Calories in a Potato: 164 in a Medium, Every Size (USDA)

A medium baked russet potato, flesh and skin, is about 164 calories with 4.5g of protein and 4g of fiber, by USDA FoodData Central figures, and just 0.2 grams of fat. The potato is one of the least calorie-dense foods in the average kitchen. The cooking method is what turns it into one of the most.

Official USDA numbers

Baked russet, flesh and skin (95 calories per 100g), at USDA's own size weights:

Size	Weight	Calories	Protein	Fiber	Carbs
Small (1.75 to 2.5 inch)	138g	131	3.6g	3.2g	29.6g
Medium (2.25 to 3.25 inch)	173g	164	4.5g	4.0g	37.1g
Large (3 to 4.25 inch)	299g	284	7.9g	6.9g	64.1g

By preparation, each at its USDA portion:

Preparation	Portion	Calories	Fat
Boiled in skin	1 potato, 136g	118	0.1g
Baked, medium	173g	164	0.2g
Mashed, with whole milk and butter	1 cup, 210g	237	8.9g
Oven fries from frozen	10 fries, 76g	120	4.2g
Potato chips, plain salted	1 oz, 22 chips, 28g	149	9.5g

Per 100 grams, the spread is the whole story: a boiled potato is 87 calories, a baked one 95, mashed with butter 113, oven fries 158, and chips 532. Same vegetable. Six times the density from one end to the other.

What each cooking method actually costs

Boiling and baking add nothing. Both are 87 to 95 calories per 100 grams, and the difference between them is water lost to the oven, not energy gained. A plain baked potato is a genuinely low-calorie, high-fiber, high-potassium food at 550mg of potassium per 100 grams, more than a banana carries per gram.

Mashing costs whatever you mash it with. USDA's mashed entry with whole milk and butter runs 113 per 100 grams against 87 boiled, and carries 8.9 grams of fat per cup where the boiled potato had 0.1. Mashed potatoes made with water would be close to the boiled figure. The butter is the entire difference.

Frying is a fat delivery system. Oven fries from frozen are 158 per 100 grams, and deep-fried restaurant fries run higher because they absorb more oil. Chips are the extreme case at 532 per 100 grams, which is denser than most chocolate, because a chip is a thin slice of potato that has been almost entirely dehydrated and refilled with fat, at 34 grams of it per 100 grams.

The practical lesson: a medium potato is 164 calories and the toppings routinely cost more than the potato. A tablespoon of butter is about 102, a tablespoon of sour cream about 24, an ounce of cheddar about 115. A loaded baked potato is a 400 to 500 calorie item where the potato is a third of the total, which is the same pattern we found with bread and oatmeal: the staple is cheap, the additions are not.

Sweet potato, compared honestly

A medium baked sweet potato at 114 grams is about 103 calories, against 164 for a medium russet. That difference is mostly size, not virtue: per 100 grams, sweet potato is 90 calories and white potato is 95, which is close to identical. Sweet potato carries more fiber, 3.3g per 100 grams against 2.3g, and considerably more sugar, 6.5g against 1.1g.

So the honest verdict is that sweet potatoes are not a low-calorie substitute for potatoes. They are a different vegetable with a similar calorie density, more fiber, more sugar, and a great deal more vitamin A. If you swapped one for the other expecting a calorie saving, the saving comes from the smaller sweet potato you happened to buy.

The potato that broke my old food log

Potatoes are where I learned that a database entry can be perfectly accurate and still useless. Early on, logging in a traditional tracker, I would search "potato," get a correct entry for a medium potato, and move on. The problem was that the potato on my plate had been roasted in olive oil, and the oil never made it into the log. Two tablespoons of oil across a tray of potatoes is roughly 240 calories that my log said did not exist, and it happened multiple times a week.

Now the log is the sentence, not the lookup: "roasted potatoes, tossed in olive oil, about two handfuls." Nouri itemizes that into the potato and the oil separately, which is the only version that matches reality, and if the oil estimate looks heavy I can correct it in a tap rather than rebuilding the meal. Naming the fat is the single highest-value habit in tracking starchy foods, and it is the exact failure mode from Common Food Logging Mistakes. Nouri is iPhone (iOS only), and you can try it free.

When dinner is already plated, a photo is the fastest start: Nouri turns the picture into a sentence first, and that is the moment to add "tossed in olive oil," the one thing no camera can see. When I am clearing the table instead, I tell Siri with the phone locked and never open the app. Because the oil is logged, it also counts on Sunday evening, when the Nouri Report sets your average calories and macros against your targets and explains your Health Score under "Why this score?"

FAQ

How many calories in a medium potato?

About 164 for a medium baked russet, flesh and skin, at USDA's weight of 173g. Boiled instead of baked, a similar potato is about 118.

How many calories in a baked potato?

131 small, 164 medium, 284 large, using USDA's own size weights. Those figures are for the potato alone, before butter, sour cream, or cheese.

Are potatoes bad for weight loss?

No. A plain potato is 87 to 95 calories per 100 grams with meaningful fiber and potassium, which is favorable. Fries and chips are a different food at 158 and 532 per 100 grams respectively.

How many calories in mashed potatoes?

About 237 for a cup made with whole milk and butter, carrying 8.9g of fat. USDA does not publish a made-with-water version, but since the butter and milk are the only energy added, a water-mashed cup lands much closer to plain boiled potato.

How many calories in french fries?

About 120 for 10 oven-baked fries from frozen, per USDA. Deep-fried restaurant portions run considerably higher, both because they absorb more oil and because a restaurant serving is far more than 10 fries: a medium order is 320 calories in our McDonald's calorie guide, and an order of fries is 360 in our In-N-Out calorie guide.

How many calories in potato chips?

About 149 per ounce, which USDA counts as 22 chips. Chips are 532 calories per 100 grams, the densest form a potato takes.

Is sweet potato lower in calories than white potato?

Barely, per gram: 90 against 95 per 100 grams. A medium sweet potato often shows fewer calories simply because it is smaller. Sweet potato does carry more fiber and much more sugar.

How much protein is in a potato?

About 4.5g in a medium baked russet, which is more than most people expect from a vegetable but not enough to count as a protein source. Pair it accordingly, using the targets in How to Track Macros.

Should I eat the potato skin?

The USDA figures above are for flesh and skin together, and the skin is where a large share of the fiber sits. Eating it costs nothing and adds fiber.

How many calories in a loaded baked potato?

Start at 164 for the medium potato, then add each topping: a tablespoon of butter is about 102, an ounce of cheddar about 115, a tablespoon of sour cream about 24. That is commonly a 400 to 500 calorie plate.

Do potatoes have more calories than rice?

Per 100 grams cooked, potato is lower: about 95 baked against about 130 for cooked white rice, as covered in our rice guide. Per typical serving the two land closer, since rice portions are usually smaller by weight.

Does cooling potatoes reduce calories?

Cooling cooked potatoes forms resistant starch, which changes how some of the carbohydrate is digested, but USDA does not publish a separate lower-calorie figure for cooled potatoes. Log the standard number rather than assuming a discount.

What is the easiest way to track calories in a potato?

Name the potato and the fat in one line, like "baked potato with butter and sour cream," typed like a note or said to Siri. Nouri returns calories and macros right away, item by item with its reasoning, and the weekly Nouri Report shows how those plates added up.

Name the oil, the butter, and the cheese, because the potato was never the expensive part. Our cheese guide has the topping numbers, one sentence in Nouri splits the potato from what went on it, and Calorie Counting 101 covers the target it all has to fit inside.

Sources

• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: Potatoes, Russet, flesh and skin, baked (FDC 170030); Potatoes, boiled, cooked in skin, flesh, without salt (FDC 170438); Potatoes, mashed, home-prepared, whole milk and butter added (FDC 168555); Potatoes, french fried, all types, salt added in processing, frozen, home-prepared, oven heated (FDC 169264); Snacks, potato chips, plain, salted (FDC 169677); Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, flesh, without salt (FDC 168483), fdc.nal.usda.gov (checked September 27, 2026)
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, for topping figures: Butter, salted (FDC 173410); Cream, sour, cultured (FDC 171257); Cheese, cheddar, sharp, sliced (FDC 170899) (checked September 27, 2026)
• Size and portion weights are USDA's own household measures; per-portion values calculated from USDA per-100g figures times those weights
• Rice comparison from our rice guide, also USDA-sourced