Quick Answer: One tablespoon of salted butter (14.2 g) has about 102 calories, 11.5 g of fat, 7.3 g of saturated fat, 31 mg of cholesterol and 91 mg of sodium. It contains essentially no carbohydrate and no meaningful protein.
That single tablespoon uses roughly 37 percent of the FDA’s 20 g Daily Value for saturated fat, and about 56 percent of the stricter 13 g limit the American Heart Association recommends for a 2,000-calorie diet. Butter is a real source of vitamin A and almost nothing else nutritionally. It is not a health food, it is not poison, and the number that matters most is how much of it you use.
Butter is made by churning cream until the fat separates from the buttermilk. The result is roughly 80 percent milk fat, about 16 percent water and a trace of milk protein and lactose. Everything else on this page follows from that composition.
Butter nutrition facts by serving size
All values below are calculated from USDA FoodData Central for salted butter and rounded. The US Nutrition Facts panel uses 1 tablespoon as the reference serving, so that is the column to compare against any label in your kitchen.
| Nutrient | 1 tbsp (14.2 g) | 2 tbsp (28.4 g) | 1/2 cup / 1 stick (113 g) | 100 g | %DV per tbsp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 102 | 204 | 810 | 717 | – |
| Total fat | 11.5 g | 23.0 g | 92 g | 81.1 g | 15% |
| Saturated fat | 7.3 g | 14.6 g | 58 g | 51.4 g | 37% |
| Monounsaturated fat | 3.0 g | 6.0 g | 24 g | 21.0 g | – |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 0.4 g | 0.9 g | 3.4 g | 3.0 g | – |
| Trans fat (naturally occurring) | 0.5 g | 0.9 g | 3.7 g | 3.3 g | – |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg | 61 mg | 243 mg | 215 mg | 10% |
| Sodium (salted) | 91 mg | 183 mg | 726 mg | 643 mg | 4% |
| Total carbohydrate | 0 g | 0 g | 0.1 g | 0.06 g | 0% |
| Protein | 0.1 g | 0.2 g | 1.0 g | 0.85 g | 0% |
Percent Daily Values use the current FDA reference values: 78 g total fat, 20 g saturated fat, 300 mg cholesterol, 2,300 mg sodium, 275 g carbohydrate.
Two things in that table are worth pausing on, because most butter pages get both wrong.
Butter is about 100 percent fat calories. At 11.5 g of fat per tablespoon, fat accounts for roughly 103 calories out of a total of 102 once you apply standard Atwater factors, which is simply rounding: there is no protein or carbohydrate to speak of. Any table showing “calories from fat” as a number higher than total calories is showing you a rounding artefact, not a finding. The useful statement is that essentially every calorie in butter is a fat calorie.
The saturated fat percentage is the headline, not the total fat percentage. One tablespoon is 15 percent of the day’s total fat allowance but 37 percent of the saturated fat allowance. That gap is the whole nutritional story of butter in one line.
What butter actually delivers in vitamins and minerals
Butter is routinely credited with vitamins and minerals it barely contains. Here is what a tablespoon really provides.
| Micronutrient | Per 1 tbsp | %DV | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin A (as retinol) | 97 mcg RAE | 11% | Genuinely meaningful |
| Vitamin E | 0.3 mg | 2% | Negligible |
| Vitamin K | 1 mcg | 1% | Negligible |
| Vitamin D | 0.2 mcg | 1% | Negligible, not a vitamin D food |
| Vitamin B12 | 0.02 mcg | 1% | Negligible |
| Calcium | 3 mg | 0.3% | Effectively zero |
| Potassium | 3 mg | 0.1% | Effectively zero |
| Vitamin C, iron, fibre | 0 | 0% | None at all |
Vitamin A is the one real entry, and it comes mostly as preformed retinol rather than beta-carotene, because cows convert carotenoids from pasture into retinol before it reaches the milk fat. Grass-fed butter is more yellow because more carotenoid survives, which is a colour difference far more than a nutrition difference.
Now put the two tables together, because this is the comparison nobody publishes. To get that 11 percent of your vitamin A from butter, you spend 37 percent of your saturated fat allowance for the day. A single medium carrot delivers several times that vitamin A with no saturated fat at all. Butter is not a useful way to obtain any nutrient it contains. Use it because it tastes good and does things in a pan that oil cannot, which is an honest reason.
The trans fat on a butter label is not the trans fat that was banned
Butter contains roughly 0.5 g of trans fat per tablespoon, and readers who see that on a label often assume it is the same substance that was removed from processed food. It is not, and the distinction is written into US regulation.
- Industrial trans fat comes from partially hydrogenated oils. In June 2015 the FDA determined that PHOs are no longer generally recognised as safe, and set 1 January 2021 as the final compliance date for removing them from the food supply. This is the trans fat linked to raised LDL cholesterol and heart disease in the research that drove the ban.
- Ruminant trans fat occurs naturally in the milk and meat of cows, sheep and goats, mainly as vaccenic acid and conjugated linoleic acid. The FDA’s determination explicitly does not apply to it, and the agency has said plainly that trans fat will never disappear from the food supply because it occurs naturally in meat and dairy.
The evidence on ruminant trans fat at the amounts people actually eat is not the same as the evidence on the industrial kind, and health authorities do not treat the two identically. That is not a licence to eat more butter. It is a reason not to read a butter label as though it contained a banned ingredient.
Saturated fat and butter: what the evidence actually supports
This is where most butter articles collapse into either “butter is a superfood” or “butter causes heart disease”. Neither is a fair reading.
What the major bodies recommend is consistent. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise limiting saturated fat to less than 10 percent of daily calories from age two onward. The American Heart Association goes further and recommends a dietary pattern with less than 6 percent of calories from saturated fat, about 13 g a day on a 2,000-calorie diet. The World Health Organization uses less than 10 percent. More than 80 percent of the US population exceeds the 10 percent limit, which is why saturated fat is named a nutrient of public health concern.
The nuance that gets lost is that what you replace saturated fat with determines the benefit. The AHA’s own advisory on dietary fats found that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oil lowered cardiovascular disease by roughly 30 percent, comparable to statin treatment. Replacing it with refined carbohydrate and sugar showed no such benefit. Many of the studies that generated headlines claiming saturated fat had been exonerated were comparing saturated fat against exactly that kind of poor replacement.
So the defensible position on butter is narrow and unglamorous: it raises LDL cholesterol, most people already exceed saturated fat limits, and swapping some of it for olive or canola oil is one of the better-evidenced single changes available. It does not need to be eliminated, and cutting it only to eat more white bread and pastry achieves nothing.
Butter vs the alternatives, per tablespoon
Calories barely separate these fats. Saturated fat separates them completely, which is why a calorie comparison is the wrong one to make.
| Fat (1 tbsp) | Calories | Saturated fat | Share of AHA 13 g limit | Cholesterol |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canola oil | 124 | 1.0 g | 8% | 0 mg |
| Olive oil | 119 | 1.9 g | 15% | 0 mg |
| Soft vegetable oil spread | 60 to 100 | about 1.5 to 2.5 g | 12 to 19% | 0 mg |
| Butter, salted | 102 | 7.3 g | 56% | 31 mg |
| Ghee / clarified butter | 112 | 7.9 g | 61% | 33 mg |
| Coconut oil | 121 | 11.2 g | 86% | 0 mg |
Two results here usually surprise people. Ghee is not the lighter option. Clarifying removes water and milk solids, which concentrates the fat, so per tablespoon ghee carries slightly more saturated fat than butter, not less. Its genuine advantage is heat: with the milk solids removed it does not brown and burn the way butter does, so it suits high-heat cooking. Coconut oil is the most saturated fat on the list, more than butter, despite a persistent reputation as a health food.
How many calories are in butter, by the measure you are using
- 1 teaspoon (4.7 g): about 34 calories, 2.4 g saturated fat
- 1 pat (5 g, the small restaurant square): about 36 calories, 2.6 g saturated fat
- 1 tablespoon (14.2 g): about 102 calories, 7.3 g saturated fat
- 2 tablespoons (28.4 g): about 204 calories, 14.6 g saturated fat
- 1/2 cup, or one US stick (113 g): about 810 calories, 58 g saturated fat
- 1 cup (227 g): about 1,630 calories, 117 g saturated fat
The stick figure is the one worth memorising if you bake. A single stick creamed into a batch of cookies carries nearly three days of saturated fat at the AHA level, before anything else in the recipe.
Carbs and protein in butter
Butter contains essentially no carbohydrate. USDA data puts it at 0.06 g per 100 g, which works out to under 0.01 g per tablespoon and rounds to zero on any label. Butter is genuinely a zero-carb food, which is why it fits ketogenic and low-carb patterns without arithmetic.
Protein is equally negligible, about 0.1 g per tablespoon. The milk proteins largely leave with the buttermilk during churning. Butter is not a protein source and should never be counted as one.
The small residue of milk protein and lactose does matter for two groups. People with a milk protein allergy should avoid butter, since trace casein and whey remain. Most people with lactose intolerance tolerate butter comfortably, because the lactose left behind is very small, and ghee contains less still.
Salted vs unsalted butter
The difference is salt, and only salt. Salted butter carries roughly 91 mg of sodium per tablespoon; unsalted carries about 2 mg. The fat, saturated fat, calories and cholesterol are the same in both.
At 4 percent of the daily sodium limit per tablespoon, salted butter is not a major sodium source for most people, but it is worth switching if you are on a sodium-restricted diet. Salt also acts as a mild preservative, so unsalted butter has a shorter fridge life and is the baker’s default because it leaves the seasoning under the cook’s control.
Butter nutrition label
The image below shows a typical US Nutrition Facts panel for butter. The values on the pack in your hand are the authority for that specific product, since brands differ slightly in fat content, salt level and declared serving size. If you are unsure how to read the panel, our guide to reading nutrition labels covers serving sizes and %DV in detail.
How to fit butter into a reasonable diet
- Budget it, do not ban it. If you are working to the AHA’s 13 g of saturated fat, one tablespoon of butter spends more than half of it. Knowing that is more useful than a rule about avoidance.
- Switch the cooking fat, keep the finishing fat. Sauteing in olive or canola oil and finishing a dish with a small knob of butter gets you most of the flavour at a fraction of the saturated fat. Butter’s taste is front of palate; it does not need volume.
- Measure it when baking. Butter used by the stick is where the real intake sits, not butter used on toast.
- Do not switch to coconut oil for health reasons. It carries more saturated fat per tablespoon than butter does.
- Do not count on butter for any nutrient. Its vitamin A is real but expensive in saturated fat, and its vitamin D and calcium content are rounding errors.
- If you have high LDL cholesterol or existing cardiovascular disease, talk to your clinician or a dietitian about where your saturated fat is coming from. That is an individual calculation, not something a general article can make for you.
Frequently asked questions about butter nutrition
About 102 calories. That tablespoon is 14.2 grams and contains roughly 11.5 g of fat, of which 7.3 g is saturated fat, plus 31 mg of cholesterol and, in salted butter, about 91 mg of sodium. It has essentially no carbohydrate and no meaningful protein.
About 810 calories. Half a cup is 113 grams, which is one US stick, and it carries roughly 92 g of fat including 58 g of saturated fat. That is close to three days’ worth of saturated fat at the American Heart Association’s recommended limit of about 13 g a day.
About 7.3 g per tablespoon, 14.6 g per two tablespoons, and 51.4 g per 100 g. One tablespoon uses roughly 37 percent of the FDA’s 20 g Daily Value for saturated fat and about 56 percent of the stricter 13 g the American Heart Association recommends on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Effectively none. USDA data gives 0.06 g of carbohydrate per 100 g of butter, which is under 0.02 g per tablespoon and rounds to 0 g on a Nutrition Facts label. Butter is a genuinely zero-carb food and fits ketogenic and low-carb eating without any calculation.
Only a trace, about 0.1 g per tablespoon. Most of the milk protein leaves with the buttermilk during churning. Butter is not a protein source. The residue still matters for anyone with a milk protein allergy, who should avoid it; most people with lactose intolerance tolerate butter because very little lactose remains.
Because two different things share the name. The FDA’s 2015 determination that partially hydrogenated oils are not generally recognised as safe, with a final compliance date of 1 January 2021, targeted industrially produced trans fat. It explicitly does not cover the trans fat that occurs naturally in dairy and ruminant meat, which is what the roughly 0.5 g per tablespoon on a butter label represents. The FDA has said trans fat will never leave the food supply entirely for exactly this reason.
No. Per tablespoon the calories are similar, around 102 for butter and 119 for olive oil, but olive oil carries about 1.9 g of saturated fat against butter’s 7.3 g, and no cholesterol. Health authorities consistently recommend replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat, and an American Heart Association advisory found that swapping saturated fat for polyunsaturated vegetable oil lowered cardiovascular disease risk by roughly 30 percent. Replacing it with refined carbohydrate showed no such benefit.
Not in saturated fat terms. Clarifying butter removes water and milk solids, which concentrates the fat, so a tablespoon of ghee carries about 7.9 g of saturated fat and 112 calories against butter’s 7.3 g and 102 calories. Ghee’s real advantages are that it tolerates higher cooking heat without the milk solids browning, and that it contains even less lactose and milk protein than butter.
Related reading
- Whole milk nutrition facts: fats, calories and protein
- How to read nutrition labels to make smarter food choices
- Balancing protein, carbs and fats
- How ultra-processed foods trigger inflammation
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, Butter, salted (SR Legacy 173410)
- US FDA, Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels
- American Heart Association, Saturated Fats
- American Heart Association Presidential Advisory on dietary fats and cardiovascular disease
- US FDA, Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Removing Trans Fat)
- Satia et al., supplemental beta-carotene and lung cancer risk, summarising ATBC and CARET findings
- ATBC Study analysis, beta-carotene supplementation and lung cancer incidence in smokers
- Review of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiometabolic health, including Dietary Guidelines saturated fat limits
Last reviewed and rewritten September 2026. Nutrient values are calculated from USDA FoodData Central and rounded; the Nutrition Facts panel on the product you buy is the authority for that product. This article is general information, not medical or dietary advice, and is not a substitute for guidance from a qualified clinician or registered dietitian. If you have raised LDL cholesterol, existing cardiovascular disease, a milk allergy, or have been given a specific dietary prescription, follow that advice rather than this page. How we research and check this content is described in our editorial process and sources cited policy.
