Do Spices Add Calories to a Recipe?
Updated 2026-10-28
Quick answer. A teaspoon of ground cinnamon weighs about 2.8 g and gives 6.8 kcal. A teaspoon of ground nutmeg gives about 13 kcal. Salt and baking soda give no calories at all. A spice looks high in calories per 100 g only because a recipe uses grams of it, not cups.
A spice label can show 247 kcal per 100 g or more, and still add almost nothing to a recipe. The reason is the amount used. A recipe takes a teaspoon of cinnamon, not 100 g. The table converts the USDA per-100 g values into the weight and calories of one teaspoon.
Calories in a teaspoon of common flavourings
| Ingredient | kcal per 100 g | Weight of 1 tsp | kcal per tsp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground cinnamon | 247 | 2.77 g | 6.8 kcal |
| Ground nutmeg | 525 | 2.47 g | 12.9 kcal |
| Cocoa powder, unsweetened | 228 | 1.80 g | 4.1 kcal |
| Vanilla extract | 288 | 4.33 g | 12.5 kcal |
| Garlic, raw | 149 | 2.83 g | 4.2 kcal |
| Onion, raw | 40 | 3.33 g | 1.3 kcal |
| Salt, table | 0 | 1.97 g | 0.0 kcal |
| Baking soda | 0 | 4.50 g | 0.0 kcal |
One teaspoon is taken as one third of the tablespoon weight in the same USDA record. A teaspoon of a ground spice is about 2 to 3 g; a teaspoon of a liquid is about 4 to 5 g.
Why the per-100 g number misleads
Per-100 g values compare foods by weight, and spices are dry and light. A tablespoon of ground cinnamon weighs about 8.3 g, so 100 g is roughly 12 tablespoons. Nobody puts that in a cake. The per-100 g figure is useful for a database and useless for a portion.
When a flavouring does change the total
Cocoa powder and vanilla extract are used in larger amounts than salt or cinnamon. A tablespoon of cocoa powder is about 12.3 kcal, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract is about 12.5 kcal. In a small batch of cookies that can matter. Salt, baking soda and water add no calories, but salt still adds sodium, and the nutrition facts label calculator rounds sodium with the FDA rules.
How to enter spices in a calculator
Enter the spoon amount, not the weight per 100 g. Choose the spice, then the teaspoon or tablespoon unit. If a spice is not in the list, leave it out and note that the total is an estimate; a teaspoon of most ground spices is under 15 kcal. The ingredient calorie calculator shows one ingredient at a time, and the recipe nutrition calculator adds the whole recipe.
For flavour pairings rather than calories, read the spice pairing guide.