Calories in Middle Eastern food: hummus, falafel, shawarma, kabsa

Middle Eastern dishes vary with the cook's hand: hummus is about 180 kcal per 100 g home-style and about 240 store-bought, a falafel sandwich about 570 kcal, a 350 g plate of chicken kabsa about 380–580 kcal, and a shawarma wrap roughly 580–700 kcal. The spread comes from oil, tahini, rice and bread.

Calories in common Middle Eastern foods

Food	Portion	Calories	Notes
Hummus	100 g (½ cup)	177–243 kcal	181 kcal in a Qatari lab analysis; 1 tbsp (15 g) is 27–36 kcal
Falafel	17 g patty	57–87 kcal	4 pieces (100 g) is about 266 kcal in the Qatari analysis
Falafel sandwich	215 g	about 570 kcal	USDA
Foul medames (fava bean dip)	100 g	about 133 kcal	Qatari analysis
Tabbouleh	100 g	127–144 kcal	USDA / Qatari analysis
Baba ghanoush (eggplant dip)	100 g	140–162 kcal	Qatari analysis / USDA
Pita bread, large	60 g (6.5 in)	165 kcal	USDA
Manaqeesh with za'atar	50 g (½ piece)	about 226 kcal	Qatari analysis
Tahini	1 tbsp (15 g)	89 kcal	USDA
Baklava	1 piece (80 g)	346 kcal	USDA
Medjool date	1 date (24 g)	66 kcal	USDA

Where two numbers are given, they come from two different sources, which is itself a lesson: homemade, store-bought and restaurant versions are not the same food.

How many calories are in hummus and falafel?

Hummus is chickpeas, tahini, lemon and oil. USDA lists 177 kcal per 100 g for home-prepared and 237 for commercial hummus, and a Qatar University analysis of the dip measured 14 g carbohydrate, 7.5 g protein and 10.6 g fat per 100 g, which works out to about 181 kcal. Most of the fat is tahini (595 kcal per 100 g), so a generous swirl of oil on top adds quickly.

Falafel depends on the patty size and the frying. USDA lists 333 kcal per 100 g for home-prepared falafel and 514 for the survey entry, and the Qatari analysis gives about 266. A falafel sandwich of 215 g (about 7.6 oz) is 265 kcal per 100 g, or about 570 kcal in total.

How many calories are in shawarma?

No national food table lists shawarma, so here is an estimate built from USDA components, with amounts we assumed for a typical wrap:

Part	Assumed amount	Calories
Chicken thigh, roasted, no skin	120 g	215 kcal
Large pita	60 g	165 kcal
Garlic sauce (counted as mayonnaise)	2 tbsp (28 g)	190 kcal
Pickles, tomato, salad	a handful	about 10 kcal
Chicken shawarma wrap		about 580 kcal

With 120 g of ground lamb instead of chicken (283 kcal per 100 g) it rises to about 705 kcal. The nearest official analogue, USDA's gyro sandwich (200 g), is 368 kcal, but its bread, meat and sauce amounts differ from our build-up. Fries inside the wrap (USDA fast-food fries are 312 kcal per 100 g), extra sauce or a double portion of meat add quickly.

How many calories are in kabsa?

A 2025 study in Frontiers in Nutrition analysed 75 household recipes for 25 traditional Saudi dishes with ESHA software. Per 100 g:

• Chicken kabsa: 108 kcal (5.1 g protein, 14.6 g carbohydrate, 3.3 g fat)
• Meat (lamb) kabsa: 137 kcal (7.3 g protein, 15.6 g carbohydrate, 5.0 g fat)
• Mandi (lamb and rice): 104 kcal

That means a 350 g (12 oz) plate is about 380 kcal of chicken kabsa or 480 kcal of lamb kabsa, and a 500 g plate about 540 or 690 kcal. Treat these as the lower end: Tabaq's Arabic kabsa page, built on lab-analysed rice-and-chicken dishes, puts a typical 350 g plate at about 580 kcal (165 kcal per 100 g). Cooked plain white rice is already 130 kcal per 100 g (USDA), so a recipe analysis below that suggests modest oil and a lot of cooking water. A restaurant plate with generous ghee, nuts, raisins or a bigger rice mound will be higher.

A mezze lunch, added up

Home-style hummus (100 g, 181 kcal), four falafel (100 g, 266), a pita (165) and tabbouleh (100 g, 144) come to about 756 kcal, before drinks or dessert.

How to enjoy it and keep the calories sensible

1. Share the mezze and add vegetables, tabbouleh or fattoush as the base.
2. Ask for sauces and oil on the side; garlic sauce and tahini are concentrated calories.
3. Choose grilled over fried when a dish comes both ways.
4. Watch the rice and bread, which can be as many calories as the protein.
5. Weigh a plate at home once to learn what 350 g of kabsa looks like.

Photograph the plate

Tabaq is one of the leading calorie apps in the region, with a food database of more than 2 million items in Arabic, English and Turkish, including dishes from the Middle East. Photograph your kabsa or shawarma and it estimates the portion, and you can edit the weight to match your plate. Try it on your next meal.