A cup of fresh sweet cherries (about 138 grams with pits) contains roughly 87 calories. That makes cherries one of the lower-calorie fruits you can snack on, sitting well below bananas and grapes on a per-serving basis. The exact count shifts depending on the type of cherry, whether you’re eating them fresh or dried, and how you measure your serving.
Calories by Cherry Type
Sweet cherries, the kind you’ll find in grocery store clamshells (Bing, Rainier, and similar varieties), run about 63 calories per 100 grams. A standard one-cup serving with pits weighs around 138 grams and comes to 87 calories.
Sour cherries (sometimes labeled tart or Montmorency) are slightly different. A one-cup serving with pits weighs less, about 103 grams, yet contains a similar 89 calories. Sour cherries pack a bit more caloric density per gram, though the practical difference is negligible since you’re unlikely to eat large quantities of them raw due to their sharp taste.
Fresh vs. Dried vs. Juice
Fresh cherries are 82% water, which is the main reason their calorie count stays low. Remove that water and the numbers change dramatically. Dried cherries concentrate the sugars into a much smaller volume, typically landing around 300 to 350 calories per cup. Many dried cherry products also have added sugar, pushing the count even higher. If you’re watching calories, check the label and look for unsweetened varieties.
Cherry juice sits somewhere in between. An eight-ounce glass of tart cherry juice generally contains 120 to 140 calories, and most of those come from naturally occurring sugars. Because juicing removes the fiber, you lose some of the filling quality that whole cherries provide.
What’s in Those Calories
One cup of pitted sweet cherries (154 grams) breaks down to about 25 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of fiber. There’s barely any fat or protein to speak of. The sugar content might look high on paper, but cherries have a glycemic index of only about 20 and a glycemic load around 5, both well within the “low” category. That means they raise blood sugar gradually rather than causing a sharp spike, largely because the fiber and water slow digestion.
Beyond the macros, a cup of sweet cherries delivers 12% of your daily value for vitamin C and 10% for potassium. Those aren’t blockbuster numbers on their own, but for a low-calorie snack they add meaningful nutrition.
How Cherries Compare to Other Fruits
- Cherries (1 cup): ~87 calories
- Grapes (1 cup): ~104 calories
- Blueberries (1 cup): ~84 calories
- Banana (1 medium): ~105 calories
- Strawberries (1 cup): ~49 calories
Cherries land in the middle of the fruit calorie spectrum. They’re more calorie-dense than most berries but lighter than tropical fruits like mangoes or bananas.
Why Cherries Feel Filling for Their Calorie Count
That 82% water content does more than keep calories low. Water-rich foods take up more space in your stomach, which helps trigger fullness signals sooner. The 3 grams of fiber per cup adds to that effect by slowing the rate at which food leaves your stomach. The combination of water, fiber, and the simple act of eating cherries one at a time (rather than scooping handfuls like you might with grapes) naturally slows your pace and can help with portion control. Research published in Nutrients notes that sweet cherries contribute to weight management partly through this satiating effect of their fiber.
Bonus Nutrients Worth Knowing About
Cherries, especially tart varieties, contain plant pigments called anthocyanins that act as anti-inflammatory compounds. Tart cherries provide roughly 33 milligrams of these pigments per 100 grams. This is why tart cherry juice has become popular among athletes for post-exercise recovery. The same compounds give cherries their deep red color.
Tart cherries also contain small amounts of melatonin, the hormone your body uses to regulate sleep. The concentration is modest (about 0.135 micrograms per 100 grams of cherries), but studies suggest that tart cherry juice leads to better and longer sleep, likely through a combination of melatonin and the anti-inflammatory effects working together.
Measuring Your Serving Accurately
Cherry calorie counts get confusing because “one cup” can mean different things. A cup of whole cherries with pits weighs about 138 grams for sweet varieties and 103 grams for sour. A cup of pitted cherries weighs more, closer to 154 grams, because you’re fitting more actual fruit into the same volume. That pitted cup comes in around 95 to 100 calories for sweet cherries.
If you prefer counting individual pieces, roughly 21 sweet cherries make up a one-cup serving. For a quick 100-calorie snack, a generous handful of about 20 cherries will get you there.