Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables in home kitchens, but their calorie count is easy to get wrong because a cup of cherry tomatoes weighs far less than a cup of chopped beefsteak tomatoes. This calculator removes the guesswork by combining typical cup weights with USDA nutrition values for common tomato forms — fresh, canned, puréed, juiced, and sun-dried. Just enter the number of cups and choose the tomato type, and you'll get calories plus protein, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, and fat.
Because tomatoes are roughly 94% water, they are very low in calories gram for gram, but preparation and packing make a big difference. A cup of tomato juice contains almost no fiber, while a cup of sun-dried tomatoes delivers a concentrated 100+ calories. Knowing the right per-cup figure helps you track lunch salads, pasta sauces, salsas, soups, and meal-prep containers accurately.
This tool pairs naturally with recipe scaling and daily calorie budgets. It is built for home cooks, meal planners, fitness enthusiasts, and anyone who wants a quick nutrition estimate without weighing every ingredient.
🍅 Tomato Calories Per Cup Calculator
Get the calories in any cup-sized portion of fresh, canned, puréed, juiced, or sun-dried tomatoes.
How to Use This Calculator
Start by entering the number of cups you plan to eat, cook with, or log. The quick-fill buttons (¼ cup, ½ cup, 1 cup, 2 cups) are handy for common portion sizes, but you can type any value such as 1.5 or 0.3. Next, choose the tomato type and form that best matches what you have. The calculator treats fresh cherry and grape tomatoes as whole pieces, fresh roma and beefsteak tomatoes as chopped or sliced pieces, and canned varieties with their typical packing liquid. Press Calculate calories and the result panel shows the total energy plus a full macronutrient snapshot.
Formula Explained
The calculator uses a two-step method. First, it converts the volume you entered into a weight:
Total weight (g) = cups × grams per cup
Then it scales the USDA nutrition values from per-100 grams to your portion:
Calories (kcal) = (total weight ÷ 100) × kcal per 100 g
The same proportional method is applied to protein, carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, and fat. Grams per cup is the key variable because tomatoes are mostly water and their density depends on how they are cut. Whole cherry tomatoes leave air gaps between them, so one cup weighs about 149 g. Chopped fresh tomatoes fill the cup more completely and weigh about 180 g. Canned crushed tomatoes and purée are denser still, at about 250 g per cup. Sun-dried tomatoes are the opposite: a cup of dry halves weighs only about 54 g because they are lightweight, but their calories are very concentrated after water removal. Nutrition figures are based on standard USDA FoodData Central averages; exact values vary slightly with variety, ripeness, and brand.
Worked Examples
Example 1: 1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes. Weight = 1 × 149 g = 149 g. At 18 kcal per 100 g, calories = 149 ÷ 100 × 18 = 27 kcal. You also get about 5.8 g of carbohydrates and 1.8 g of fiber.
Example 2: ½ cup tomato purée. Weight = 0.5 × 250 g = 125 g. At 38 kcal per 100 g, calories = 125 ÷ 100 × 38 = 48 kcal. The purée supplies roughly 4.3 g of carbs and 2.4 g of natural sugars.
Example 3: 2 cups canned diced tomatoes. Weight = 2 × 240 g = 480 g. At 20 kcal per 100 g, calories = 480 ÷ 100 × 20 = 96 kcal. This is the kind of portion you might use as the tomato base for a pasta sauce.
Reference Table
The table below summarizes the average grams per cup and per-100-gram macros used by the calculator. Use it when you want a quick look without opening the tool.
| Tomato form | Grams per cup | kcal / 100 g | Carbs | Fiber | Sugar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh cherry or grape | 149 | 18 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
| Fresh roma or beefsteak, chopped | 180 | 18 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
| Canned diced tomatoes | 240 | 20 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 2.8 |
| Canned crushed tomatoes | 250 | 32 | 7.2 | 1.9 | 4.5 |
| Tomato purée | 250 | 38 | 8.7 | 1.9 | 4.9 |
| Tomato juice | 243 | 17 | 4.2 | 0.9 | 3.6 |
| Sun-dried tomatoes (dry) | 54 | 258 | 55.8 | 12.3 | 37.6 |
Protein values typically range from 0.9 g per 100 g in fresh tomatoes to 14.1 g in sun-dried tomatoes; fat is negligible in every form except oil-packed products. For official data, see USDA FoodData Central.
Real-World Applications
Tomatoes appear in everything from salads and sandwiches to sauces, soups, and salsas, so a per-cup calorie estimate is genuinely useful for meal plans. If you are counting calories for weight management, small differences add up: a 2-cup serving of tomato purée contains about 190 kcal, while the same volume of fresh chopped tomatoes contains roughly 65 kcal. That is why it pays to measure the actual form you use. The calculator also helps with recipe scaling, whether you are converting a 4-serving sauce into 8 servings or logging a large batch of homemade salsa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do different tomato types have such different calories per cup?
It comes down to density and water content. Cherry tomatoes are loosely packed, chopped fresh tomatoes fill more space, canned tomatoes include packing liquid, and sun-dried tomatoes have had water removed. A cup is a volume measure, so the actual weight — and therefore calories — changes with each form.
Should I measure tomatoes raw or cooked?
This calculator assumes raw or canned forms as purchased. Cooking tomatoes removes water and concentrates calories by weight, but a measured cup of cooked tomato sauce can be much more calorie-dense than raw. For cooked dishes, use the purée or canned crushed options as a closer approximation.
Are these numbers exact for my tomatoes?
No. They are averaged values from USDA FoodData Central. Variety, ripeness, growing conditions, and even how finely you chop the tomatoes can shift the numbers by a few percent. For precise tracking, weigh your tomatoes in grams and use the per-100 g values in the table.
How does this compare to smaller measurements?
If a recipe calls for tablespoons instead of cups, use our tomato calories per tablespoon calculator for quick small-batch estimates. Cup measurements are better when you are working with a full serving or a whole recipe.