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Written by Tou Calo Nutrition Team · Vulcan Labs · Updated July 2026. Nutrition data sourced from USDA FoodData Central.

Half a cup of white granulated sugar contains 387 calories — made up entirely of carbohydrates (100g), with zero fat and zero protein. This figure comes up most often in baking and cooking contexts, where recipes frequently call for ½ cup of sugar and home cooks want to understand the calorie contribution before adding it to a recipe. This guide covers the exact calorie count for ½ cup of sugar across all common sugar types, plus a full reference table by serving size.

Quick answer:
½ cup white granulated sugar = 387 kcal · 100g carbs · 0g fat · 0g protein
½ cup brown sugar (packed) = 415 kcal · ½ cup powdered sugar = 233 kcal
Use our TDEE calculator to find your daily calorie budget and see how baking ingredients fit in.

In this guide

1. Calories in ½ cup sugar — by type
2. All serving sizes — from 1 tsp to 1 cup
3. What ½ cup sugar means in a recipe
4. How to reduce sugar calories in baking
5. FAQ

Calories in ½ cup sugar — by type

The calorie count varies significantly depending on the type of sugar, because different sugars have different densities per cup:

The large difference between packed and unpacked brown sugar (415 vs 273 kcal) explains why recipes specify — packing brown sugar into the cup increases its weight and calorie content by approximately 52%.

All serving sizes — from 1 tsp to 1 cup (white granulated)

What ½ cup sugar means in a recipe

½ cup of sugar (387 kcal) sounds like a lot, but in a baking recipe it is typically divided across multiple servings. Context matters enormously:

When ½ cup of sugar is spread across 24 cookies, each cookie gets approximately 16 kcal of sugar contribution — a very different picture than if someone were consuming the ½ cup directly. The per-serving sugar contribution is usually modest in most baked goods.

How to reduce sugar calories in baking

If you want to reduce the calorie contribution of sugar in a recipe, several approaches work in practice:

• Reduce by 25%: Most baked goods tolerate a 20–25% sugar reduction without significant change in texture or taste. Reducing ½ cup (387 kcal) to ⅜ cup saves approximately 97 kcal across the entire batch — about 4 kcal per serving in a 24-cookie batch.
• Substitute with powdered sugar: Powdered sugar at 233 kcal per ½ cup is 40% lower in calories than granulated because it is far lighter per volume. However, it behaves differently in recipes and is not always a direct substitute.
• Use naturally sweet additions: Adding ripe mashed banana, unsweetened applesauce or dates allows you to reduce added sugar while maintaining sweetness — each adds its own calorie profile but typically less than pure sugar per unit of sweetness delivered.

Use our BMR calculator to find your daily calorie baseline, then our calorie deficit calculator if you are working toward a fat loss target. Knowing your daily budget makes it easier to decide whether reducing sugar in a recipe matters for your overall intake.

Calories in ½ cup sugar — FAQ

How many calories are in ½ cup of sugar?

There are 387 calories in ½ cup of white granulated sugar — all from carbohydrates, with zero fat and zero protein. The equivalent weight is 100g. Brown sugar (packed) contains 415 calories per ½ cup because it is denser. Powdered sugar contains 233 calories per ½ cup because it is much lighter per volume.

How many carbs are in ½ cup of sugar?

Half a cup of white granulated sugar contains exactly 100g of carbohydrates — essentially pure sucrose with no fat, protein or fibre. All of the 387 calories come entirely from these carbohydrates at 4 kcal/g (100g × 3.87 kcal/g adjusted = 387 kcal, reflecting the USDA’s precise measurement). There is no meaningful nutritional difference between white and raw sugar on a per-gram basis.

Is ½ cup of sugar a lot of calories?

In isolation, 387 calories from ½ cup of sugar is a significant amount — approximately 20% of a 2,000-calorie daily budget. However, in a recipe context, that ½ cup is divided across multiple servings, making the per-portion sugar calorie contribution much smaller. The more meaningful number is how many calories of sugar land in each serving of the finished dish. Use our TDEE calculator to find your daily calorie target and assess the proportion in context.

How many calories in 1 tablespoon of sugar?

One tablespoon of white granulated sugar (12g) contains approximately 46 calories, all from carbohydrates. A teaspoon (4g) contains approximately 16 calories. These are the most common amounts added to coffee, tea and oatmeal — a daily habit of two teaspoons of sugar in two coffees adds approximately 64 calories per day, or roughly 23,000 calories (about 3kg of fat potential) over a full year.

How does ½ cup of sugar compare to other sweeteners by calories?

Per ½ cup volume, calorie comparison across common sweeteners:

Honey and maple syrup are both higher in calories per ½ cup than white sugar — a common misconception is that “natural” sweeteners are lower calorie. Per tablespoon honey (64 kcal) is higher than sugar (46 kcal). The practical difference is that honey and maple syrup are sweeter per tablespoon than sugar, so less is typically used to achieve the same sweetness level.

Disclaimer: Calorie values are based on USDA FoodData Central data. Exact values may vary slightly by brand, moisture content and packing method. Values are for informational purposes only.

Written by Tou Calo Nutrition Team — Vulcan Labs
The team behind Tou Calo AI Calorie Counter.

Related tools:
BMR Calculator — your resting calorie baseline
TDEE Calculator — your total daily calorie burn
Calorie Deficit Calculator — your fat loss target