A whole medium eggplant contains roughly 130 to 140 calories. That makes it one of the lowest-calorie vegetables you can cook with, sitting well below potatoes, corn, and even carrots on a per-weight basis. Whether you’re counting calories, watching carbs, or just curious, here’s what the numbers look like across different serving sizes and preparations.
Calories by Serving Size
Raw eggplant has about 25 calories per 100 grams. Since a medium globe eggplant weighs roughly 1.5 pounds (about 680 grams), the whole thing comes in around 135 calories. A one-cup serving of cubed raw eggplant (82 grams) has approximately 20 calories.
For context, that means you could eat an entire medium eggplant and take in fewer calories than a single large banana. The low calorie count comes from eggplant’s high water content, which makes up about 92% of its weight.
How Cooking Changes the Numbers
Raw and cooked eggplant have noticeably different nutritional profiles, and this is where calorie counts can get tricky. Boiling or steaming eggplant keeps calories low, with 100 grams of boiled eggplant containing roughly 35 calories. The slight increase over raw comes from water loss concentrating the nutrients by weight.
Frying is a different story entirely. Eggplant’s spongy flesh absorbs oil like almost no other vegetable. A single cup of eggplant fried in oil can jump to 200 calories or more, depending on how much fat it soaks up. If you’re trying to keep calories down, roasting eggplant with a light coating of oil or grilling it are better options. Salting sliced eggplant for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking draws out moisture and partially collapses the spongy structure, which reduces how much oil it absorbs during frying.
Macronutrient Breakdown
Eggplant is almost entirely carbohydrates, with very little protein or fat. Per 100 grams raw, you’re looking at roughly 6 grams of total carbs, 1 gram of protein, and virtually zero fat. Cooked (boiled) eggplant has about 9 grams of total carbs, 1.3 grams of protein, and 0.2 grams of fat per 100 grams.
Fiber is a standout nutrient here. A one-cup serving of raw cubed eggplant provides about 2.8 grams of fiber, which is roughly 10% of the daily recommended intake. Because fiber isn’t digested for energy, it brings the net carb count down considerably. Raw eggplant has only about 3 grams of net carbs per 100 grams, making it a practical choice for low-carb and ketogenic diets. Cooked eggplant is slightly higher at 6.5 grams of net carbs per 100 grams, since cooking breaks down some of the fiber.
Vitamins, Minerals, and Antioxidants
Eggplant isn’t packed with vitamins the way leafy greens or bell peppers are, but it delivers a solid dose of manganese, folate, potassium, and vitamin K. A cup of cooked eggplant covers about 5% of your daily potassium needs and a small portion of your B vitamins.
The real nutritional distinction of eggplant is in its skin. The deep purple color comes from a compound called nasunin, a type of anthocyanin that acts as a powerful antioxidant. Nasunin is especially effective at neutralizing certain free radicals and protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Research published in Toxicology Letters found that nasunin also chelates iron, meaning it binds to excess iron in the body and prevents it from generating harmful molecules. This is particularly relevant for protecting fatty tissues, including brain cell membranes, from damage.
To get the most from these compounds, eat eggplant with the skin on. Peeling removes the majority of the antioxidant content.
How Eggplant Compares to Similar Vegetables
- Zucchini: 17 calories per 100g, slightly lower than eggplant’s 25
- Bell pepper: 31 calories per 100g, comparable to eggplant
- Sweet potato: 86 calories per 100g, more than three times as much
- Potato: 77 calories per 100g, roughly triple eggplant
- Cauliflower: 25 calories per 100g, nearly identical to eggplant
Eggplant sits in the same calorie range as most non-starchy vegetables. Its real advantage is versatility. It works as a meat substitute in dishes like eggplant parmesan or moussaka, where it provides bulk and texture at a fraction of the calories you’d get from meat or pasta.
Varieties and Calorie Differences
Globe eggplant (the large, dark purple variety common in American grocery stores) is the standard reference for nutrition data. But Japanese and Chinese eggplants, which are longer and thinner, have a very similar calorie profile per gram. The same goes for the small, round Indian and Thai varieties. Calorie differences between varieties are negligible. The main distinctions are in texture and seed content, not energy density.
White eggplants and graffiti (striped) eggplants also clock in at roughly 25 calories per 100 grams. The one nutritional difference worth noting is that lighter-skinned varieties contain less nasunin, since the compound is responsible for the purple pigment.