A half cup of raw sliced carrots contains about 25 to 30 calories. The exact number depends on how the carrots are cut and how tightly they’re packed into the measuring cup, but for practical purposes, you’re looking at one of the lowest-calorie vegetables you can eat.
Calories by Preparation Style
How you cut and cook carrots slightly changes the calorie count per half cup, mostly because of how densely the pieces pack together and whether any water is absorbed or lost during cooking.
- Raw sliced carrots (1/2 cup): approximately 26 calories
- Baby carrots, whole (1/2 cup): approximately 25 calories
- Boiled and drained carrots (1/2 cup): approximately 27 calories
Shredded carrots pack more tightly into a measuring cup than sliced rounds, so a half cup of shredded carrots weighs more and may creep closer to 30 calories. The differences are small enough that, for calorie tracking, any value in the 25 to 30 range is accurate.
What Else Is in That Half Cup
Carrots are mostly water and carbohydrates, with almost no fat or protein. A half cup of raw carrots gives you roughly 6 grams of carbs, about 1.5 grams of fiber, and around 1.5 grams of natural sugar. That fiber-to-sugar ratio is part of why carrots feel more filling than their calorie count would suggest.
The standout nutrient is vitamin A. Just a half cup of raw carrots delivers about 51% of your daily value, thanks to beta-carotene, the orange pigment your body converts into vitamin A. That same pigment functions as an antioxidant, helping protect cells from damage. Research links regular beta-carotene intake to benefits for eye health (it acts as a protective agent against cataracts), immune function, skin health, and reduced inflammation.
Carrots and Blood Sugar
Some people avoid carrots because they’ve heard the vegetable has a high glycemic index. In practice, this isn’t a concern at normal serving sizes. A half cup of carrots contains only about 6 grams of carbohydrate, so the glycemic load (which accounts for portion size) is very low. A study testing blood sugar responses in diabetic subjects found no meaningful difference between raw and cooked carrots. Both raised blood sugar only modestly, and cooking did not cause the kind of rapid spike seen with foods like potatoes. For most people, carrots are a blood-sugar-friendly food.
How Carrots Compare to Other Snacks
At roughly 25 calories per half cup, carrots sit near the bottom of the calorie scale even among vegetables. For comparison, a half cup of sliced banana has about 67 calories, a half cup of grapes has around 52, and a half cup of hummus (a common carrot pairing) adds about 200 calories. If you’re dipping carrots, the dip will almost always contain more calories than the carrots themselves.
A single medium carrot, about 7 inches long, weighs around 78 grams and has 30 calories. That’s roughly equivalent to a half cup of sliced rounds, so one whole carrot is a convenient way to eyeball the serving if you don’t have a measuring cup handy. About 8 to 10 baby carrots will get you to the same amount.