Chicken Breast Nutrition: Calories, Protein & Macros
If you're trying to find the calories or protein in chicken breast, there is one detail I want you to check first: was the chicken weighed raw or cooked?
That simple difference explains why you may see 150 calories on one nutrition page and about 165 calories on another for what appears to be the same 100 grams of chicken.
Chicken loses water as it cooks, so the nutrients become more concentrated by weight. The cooking method, skin, added oil, marinades and commercial processing can change the numbers further.
Use the calculator below to match the nutrition information to the chicken you actually measured.
100g Standard Baseline
Calculate Chicken Breast Nutrition for Your Serving
A nutrition table is useful when your portion happens to be exactly 100 grams. Most meals aren't that neat.
Enter the amount of chicken you weighed, choose whether it was raw or cooked, and select the preparation that best matches your meal. The calculator will scale the nutrition information from the selected reference record.
Your Serving Details
I recommend that oil not be silently estimated. Calculator results describe plain chicken; cooking fats must be added separately when used.
200 g cooked grilled chicken breast
Key Micronutrients in this serving
BioavailableThese values were scaled from the selected USDA FoodData Central reference. They describe the chicken state shown above and do not automatically include cooking oil, sauces or marinades.
Why Do Chicken Breast Calories Look Different From One Website to Another?
If you've ever searched for chicken breast calories and found several different answers, I understand why that feels confusing.
Usually, the disagreement isn't because chicken nutrition is impossible to measure. It's because the pages are describing different versions of chicken breast.
One page may use raw boneless chicken. Another may use grilled chicken. Another may use roasted meat. Some values include skin, while others do not.
Even two cooked examples can differ because cooking changes water content.
For example, Verywell Fit currently uses an 85 g grilled, boneless, skinless serving with 128 calories and 26 g protein. Healthline uses another cooked reference that works out to about 165 calories and 31 g protein per 100 g. Both pages cite USDA data, but they are not necessarily using exactly the same chicken record or preparation basis.
That is why I recommend checking these five details before comparing numbers:
On this site, those details should always appear beside the nutrition data so you can see exactly what you're looking at.
What Happens to Chicken During Cooking?
RAW CHICKEN
Water accounts for the majority of the scale weight before heat application.
COOKED CHICKEN
Less total weight with more concentrated protein and calories per 100 grams.
Chicken Breast Nutrition Facts
The table below describes one clearly defined reference food, not chicken breast in general.
| Nutrient | Amount (per 100 g) | % Daily Value (FDA Reference Standard) |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 120 kcal | - |
| Protein | 22.5 g | |
| Total fat | 2.6 g | |
| Saturated fat | 0.6 g | |
| Carbohydrate | 0.0 g | 0% |
| Fiber | 0.0 g | 0% |
| Sugars | 0.0 g | - |
| Cholesterol | 73 mg | 24% DV |
| Sodium | 65 mg | |
| Potassium | 334 mg | |
| Phosphorus | 210 mg | 17% DV |
| Selenium | 27.6 mcg | |
| Niacin (Vitamin B3) | 11.2 mg | |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.6 mg | 35% DV |
| Vitamin B12 | 0.34 mcg | 14% DV |
| Iron | 0.74 mg | 4% DV |
| Zinc | 0.80 mg | 7% DV |
What stands out nutritionally?
Plain chicken breast is primarily a protein-rich food. It contains little carbohydrate unless ingredients such as breading, sugary marinades or sauces are added.
It also provides several micronutrients, including niacin, vitamin B6, selenium and phosphorus.
Instead of treating those nutrients as a list of "health benefits," use them as factual nutrition information. More specific health questions can be covered in dedicated guides with appropriate supporting evidence.
Chicken Breast Calories and Protein by Serving Size
You don't need a separate webpage for every possible chicken portion. Use the table for common portions, or enter your exact weight in the calculator.
| Portion Size | Weight (g) | Calories (kcal) | Protein (g) | Total Fat (g) |
|---|
Calculated values: Serving-size values are mathematically scaled from the selected reference record. Actual values can vary between individual chicken breasts and commercial products.
Raw vs Cooked Chicken Breast: Which Number Should You Use?
Use the nutrition entry that matches the state in which you weighed your chicken.
If you weighed 200 grams before cooking, use a raw chicken reference.
If you cooked a batch first and then weighed 200 grams onto your plate, use the appropriate cooked reference.
The mistake I see most often is weighing chicken cooked while logging a raw database entry, or doing the reverse. That can make your calorie and protein tracking look inconsistent even when the amount of chicken hasn't actually changed as much as the app suggests.
Cooking mainly changes the amount of water in the meat. Because the cooked piece weighs less, calories and protein are usually more concentrated when expressed per 100 grams.
In-Depth Raw vs Cooked Guide
Learn why cooking yields vary by heat type, how to adjust batch cooking, and common logging traps.
Read the Full Raw vs Cooked Chicken GuideRaw-to-Cooked Weight Calculator
Instantly convert raw grocery weights into expected edible cooked portions based on preparation method.
Use the Raw-to-Cooked CalculatorHow Cooking Method Changes Chicken Breast Nutrition
Plain chicken breast does not suddenly become a completely different food when you grill it instead of baking it, but preparation still matters.
Water loss can change nutrient concentration per 100 grams, while ingredients added during cooking can change the actual calories, fat, carbohydrates and sodium of the finished meal.
Grilled Chicken Breast
Grilling can reduce the chicken's weight as moisture is lost. If no meaningful amount of oil or sauce is added, the biggest change you'll notice in nutrition tracking is often the difference between raw and cooked weight.
Explore Grilled Chicken Breast NutritionBaked Chicken Breast
Baked chicken can vary widely depending on whether it is cooked plain, brushed with oil, covered in sauce or prepared with the skin on.
Explore Baked Chicken Breast NutritionBoiled Chicken Breast
Plain boiling generally does not require added fat. If the chicken is cooked in salted broth or heavily seasoned liquid, however, sodium may differ from plain-water preparation.
Explore Boiled Chicken Breast NutritionAir-Fried Chicken Breast
Unbreaded air-fried chicken can be prepared with little added oil. Breaded air-fried chicken is a different food and should not be logged using a plain chicken-breast entry.
Explore Air-Fried Chicken Breast NutritionRoasted, Poached and Steamed
Explore dedicated deep-dive guides for other wholesome preparations:
What Can Change Chicken Breast Calories and Macros?
Skin
Keeping the skin changes the fat and calorie content, so a skin-on reference should not be substituted for skinless chicken.
Cooking oil
Oil contains calories and fat. If oil remains on or is absorbed into the food, it needs to be accounted for separately unless the database entry already represents that preparation.
Marinades and sauces
A simple herb or spice mixture may contribute very little energy, while sugary sauces or oil-heavy marinades can make a meaningful difference.
Breading
Breaded chicken should be treated as a different prepared food because flour, crumbs, starches and oils add carbohydrate, fat and calories.
Commercial processing
Frozen, deli, canned and ready-to-eat chicken products may contain salt, broth, starches, phosphates, sugars or other ingredients. Always check the product's own Nutrition Facts label when you are eating a branded food.
How Much Protein Is in Chicken Breast?
Chicken breast is naturally protein-dense, but there is no single protein number for "one chicken breast" because individual breasts can vary considerably in size.
That is why weight is more useful than phrases such as "one medium breast" or "one large breast." If you know the weight, use the calculator.
Protein-to-Chicken Target Converter
Want 30 grams of protein? Enter 30 g into the converter and choose whether you are working with raw or cooked chicken. The tool will estimate how much chicken corresponds to that target from the selected source record.
Not Every Product Labeled "Chicken Breast" Has the Same Nutrition
A fresh chicken breast and a packet of deli chicken breast may have the same animal source, but nutritionally they can be quite different foods.
Boneless, skinless
The central whole-muscle standard reference food used across this website.
Featured as primary homepage referenceBone-in
The scale may include bone that you do not eat, so edible weight matters.
Bone-In Chicken Breast NutritionTenderloin
A separate small muscle located beneath the breast. Treat it as its own food record when appropriate.
Chicken Tenderloin NutritionGround chicken breast
Check the label carefully. "Ground chicken" is not automatically the same as ground chicken breast and can contain different amounts of fat.
Ground Chicken Breast NutritionCanned chicken
Sodium and added ingredients can vary significantly between products.
Canned Chicken Breast NutritionDeli chicken
Commercial deli meat often requires label-specific data rather than generic chicken values.
Deli Chicken Breast NutritionHow Chicken Breast Compares With Other Protein Foods
Compare equal 100g cooked baseline portions across common protein staples
Chicken Breast (Cooked, 100g)
Practical Chicken Nutrition Guides
Should You Weigh Chicken Raw or Cooked?
Learn how to match your food scale measurement to the correct nutrition entry.
Read Guide →Does Cooking Change Chicken Protein?
Understand what happens to water, weight and protein concentration during cooking.
Read Guide →What Does 4 oz of Chicken Look Like?
Use real photographs and scale measurements instead of relying only on hand-size estimates.
Read Guide →How Much Chicken Should You Prepare Per Person?
Compare raw purchase weight with cooked edible serving size.
Read Guide →Chicken Breast for Weight Loss
Learn where chicken breast can fit into a calorie-controlled eating pattern without presenting it as a weight-loss cure.
Read Guide →Chicken Breast for Muscle Building
Understand how chicken can contribute dietary protein alongside total protein intake and resistance training.
Read Guide →Where Our Chicken Nutrition Numbers Come From
When nutrition numbers disagree online, simply adding another unexplained number doesn't help.
Our goal is to show you where each value came from and what it actually represents.
For generic chicken breast, our first-choice reference is USDA FoodData Central, which provides food composition data for foods including raw and prepared chicken. USDA describes its Foundation Foods data as including nutrient information derived from analysis of individual samples of minimally processed foods, along with information about variability and sample acquisition.
For commercial products, we prioritize the product's current official Nutrition Facts label or manufacturer information.
For restaurant items, we prioritize the restaurant's official published nutrition information.
For health or physiological claims, we use appropriate peer-reviewed research and authoritative health sources.
Data labels used across this site
A number taken directly from the identified source record or official label.
A mathematical conversion from a verified reference, such as scaling a 100 g value to a 200 g serving.
A value that requires an assumption, such as predicting cooked weight from raw weight.
Information provided by you to run a calculator.
So, How Many Calories Are Really in Chicken Breast?
If you came here hoping for one number, I don't want to make the answer harder than it needs to be.
For a specific piece of chicken, the most useful answer comes from matching three things:
That is more accurate than memorizing one "chicken breast calorie" number and applying it to every meal.
If you weighed your chicken raw, choose the raw reference.
If you weighed it after grilling, choose grilled.
If it came from a package with its own Nutrition Facts label, use the label whenever it represents the product you actually ate.
Once you make that distinction, chicken nutrition becomes much easier to track.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in 100g of chicken breast?
There isn't one universal value for every form of chicken breast. Raw and cooked chicken use different reference values, and different cooked methods can also produce different numbers. Select the food state that matches how your chicken was measured.
How much protein is in 100g of chicken breast?
Chicken breast is protein-dense, but the exact amount depends on the food record and whether the 100 grams refers to raw or cooked chicken. Use the raw/cooked selector above for the appropriate reference.
Why does cooked chicken have more protein per 100g?
Cooking removes water from the meat. Because the finished chicken weighs less, protein becomes more concentrated when you compare equal 100 g portions. Cooking has not created extra protein out of nowhere.
Should I weigh chicken raw or cooked?
Either can work. The important thing is to use a nutrition entry that matches the state in which you weighed it. Raw weight should be paired with raw nutrition data, while cooked weight should be paired with the appropriate cooked reference.
Does cooking oil count in chicken breast calories?
Yes, if a meaningful amount of oil remains in or on the food. Plain chicken database values do not necessarily include the oil you added during cooking.
What temperature should chicken breast reach?
USDA FSIS recommends cooking poultry to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (73.9°C), measured with a food thermometer.