Most vegetables are remarkably low in calories, with a cup of common non-starchy varieties ranging from about 4 to 45 calories. That makes them some of the least calorie-dense foods you can eat. But the range is wider than you might expect: a cup of watercress has under 4 calories, while a half-cup of baked acorn squash hits 107. The type of vegetable matters far more than the amount.
The Lowest-Calorie Vegetables
Leafy greens and water-rich vegetables sit at the bottom of the calorie scale. A cup of raw spinach has just 6 calories. A cup of arugula comes in at about 5. Watercress is even lower, at under 4 calories per cup. These numbers are so small that your body likely uses a meaningful portion of those calories just digesting the food.
Other vegetables that clock in under 20 calories per cup include:
- Celery: fewer than 6 calories per whole stalk
- White mushrooms: about 8 calories per half cup sliced
- Kale: about 9 calories per cup
- Iceberg lettuce: 10 calories per cup shredded
- Cucumber: 18 calories per cup sliced
- Radishes: 18 calories per cup sliced
For practical purposes, you can eat large volumes of these vegetables with almost no caloric impact. A big side salad of mixed greens, cucumber, and radishes might total 40 to 50 calories before dressing.
Common Non-Starchy Vegetables
The vegetables most people cook with regularly, like broccoli, bell peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes, fall in a slightly higher but still very low range. A medium stalk of broccoli (about 148 grams) has 45 calories. A medium bell pepper has about 25. A half cup of cooked zucchini is just 14 calories, and a medium red tomato has 22.
Eggplant, green beans, and cooked okra all hover around 15 to 20 calories per half cup. These are the vegetables that form the backbone of stir-fries, soups, and roasted sheet-pan dinners, and they add significant volume to a meal without significantly changing its calorie count. Even a generous two-cup portion of roasted broccoli and bell peppers stays well under 100 calories on its own.
Starchy Vegetables Are a Different Story
Potatoes, corn, peas, and winter squash contain more starch and considerably more calories. USDA food pattern data puts a typical portion of starchy vegetables (about three-quarters of a cup) at around 130 calories. That’s roughly three to four times what you’d get from the same volume of broccoli or green beans.
Baked acorn squash runs about 107 calories per half cup. Butternut squash is lower at 41 calories per half cup, and pumpkin cooked from fresh is about 24 calories per half cup. These are still nutritious foods, but if you’re tracking calories, they behave more like grains or legumes in terms of energy density than like leafy greens.
The distinction between starchy and non-starchy vegetables is the single biggest factor in how many calories “veggies” actually give you. Telling someone to “eat more vegetables” without specifying what kind can mean anything from 10 calories to 200 per serving.
Botanical Fruits You Think of as Vegetables
Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and avocados are technically fruits, but most people shop for and cook them as vegetables. Their calorie counts vary widely. Bell peppers are on the low end at about 19 to 20 calories per half cup. Cherry tomatoes come in at 13 calories per half cup. Zucchini raw is just 9 calories per half cup sliced.
Avocado is the clear outlier. A small serving, just one-fifth of a medium California avocado, has 58 calories. A whole avocado can easily top 250 calories because of its high fat content. Olives are similar in this regard: a quarter cup of black olives has 39 calories, mostly from fat. These are healthy fats, but they shift the calorie math considerably compared to, say, a cucumber.
Why Vegetables Keep You Full on Few Calories
The reason vegetables are so low in calories despite their volume comes down to two things: water and fiber. Most non-starchy vegetables are 85 to 95 percent water by weight, which adds bulk without adding energy. The fiber they contain slows digestion and triggers fullness signals in two ways. It physically stretches the stomach, which prompts early feelings of satisfaction during a meal. Then, as soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance in the intestine, it slows the absorption of nutrients and extends the feeling of fullness well after you’ve finished eating.
This combination is why a 50-calorie plate of roasted vegetables can feel more satisfying than a 200-calorie snack bar. The calorie number alone doesn’t tell the whole story of how filling a food will be.
How Serving Sizes Work
The USDA defines one cup from the vegetable group as 1 cup of raw or cooked vegetables, or 2 cups of raw leafy greens. That second part catches people off guard: because leafy greens are so airy, it takes two packed cups of raw spinach or lettuce to equal one “serving” in nutritional terms.
This also means calorie comparisons between vegetables can be misleading if you don’t match the serving sizes. A cup of dense, cooked broccoli has more calories than a cup of raw lettuce, partly because you’re simply eating more plant material by weight. When comparing options, looking at calories per 100 grams gives a more apples-to-apples picture than calories per cup.
How Cooking Changes the Numbers
Raw and cooked versions of the same vegetable can show different calorie counts, though the change is usually small. Raw zucchini has about 9 calories per half cup; cooked zucchini has 14. The vegetable itself hasn’t gained calories. Cooking just removes water, which concentrates the same nutrients into a smaller, denser volume. You end up with more vegetable per spoonful.
The real calorie impact comes from what you cook vegetables in. A tablespoon of olive oil adds about 120 calories. Butter, cheese sauces, and cream-based dressings can easily double or triple the calorie content of a vegetable dish. Steaming, roasting with a light spray of oil, or eating vegetables raw keeps the calorie advantage intact. None of this means you should avoid cooking fat entirely, but it helps to know that the oil in a roasted vegetable dish often contributes more calories than the vegetables themselves.