Spinach (raw)
Shrinks a lot when cooked, so a big handful disappears easily into eggs, shakes or pasta.
1 Amount
How it fits your macros
Get your daily targets with the macro calculator to see what share of your day this portion covers.
Spinach for gym-goers
Per 100 g, spinach (raw) provides 23 kcal, 2.9 g protein, 3.6 g carbohydrate (2.2 g fiber, 0.4 g sugars) and 0.4 g fat (0.1 g saturated). At 12.6 g of protein per 100 kcal, it ranks among the most protein-dense foods, which helps a lot when calories are tight on a cut.
A typical serving (2 cups, about 60 g) comes to roughly 14 kcal and 1.7 g protein.
These are typical averages. Brand, variety, ripeness and cooking method all shift the numbers, so weigh food in the same state (raw or cooked) as the entry you log.
About Spinach
Raw spinach, baby or mature, is one of the lowest-calorie greens at about 23 kcal per 100 g. It's far richer in minerals than lettuce, with clearly more magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron per gram. The quirk is volume: a big bag of raw leaves wilts down to a small pile once cooked.
In a gym diet
Spinach adds micronutrients to almost any meal without really touching your macros, so it works on a cut or a bulk. The magnesium and potassium matter for people who sweat a lot in training, although your overall diet counts for more than any single food. It shrinks so much that you can blend a big handful into a protein shake or fold it into eggs and hardly notice. The protein is small and incomplete; it's a vegetable, not a protein source.
Preparation and cooking
Leaf for leaf, raw and cooked spinach have the same calories, but cooking drives off water. So 100 g of cooked spinach is a lot more raw leaves, and a lot more of every nutrient. Weigh it raw when using this entry, or switch to a cooked-spinach entry if you weigh after wilting. A light sauté or wilt may make some minerals easier to absorb, while vitamin C drops with heat.
Buying and storage
Choose crisp, deep green leaves with no slime or dark wet patches, and use bagged spinach within a few days of opening. Frozen chopped spinach is cheap and convenient but already cooked down, so log it as cooked.
Things to watch
Spinach is high in oxalates. They reduce how much of its calcium and iron you absorb, and people prone to kidney stones may be told to cut back, so follow your clinician's advice if that's you. It's also very rich in vitamin K, which matters if you're on blood thinners.
Meal ideas
- Green protein shake: whey, frozen banana, a large handful of spinach, milk and peanut butter.
- Spinach and mushroom omelette with three eggs, cottage cheese and whole-grain toast on the side.
- Stir two handfuls of spinach into ground turkey pasta sauce right before serving.
Nutrient highlights
Excellent source (20% DV or more per 100 g): Vitamin C (31%).
Good source (10–19% DV per 100 g): Magnesium (19%), Iron (15%), and Potassium (12%).
How it ranks among 19 Vegetables
| Protein per 100 kcal | 12.6 g | #2 of 19 |
| Protein per 100 g | 2.9 g | #6 of 19 |
| Fiber per 100 g | 2.2 g | #10 of 19 |
| Lowest calories per 100 g | 23 kcal | #7 of 19 |
Ranked within this category of the gym.diet food database (1 = best for that measure).
Similar foods
Mushrooms, white button (raw)
22 kcal · P 3.1 · C 3.3 · F 0.3
→Asparagus (raw)
20 kcal · P 2.2 · C 3.9 · F 0.1
→Kale (raw)
49 kcal · P 4.3 · C 8.8 · F 0.9
→Broccoli (raw)
34 kcal · P 2.8 · C 6.6 · F 0.4
→Brussels sprouts (raw)
43 kcal · P 3.4 · C 9 · F 0.3
→Cauliflower (raw)
25 kcal · P 1.9 · C 5 · F 0.3
Source
Approximate per-100 g values compiled from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy / Foundation Foods), rounded; reference record FDC #168462. Daily Values are the U.S. FDA reference amounts for adults (2,000 kcal diet).
Frequently asked questions
How many calories are in spinach?
Spinach (raw) has about 23 kcal per 100 g, or roughly 14 kcal per 2 cups (60 g).
How much protein is in spinach?
About 2.9 g of protein per 100 g and 1.7 g per 2 cups. That works out to 12.6 g per 100 kcal, so it's a very protein-dense food.
Is spinach good for cutting or bulking?
With this much protein per calorie, it's especially useful when cutting, and it works in any phase.
Is spinach really high in iron?
For a vegetable it has a fair amount of iron, but it's non-heme iron and the oxalates limit absorption, so its old reputation as an iron-packed food is exaggerated. Eating it with a vitamin C source such as peppers or citrus may help you absorb a little more.
Does cooked spinach have more calories than raw?
Gram for gram, cooked spinach looks higher in calories because water is gone and the leaves are concentrated. The total calories of the spinach you started with don't change. Just log it in the same state you weighed it.
Nutrition Facts
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. Values approximate.