Calories in dates: Medjool vs Deglet Noor
One pitted Medjool date has about 66 calories and one Deglet Noor date about 20. Both have roughly 280 calories per 100 grams, so the gap is size: a Medjool weighs more than three times as much.
Calories in dates come to about 66 for one pitted Medjool date and about 20 for one Deglet Noor date. The gap is size, not density. Both have 277 to 282 calories per 100 grams, and a Medjool weighs more than three times as much, so log dates by variety or by weight.
The chart covers one date up to a cup of chopped dates, with sugar and fiber for each serving. The sections explain how the two types compare, what a blood sugar study found, the variety mix-up that can leave about 140 calories off a log, and the math for stuffed dates and date energy balls.
In one pitted Medjool date (24 g). A Deglet Noor date (7.1 g) has about 20, because it is less than a third the size.
How many calories are in one date?
USDA FoodData Central weighs a pitted Medjool date at 24 grams. At 277 calories per 100 grams, that is about 66 calories, with 18 grams of carbohydrate. A pitted Deglet Noor date weighs 7.1 grams and has 282 calories per 100 grams, about 20 calories. Medjool are the large, soft dates often sold whole with the pit. Deglet Noor are smaller, semi-dry dates, and they are the type USDA measures for a cup of chopped dates.
Per gram the two are almost the same, and both hold about 21 grams of water per 100. Labels run a little higher. Natural Delights, a Bard Valley Medjool brand, lists 2 dates (46 grams) at 140 calories, about 23 grams a date, where USDA values give about 127 for that weight. FDA rules let a label count all carbohydrate, fiber included, at 4 calories per gram and round to the nearest 10, which can put it above USDA. Other varieties land in the same range: a study of three sun-dried varieties from Oman, including Khalas, measured 278 to 301 calories per 100 grams.
Medjool vs Deglet Noor: what differs besides size?
Per 100 grams, Deglet Noor has a little more fiber (8.0 grams against 6.7) and protein (2.5 grams against 1.8), and slightly less sugar (63 grams against 66). Medjool has more potassium (696 mg against 656), magnesium and calcium. Both have almost no fat.
These differences are small next to the portion. Three Deglet Noor dates come to about 60 calories, less than one Medjool. If you want a few sweet bites rather than one large one, Deglet Noor gives you more pieces for the same calories. In a recipe, swapping one type for the other by weight barely changes the total calories.
How much sugar is in a date, and do dates spike blood sugar?
Dates are about two-thirds sugar by weight. One Medjool date has about 16 grams of sugar and one Deglet Noor about 4.5 grams. That sugar comes with the whole fruit, along with fiber, so labels count it as total sugar rather than added sugar: the Natural Delights label lists 0 grams added.
A 2011 study in Nutrition Journal tested five Gulf date varieties in 13 healthy adults and 10 adults with type 2 diabetes managed by diet or metformin. Each portion was about 73 to 76 grams of date flesh, roughly three Medjool dates by weight, and the measured glycemic index ranged from about 44 to 55, which the authors class as low. The study was small, did not test Medjool or Deglet Noor, and a low glycemic index is not low carbohydrate: each portion still held 50 grams of available carbs. If you manage diabetes, ask your doctor or dietitian how dates fit your plan. A macro calculator shows how much of a daily carb target a serving takes.
Are dates high in calories compared with other fruit?
Compared with fresh fruit, yes. Drying removes most of the water, so 100 grams of dates has about 280 calories, against 89 for 100 grams of raw banana. Natural Delights says Medjool dates have more potassium than bananas, ounce for ounce, and per gram that holds: 696 mg per 100 grams against 358. Per serving it flips. Two Medjool dates have about 334 mg of potassium and 133 calories, while a medium banana has about 422 mg and 105 calories.
Two Medjools still give you about 7% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value for potassium, plus 3.2 grams of fiber, about 11% of the 28 gram Daily Value. Among dried fruits, dates sit in the middle for calories. Per 100 grams in USDA data:
- Raisins: 299.
- Deglet Noor dates: 282.
- Medjool dates: 277.
- Dried figs: 249.
- Dried apricots: 241.
- Prunes: 240.
How do you count dates without undercounting?
The biggest error is the variety. If you log a Medjool against a Deglet Noor entry, or a generic "date" entry sized like one, each date counts as 20 calories instead of 66. Three Medjools then log as about 60 instead of about 199, so roughly 140 calories go missing. Check the gram weight behind the entry: about 24 grams per date means Medjool, about 7 means Deglet Noor.
If you would rather skip the database, type "3 Medjool dates with peanut butter" into calorietrack.ai, or snap a photo of the plate, and get calories and macros in seconds. To log by hand, the rules you use to count calories for any snack apply, plus three that are specific to dates:
- Weigh when you can and log grams: about 2.8 calories per gram works for either type.
- Weighing whole dates? Subtract the pit. In a study of 200 Medjool dates the pit averaged 1.3 grams, about 6% of the date, so logging the whole weight adds roughly 4 calories a date.
- Expect the size to vary. In the same study, Medjool dates averaged 22 grams with the pit and most fell within 3 grams either way, a spread of about 15 calories from a small date to a large one.
How many calories are in stuffed dates?
For homemade date energy balls, add up the batch and divide. A worked example: 10 Medjool dates (240 grams, about 665 calories) blended with 1 cup of whole almonds (143 grams, about 828 calories) makes about 1,493 calories. Rolled into 20 balls, each is about 75 calories. Rolled into 12, each is about 124. If the balls come out uneven, weigh the whole batch, divide the calories by its grams, and weigh what you eat.
Stuffed dates work the same way: count the date and the filling, which can add as many calories as the date itself. Using USDA values, one Medjool date (66 calories) comes to about:
- With 1 almond: about 73 calories.
- With 1 teaspoon of peanut butter: about 98.
- With half an ounce (14 grams) of soft goat cheese: about 104.
- With 1 tablespoon of peanut butter: about 162, more than twice the plain date.
| Serving | Weight | Calories | Sugar | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Deglet Noor date | 7.1 g | 20 | 4.5 g | 0.6 g |
| 1 Medjool date | 24 g | 66 | 16 g | 1.6 g |
| 2 Medjool dates | 48 g | ~133 | ~32 g | ~3.2 g |
| 3 Medjool dates | 72 g | ~199 | ~48 g | ~4.8 g |
| 5 Deglet Noor dates | 36 g | ~100 | ~22.5 g | ~2.8 g |
| 10 Deglet Noor dates | 71 g | ~200 | ~45 g | ~5.7 g |
| 1 oz Medjool | 28 g | ~78 | ~18.6 g | ~1.9 g |
| 1 cup chopped Deglet Noor | 147 g | 415 | 93 g | 11.8 g |
| Medjool, 100 g | 100 g | 277 | 66.5 g | 6.7 g |
| Deglet Noor, 100 g | 100 g | 282 | 63.4 g | 8.0 g |
See how dates fit your carb target
Set daily protein, carb and fat targets, then check how much of your carb budget two or three Medjool dates take up.
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What this is based on.
- 01USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy). Calories, sugar, fiber, minerals and pitted date weights for Medjool and Deglet Noor dates, plus banana, dried fruits, peanut butter, almonds and goat cheese.
- 02USDA FoodData Central (Branded Foods), Natural Delights Medjool Dates. Manufacturer label from the Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association: 2 dates (46 g), 140 calories, 0 g added sugar.
- 03Alkaabi JM, et al. Nutrition Journal, 2011. Glycemic index of five date varieties in 13 healthy adults and 10 adults with type 2 diabetes.
- 04Salomón-Torres R, et al. PeerJ, 2019. Fruit, pulp and seed weights of 200 Medjool dates grown in Mexico.
- 05Al-Farsi M, et al. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2005. Energy, sugar and fiber in three sun-dried date varieties from Oman.
- 06U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Daily Values on the Nutrition Facts label (28 g fiber, 4,700 mg potassium) and the label calorie rules in 21 CFR 101.9.
Questions, answered.
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Two dates or five? Log them in seconds.
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