Should chicken breast be weighed raw or cooked?

Weigh it in whichever state you log it, and use the row that matches — this page is the raw row. Cooking does not change how many calories are there, only how many grams they are spread across: meat loses water in the pan and gets denser, grains and pasta absorb it and get lighter per gram.

All foods

Chicken breastUSDA SR LegacyFDC 171474

Calories in raw chicken breast with skin

USDA FoodData Central record for “Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw” — per 100 g, per every USDA serving size, and next to the other chicken breast rows.

The short answer

Raw chicken breast with skin: 172 kcal per 100 g. 0.5 breast, bone removed (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken) (87 g) is 150 kcal with 18.2 g of protein. Source: USDA FoodData Central record 171474, "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw".

Per 100 g

Nutrient	Per 100 g	Share of energy
Energy	172 kcal	100%
Protein	20.9 g	49%
Fat	9.3 g	49%
Carbohydrate	0 g	0%

Raw chicken breast with skin is 172 kcal per 100 g in USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy). Of that energy, about 49% comes from protein, 49% from fat and 0% from carbohydrate. That works out to 12.2 g of protein per 100 kcal — a solid protein-per-calorie ratio for a whole food.

Per serving

The serving sizes USDA lists for this record, priced from the per-100 g figures above. Nothing here is rounded to a “portion” — the gram weight next to each label is what the calories are computed from.

Serving	Weight	Calories	Protein	Fat
100 g	100 g	172	20.9 g	9.3 g
0.5 breast, bone removed (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken)	87 g	150	18.2 g	8.1 g
0.5 breast, bone removed	145 g	249	30.3 g	13.5 g

Compared with other chicken breast

Food	kcal / 100 g	Protein / 100 g	Per serving
Raw chicken breast (skinless)	120	22.5 g	136 kcal · 4 oz
Roasted chicken breast (skinless)	165	31 g	142 kcal · 0.5 breast, bone and skin removed
Fried chicken breast (skinless)	187	33.4 g	161 kcal · 0.5 breast, bone and skin removed
Roasted chicken breast with skin	197	29.8 g	276 kcal · 1 cup, chopped or diced
Raw chicken breast with skin	172	20.9 g	150 kcal · 0.5 breast, bone removed (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken)

The chicken breast rows exist in more than one state because water moves during cooking: this is the raw row. Weigh the food in the state you log and pick the row that matches — the calories don’t change in the pan, the grams do. The mechanics are in cooked vs raw weights.

Other tables in poultry products

The same numbers for the foods this one usually shares a plate — or a shopping list — with.

Questions about raw chicken breast with skin

How many calories are in raw chicken breast with skin?: Raw chicken breast with skin: 172 kcal per 100 g. 0.5 breast, bone removed (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken) (87 g) is 150 kcal with 18.2 g of protein. Source: USDA FoodData Central record 171474, "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw".
How much protein is in raw chicken breast with skin?: Raw chicken breast with skin has 20.9 g of protein per 100 g and 18.2 g per 0.5 breast, bone removed (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken) (87 g). That is 12.2 g of protein per 100 kcal — a solid protein-per-calorie ratio for a whole food.
Should chicken breast be weighed raw or cooked?: Weigh it in whichever state you log it, and use the row that matches — this page is the raw row. Cooking does not change how many calories are there, only how many grams they are spread across: meat loses water in the pan and gets denser, grains and pasta absorb it and get lighter per gram.

How calorie.one logs it

Type “raw chicken breast with skin” into calorie.one and the app matches this exact record — “Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw” — estimates the grams, and shows the line with its USDA label. You correct the amount; the per-100 g figure is never guessed. That split between recognition and arithmetic is the whole methodology. For the numbers in context, read Calories in chicken breast: raw, cooked, skin on and off.