Calories in chia seeds.
486 kcal per 100 g.
Chia seeds are nearly 500 kcal per 100 g, but a typical serving is a tablespoon (~12 g) at about 60 kcal — and 34 g of fiber per 100 g means much of the carbohydrate is not digested as sugar.
Seeds, chia seeds, dried · SR Legacy (2018-04) · USDA FDC 170554
Nutrition for your portion
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 486 kcal | 486 kcal |
| Protein | 16.5 g | 16.5 g |
| Carbohydrates | 42.1 g | 42.1 g |
| Fat | 30.7 g | 30.7 g |
| Fibre | 34.4 g | 34.4 g |
| Sugars | Unknown | Unknown |
| Saturated fat | 3.33 g | 3.33 g |
| Sodium | 16 mg | 16 mg |
| Salt (calculated from sodium) | 0.04 g | 0.04 g |
| Vitamin A (RAE) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Vitamin D (D2 + D3) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) | 0.5 mg | 0.5 mg |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Vitamin C | 1.6 mg | 1.6 mg |
| Thiamin | 0.62 mg | 0.62 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.17 mg | 0.17 mg |
| Niacin | 8.83 mg | 8.83 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | Unknown | Unknown |
| Folate, total | 49 ug | 49 ug |
| Vitamin B12 | 0 ug | 0 ug |
| Potassium | 407 mg | 407 mg |
| Calcium | 631 mg | 631 mg |
| Phosphorus | 860 mg | 860 mg |
| Magnesium | 335 mg | 335 mg |
| Iron | 7.72 mg | 7.72 mg |
| Zinc | 4.58 mg | 4.58 mg |
| Selenium | 55.2 ug | 55.2 ug |
| Iodine | Unknown | Unknown |
| Copper | 0.92 mg | 0.92 mg |
Energy comes from USDA nutrient 1008. Salt is calculated as sodium × 2.5, with unit conversion to grams. It is not a separately measured salt value.
Preparation
Chia seeds are 486 kcal per 100 g, the lightest of the three seeds here, with 42.1 g of carbohydrate — most of it fibre. They absorb around ten times their weight in liquid, which is why a chia pudding looks like a large bowl of food made from two spoons of seed. The soaking adds volume and water, not energy: the calories are whatever went in dry.
Logging this food
An ounce is 28 g and 138 kcal. Log the dry seed, always — a soaked chia pudding weighed as a whole would be mostly the milk it set in, and the milk deserves its own line. Two tablespoons of dry chia is roughly 24 g and 117 kcal, which is a normal pudding base.
Swaps and alternatives
Flaxseed is 534 kcal per 100 g and sunflower seeds 584, so chia is the lightest of the three by a small margin. Ground flaxseed does much the same job in porridge for slightly more. None of these is a low-calorie food; what they are is dense in fibre, and the portions that deliver it are small.