A 3-ounce serving of cooked shrimp (about 84 grams) contains roughly 100 calories. That makes shrimp one of the lowest-calorie protein sources you can eat, with less than half the calories of the same portion of chicken breast or steak.
Calories Per Shrimp by Size
Since shrimp come in a wide range of sizes, it helps to know what each one adds to your plate. A medium shrimp averages about 7 calories, a large shrimp runs 9 to 10 calories, and a jumbo shrimp lands around 14 calories. A standard 3-ounce cooked serving is roughly 12 to 15 large shrimp or 8 to 9 jumbo shrimp.
These numbers apply to plain cooked shrimp, whether steamed, boiled, or grilled without added fat. The moment you introduce butter, breading, or oil, the calorie count changes significantly.
How Cooking Method Changes the Count
Plain shrimp stays remarkably lean no matter how you apply heat. Steaming, boiling, and grilling without oil all keep you in that 100-calorie-per-serving range. Sautéing in a tablespoon of butter or olive oil adds roughly 100 calories to the pan, shared across the shrimp. A butter-heavy shrimp scampi can easily double or triple the calorie total depending on the recipe.
Deep-fried shrimp is where the numbers jump the most. A battered, fried coating absorbs oil and adds both saturated fat and carbohydrates that plain shrimp lacks entirely. A single breaded and fried jumbo shrimp can run 40 to 50 calories, compared to 14 calories plain. An appetizer plate of eight fried shrimp can top 350 calories before dipping sauce.
Protein, Fat, and Other Nutrients
Shrimp’s calorie-to-protein ratio is hard to beat. A 3-ounce serving delivers about 20 grams of protein, which is close to what you get from chicken breast (26 grams) or steak (25 grams) but at a fraction of the calories. Chicken comes in around 200 calories per 3-ounce serving, and steak around 230.
Plain shrimp is also extremely low in fat, with less than 1.5 grams of total fat per serving and minimal saturated fat. It contains virtually no carbohydrates, making it popular across low-carb, high-protein, and calorie-restricted diets.
Cholesterol in Shrimp
Shrimp has a reputation for being high in dietary cholesterol, and it does contain more per serving than most other proteins. For years, that led to blanket advice to limit intake. Current research tells a different story. A study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that shrimp consumption is associated with a favorable impact on blood lipid levels overall. The combination of high omega-3 fatty acid content and extremely low saturated fat appears to offset the cholesterol content, with potential additional heart benefits from omega-3’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Saturated fat in your diet has a larger effect on blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol itself. Since shrimp is so low in saturated fat, eating it regularly doesn’t raise heart disease risk the way older guidelines suggested.
How Shrimp Compares to Other Proteins
- Shrimp (3 oz cooked): ~100 calories, 20g protein
- Chicken breast (3 oz cooked): ~200 calories, 26g protein
- Steak (3 oz cooked): ~230 calories, 25g protein
Ounce for ounce, shrimp gives you the most protein per calorie of these three options. You could eat two full servings of shrimp and still come in under a single serving of steak. That makes it especially useful if you’re trying to hit a protein target while staying within a calorie budget. The tradeoff is that shrimp is less satiating by volume, so pairing it with fiber-rich vegetables or whole grains helps round out a filling meal.