How many calories are in chicken breast?
Chicken breast has 140 calories per 3 oz cooked (85 g) — that's 165 calories per 100 g, roughly 7% of a 2,000-calorie day. Most of those calories come from protein.
USDA FoodData Central · cooked, roasted, skinless · FDC 171477
Calories by portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 oz cooked (85 g) | 140 | 26.4 g | 0 g | 3.1 g |
| 100 g | 165 | 31 g | 0 g | 3.6 g |
| 1 oz (28 g) | 47 | 8.8 g | 0 g | 1 g |
Where the calories come from
Protein 79% Carbs 0% Fat 21%
Calories computed from USDA per-100 g data (FDC 171477, SR Legacy). cooked, roasted, skinless. The macro split uses general Atwater factors (protein and carbs ≈ 4 cal/g, fat ≈ 9 cal/g) and is approximate.
Cooked skinless chicken breast is the leanest mainstream protein you can build a meal around, and the calorie math shows why: about 140 calories per 3 oz cooked serving (85 g), which is 165 calories per 100 g — only about 7% of a 2,000-calorie day. For that you get roughly 26 g of protein, with essentially no carbohydrate and just 3.6 g of fat per 100 g. Almost nothing else in the whole-food aisle packs that much protein into so few calories without dragging fat along with it.
Where the calories come from
This is the page where the macro split is the whole story. Run cooked breast through the standard Atwater factors (protein and carbs ≈ 4 cal/g, fat ≈ 9 cal/g) and you get roughly 79% protein calories and 21% fat, with zero carbohydrate. There simply isn’t much fat to contribute — that lean 3.6 g per 100 g is a fraction of what you’d find in chicken thigh, salmon, or a fatty cut of beef. When people say chicken breast is “clean” protein, this is the literal meaning: the calories you eat are overwhelmingly the protein you’re after, not the fat that rides along with most other meats.
One thing worth flagging on the number itself: 165 calories per 100 g is the cooked figure. Raw breast tests lower per gram because cooking drives off water and shrinks the piece, concentrating the protein and calories together. Nearly every restaurant menu and recipe quotes the cooked weight, so unless a label says “raw,” assume cooked.
The most protein-efficient calories you can eat
The practical angle is protein efficiency, and chicken breast wins it outright. At about 5.3 calories per gram of protein, a single 3 oz serving (~140 cal) delivers ~26 g — and a more typical 4 oz dinner portion (~190 cal) clears ~35 g, enough to hit the ~30 g target that anchors most per-meal recommendations on its own. You don’t spend your calorie budget on fat or carbs to get there. That high protein-to-calorie ratio is precisely why breast is the bodybuilder and fat-loss staple: it lets you keep protein high while keeping total calories low, which is the entire game in a cut.
For the full protein side of the picture — how those ~26 g per serving stack toward a daily goal — see protein in chicken breast.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in a 3 oz serving of chicken breast?
About 140 calories in a 3 oz cooked serving (85 g) of skinless chicken breast, based on 165 calories per 100 g (USDA FDC 171477). That's only about 7% of a 2,000-calorie day, and it brings roughly 26 g of protein with it.
How many calories are in chicken breast per 100 g or per ounce?
165 calories per 100 g of cooked, skinless breast, which is about 47 calories per ounce (28 g). Note this is the cooked figure — raw breast is lower per gram because cooking drives off water and concentrates everything, calories included.
Where do the calories in chicken breast come from?
Almost entirely protein. By Atwater factors, cooked skinless breast is roughly 79% protein calories and about 21% fat, with zero carbohydrate. Very little of the calorie load comes from fat — only about 3.6 g per 100 g — which is exactly what makes it the leanest mainstream protein.
How many calories per gram of protein does chicken breast give you?
About 5.3 calories per gram of protein — roughly 140 calories for 26 g in a 3 oz serving. That is about as efficient as whole food gets: you spend almost nothing on fat or carbs, which is why chicken breast is the classic bodybuilding and fat-loss staple.
How many calories are in a whole chicken breast?
A typical cooked boneless, skinless breast weighs around 4–6 oz (115–170 g), which works out to roughly 190–280 calories and about 36–53 g of protein. Restaurant and recipe portions are almost always weighed cooked, not raw.
When was this data last verified?
2026-06-04, against USDA FoodData Central FDC 171477 (Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted; SR Legacy). We re-verify reference pages periodically and update when USDA revises its data.
Whole-food values are USDA reference data, not a Labelgrade (that score is for branded packaged products). See our methodology and the TDEE calculator to turn this into a daily target.