Indian Food
How Many Calories in 1 Roti?
By The NutriNudge Team · August 12, 2026 · 3 min read
Quick answer
One medium roti made from whole wheat flour, about 40 grams uncooked and roughly 6 inches across, contains about 120 calories, 3 grams of protein and 25 grams of carbohydrate. Brushing it with ghee adds 35 to 45 calories, taking a buttered roti to roughly 155 to 165.
How many calories is one roti?
About 120 calories for a medium roti, assuming 40 grams of whole wheat flour and no fat on top. That is the figure to use unless you know your rotis are unusually large or small.
| Roti | Flour weight | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small, ~5 inch | 30 g | ~90 kcal | 2.5 g |
| Medium, ~6 inch | 40 g | ~120 kcal | 3 g |
| Large, ~8 inch | 60 g | ~180 kcal | 4.5 g |
| Medium + 1 tsp ghee | 40 g | ~155 kcal | 3 g |
| Tandoori roti (restaurant) | ~60 g | ~200 kcal | 5 g |
The spread between a small home roti and a restaurant tandoori roti is more than double. If you eat four a day, that difference alone is over 400 calories, which is why the portion assumption matters more than the decimal places.
What changes the number?
Three things, in order of how much they matter.
- Size. This is the big one. Roti calories scale almost exactly with flour weight, so a roti twice the diameter is roughly twice the calories.
- Ghee or butter. One teaspoon adds about 40 calories. Two rotis brushed generously can add 100 to the meal without looking any different.
- Flour type. Whole wheat, multigrain and bajra sit within about 10 calories of each other per 40 grams. This matters far less than people expect.
Notice what is not on that list: whether the roti is "healthy". A multigrain roti is not meaningfully lower in calories than a wheat one. It may bring more fibre and a slower rise in blood sugar, both worth having, but if you swapped flours hoping to cut calories, the saving is close to zero.
How do you find your own roti number?
Do this once and you never need to think about it again. Weigh the dough ball before rolling, or weigh the flour for a batch and divide by the number of rotis it makes.
A worked example. Say 500 grams of atta makes 12 rotis in your house. That is roughly 42 grams of flour each, so about 125 calories per roti. Write that number down and use it. Your rotis will be consistent because the same person makes them the same way.
Then count the ghee separately rather than folding it into the roti figure. It varies day to day, and keeping it separate keeps both numbers honest.
The bottom line
Use 120 calories for a medium roti, 155 if it has ghee, and weigh your flour once to get a number that fits your kitchen rather than a database average.
Rotis are rarely the reason a diet stalls. Three rotis is around 360 calories, which is a reasonable share of a meal. The fat they are cooked and served with is where the unaccounted calories usually sit.
Frequently asked questions
- How many calories in 2 rotis?
- About 240 calories for two medium rotis without ghee, or around 310 if both are brushed with a teaspoon of ghee each.
- Is roti better than rice for weight loss?
- Not inherently. One roti is about 120 calories and a cup of cooked rice about 200, but the portions differ in practice. Total daily intake decides fat loss, not the choice of staple.
- How many rotis should I eat per day?
- There is no universal number. It depends on your calorie target and what else is on the plate. Two to three per meal is common and fits most everyday intakes comfortably.
- Does multigrain roti have fewer calories?
- Barely. Multigrain and whole wheat differ by roughly 10 calories per roti. Choose multigrain for fibre and satiety, not as a calorie saving.
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