Calories in Butter: Per Tablespoon and Per Pat

One tablespoon of butter (14 g) delivers 102 calories, 12 g of total fat, and fewer than 0.1 g of protein or carbohydrate, according to USDA FoodData Central (FDC ID 1145).

Butter is almost pure fat, which means small volumes carry significant caloric weight. A quick visual check rarely captures how much you’ve used — understanding the numbers by common portion helps you stay accurate without guesswork.

Calories and Macros by Portion

Portion	Weight	Calories	Total Fat	Saturated Fat	Carbs	Protein
1 pat (approx.)	5 g	36 kcal	4.1 g	2.6 g	0 g	0 g
1 teaspoon	4.7 g	34 kcal	3.8 g	2.4 g	0 g	0 g
1 tablespoon	14 g	102 kcal	11.5 g	7.3 g	0 g	0.1 g
2 tablespoons	28 g	204 kcal	23 g	14.6 g	0 g	0.2 g
1/4 stick	28 g	204 kcal	23 g	14.6 g	0 g	0.2 g
1 full stick	113 g	813 kcal	92 g	58 g	0.1 g	1 g

All figures are for salted butter; unsalted butter is nutritionally identical except for sodium (salted butter has approximately 90 mg sodium per tablespoon vs. near zero for unsalted).

Macros Breakdown

Butter’s calorie profile is dominated entirely by fat — around 99% of its calories come from lipids. Of those lipids, roughly 63% are saturated fatty acids, 26% are monounsaturated fats, and 4% are polyunsaturated fats. The remainder consists of cholesterol and trace conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). There is no meaningful fiber, sugar, or starch. Because it is essentially zero-carb, butter does not raise blood glucose directly, though its caloric density and saturated fat content remain important considerations for most eating patterns. You can work out your ideal daily fat target with our macro calculator.

Does It Fit Your Goals?

Weight loss. Butter isn’t forbidden on a calorie-controlled plan, but its density makes portion control essential. A heavy hand with the butter dish can quietly add 200–300 calories to a meal before any protein or vegetables are counted. Using a kitchen scale and logging accurately — particularly for cooking fats that are easy to underestimate — tends to close the gap between estimated and actual intake. For context on how cooking fats fit into your total daily energy, check out our guide to counting calories to lose weight.

Blood sugar management. Because butter contains no carbohydrates, it has a glycemic index of zero and will not spike blood glucose. For people managing type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, replacing refined-carbohydrate calories with a moderate amount of fat from butter can be part of a lower-glycemic approach. That said, saturated fat intake at high levels warrants discussion with a clinician in the context of cardiovascular risk. If you want to model the glycemic impact of the full meal rather than just the butter, our glycemic load calculator can help.

Keto and low-carb. Butter fits cleanly into ketogenic macros — it adds fat with no carbohydrate overhead. One tablespoon contributes about 11–12 g toward a typical daily fat target of 150–180 g on a strict keto protocol.

Baking and cooking. Calorie estimates for recipes using butter should account for the full measured amount before cooking; some fat is absorbed by other ingredients and some remains in the pan, but for logging accuracy it is safer to count the full amount used.

Photograph your plate before eating and let CalEye log the butter — and everything else on it — in seconds.