About Nutrition Calculator

Calculate nutritional values (calories, macros) from ingredient weights. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Calculators collection.

Use Cases

• Calculate the full nutritional profile of a home-cooked recipe by entering individual ingredients.
• Verify that a meal plan meets macro targets before committing to a week of cooking.
• Compare the nutritional value of two similar foods to make a substitution decision.
• Estimate caloric density (kcal/gram) of a food to assess satiety value for a weight management goal.

Tips

• Enter ingredients by weight (grams), not volume — volume measurements for foods like peanut butter or rice vary 20-30% based on packing density.
• Use the recipe scaling feature to calculate nutrition for different serving sizes without recalculating each ingredient.
• Enable the micronutrient view to check fiber, sodium, potassium, and vitamins — macros alone miss nutritional deficiencies.

Fun Facts

• The calorie (kilocalorie in food labeling) was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as the heat needed to raise 1 kg of water by 1°C. Atwater applied it to food energy measurement in the 1890s.
• The US FDA mandatory nutrition label, introduced in 1994, requires 14 nutrients. In 2016, the FDA updated the label to add vitamin D and potassium (newly identified deficiency nutrients) and remove vitamins A and C.
• Fiber has 0-2 calories per gram despite containing 4 cal/g worth of carbohydrate — insoluble fiber is not digestible and passes through the gut, making 'net carbs' calculations (total carbs minus fiber) scientifically debated.

FAQ

What nutritional database does it use?

USDA FoodData Central, which contains 700,000+ foods including branded products, restaurant items, and basic ingredients. Data is updated annually.

Does it calculate micronutrients?

Yes — vitamins (A, C, D, E, K, B-complex), minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc), and fiber are all reported per ingredient and aggregated.

Can I save custom recipes?

Yes — save recipes with names and serving sizes. Saved recipes appear as ingredients in other recipes, enabling hierarchical nutrition tracking for complex meals.