a product sold in India, 318 kcal per 100g is the correct figure. The 347 figure is not wrong, it simply follows a different convention.
What 159 kcal actually looks like
A 50g pack is a generous bowl — roasted makhana is very light for its volume, so 50g fills far more space than 50g of most snacks. That same pack carries 4.9g of protein and 7.3g of dietary fibre, and effectively no fat at 0.05g.
For reference, published generic values put fried potato crisps at roughly 530–540 kcal per 100g and most fried namkeen higher still, largely because frying adds 30g or more of oil per 100g. Plain roasted makhana has nothing added but heat. These comparison figures are generic reference data, not values tested for MAKHANZA products.
Does flavouring change the count?
Yes. The figures above are for plain roasted makhana with no seasoning. Flavoured variants, and products where makhana is one ingredient among several — cookies, noodles, pasta — carry their own declared values on pack. Always read the panel on the specific product rather than assuming the plain figure carries across.
Common questions
How many calories in 100g of makhana?
318 kcal, calculated by the FSSAI method from 9.7g protein, 62.4g available carbohydrate, 14.5g dietary fibre and 0.1g fat.
How many calories in one bowl of makhana?
A typical serving bowl holds 25–30g of roasted makhana, which is about 80–95 kcal.
Is makhana high in protein?
Plain roasted makhana provides 9.7g of protein per 100g. MAKHANZA’s makhana pasta and noodles are higher again, at 13.76g and 12.46g per 100g respectively.
Does makhana contain fat?
Plain roasted makhana contains 0.1g of total fat per 100g, because it is roasted rather than fried.
Where these numbers come from
The macronutrient values are the standard published composition for plain Euryale ferox seed (phool makhana), consistent across USDA FoodData Central and Indian composition data, and consistent with MAKHANZA’s own declared protein content of 9.7g per 100g. The energy value is derived from them using the conversion factors set out in the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. Where a specific batch has been lab-tested, the value printed on that pack takes precedence over the figure here.