A medium apple has about 95 calories. That number shifts depending on the variety and size, but for most apples you’d grab at the grocery store, you’re looking at somewhere between 70 and 120 calories per fruit.
Calories by Apple Variety
Not all apples are created equal. Sweeter varieties pack more sugar and therefore more calories per bite. Here’s how popular varieties compare, based on USDA data per 100 grams of fruit:
- Gala: 70 calories, 10g sugar
- Granny Smith: 75 calories, 9.6g sugar
- Red Delicious: 80 calories, 10.5g sugar
- Golden Delicious: 85 calories, 11g sugar
- Fuji: 90 calories, 12g sugar
- Honeycrisp: 95 calories, 12.5g sugar
Since those numbers are per 100 grams, the actual calorie count depends on how big your apple is. A small apple (about 150g) on the lower end of sweetness, like a Gala, might come in around 70 calories total. A large Honeycrisp weighing 250g or more could reach 130 calories. Most medium apples weigh roughly 180 to 200 grams, which is how you land near that familiar 95-calorie figure.
What’s Actually in Those Calories
Almost all the calories in an apple come from carbohydrates, specifically natural sugars. A medium apple contains about 25 grams of total carbs, with roughly 19 grams of that being sugar and about 4.4 grams being fiber. Fat and protein are negligible, each under half a gram.
The sugar in apples is a mix of three types: fructose makes up the largest share (about 6.5g per 100g), followed by sucrose (about 4.8g per 100g), and then glucose (about 1.5g per 100g). This matters less than you might think for most people, because the fiber in a whole apple slows down how quickly those sugars hit your bloodstream. Pectin, a type of soluble fiber concentrated in apple skin, delays stomach emptying and reduces the speed at which sugar gets absorbed. The result is a much gentler blood sugar response than you’d get from the same amount of sugar in liquid or processed form.
Whole Apple vs. Apple Juice
A cup of unsweetened apple juice has 114 calories, compared to about 85 calories for a medium apple. But the calorie difference is only part of the story. That cup of juice contains just 0.5 grams of fiber, while a whole apple with the peel delivers 4.2 grams. Without that fiber acting as a brake, juice sends sugar into your bloodstream much faster.
This is why eating a whole apple tends to fill you up in a way that drinking the same apple as juice simply doesn’t. Pectin fiber slows digestion and triggers satiety signals that tell your brain you’ve eaten enough. Studies on pectin show it measurably increases feelings of fullness and delays gastric emptying, which means you’re likely to eat less at your next meal. Juice skips all of that.
Why the Peel Matters
If you peel your apple before eating it, you lose most of its fiber. The skin of a medium apple contains roughly 4.4 grams of fiber on its own, a mix of soluble and insoluble types. Peeling also strips away a significant portion of the fruit’s vitamin C and various plant compounds concentrated just beneath the surface. The calorie count drops slightly without the skin, but the nutritional trade-off isn’t worth it for most people. You’re giving up the part of the apple that does the most work for your digestion and blood sugar.
Apples and Weight Management
At under 100 calories for a fruit that takes several minutes to chew and provides meaningful fiber, apples are one of the more filling snacks per calorie. The pectin fiber forms a gel-like substance in your gut that physically slows digestion, reduces blood sugar spikes, and keeps you feeling satisfied longer. Research on pectin’s effects found that it delays gastric emptying and lowers post-meal insulin spikes in both healthy individuals and those with metabolic conditions.
The practical takeaway: if you’re counting calories, an apple is a reliable low-calorie snack that earns its keep by actually keeping hunger at bay. A tart variety like Granny Smith gives you the fewest calories (about 75 per 100g) with the most fiber (2.8g per 100g), while sweeter options like Honeycrisp cost you an extra 20 or so calories per 100 grams.