Quick Answer
8 graham crackers (31g) run about 130 calories, 8g sugar, 24g carbs, 3g fat and 160mg sodium. That is moderate for a packaged snack, but with only 1g of fiber and 2g of protein, the “graham” name promises more nutrition than the product delivers.
- Between a cracker and a cookie. Less sugar and fat than most cookies, more than a plain cracker.
- Not a whole-grain food in practice. Most modern versions are made largely with refined flour despite the graham-flour heritage.
- Fiber is the giveaway: 1g per serving, or 4% of the Daily Value.
- A standard serving is 2 full sheets, or about a quarter cup of crumbs.
What Graham Crackers Are Made Of
Graham crackers are a firm, lightly sweet cracker made from graham flour (a coarser whole-wheat flour), sugar or honey, and fat, with no eggs or leavening agent — which is why they have a dense, crumbly texture rather than a light one. Typical ingredients: graham flour, sugar, vegetable oil, honey, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Graham Cracker Nutrition Facts (8 crackers / 31g)
| Nutrition | Amount | % DV |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 130 | — |
| Total Fat | 3 g | 4% |
| Saturated Fat | 0.5 g | 3% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 160 mg | 7% |
| Total Carbs | 24 g | 9% |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g | 4% |
| Sugars | 8 g | — |
| Protein | 2 g | — |
| Iron | — | 6% |
Are Graham Crackers Healthy?
Not especially, though they are one of the milder packaged snacks. With only 1g of fiber and 2g of protein per serving, they do not offer much nutritionally, and 8g of sugar plus 24g of carbs for 130 calories is a real amount of refined carbohydrate for a snack-sized portion. They are better categorized as a mild treat than as a health food — reasonable in moderation, but not meaningfully more nutritious than most other simple crackers or cookies once you look past the “graham” name.
The comparison worth making is against a genuinely high-fiber snack. A serving of graham crackers gives you 1g of fiber; a similar calorie count of oats or a piece of fruit gives you several times that alongside more staying power. Our guide to high-fiber foods covers what actually moves that number.
Why Were Graham Crackers Invented?
Graham crackers are named after Sylvester Graham, a 19th-century Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer. Graham promoted a whole-grain, largely vegetarian diet as part of a broader temperance movement, believing that rich foods and meat contributed to overstimulation and poor health. His graham flour, and the cracker later named for him, were part of that bland, whole-grain dietary philosophy rather than a snack food as originally conceived. The genuinely whole-grain version he advocated bears little resemblance to the sweetened, largely refined-flour product sold today — which is the main reason the health-food association attached to the name is misleading.
What to Check on the Label
Ingredient lists are short, so it is worth a quick scan for partially hydrogenated oils (a source of trans fat, largely phased out in the US but still worth checking on imported or off-brand products) and for how far down “sugar” or “honey” appears — the higher up the list, the larger the share of the product it represents. If whole grain matters to you, check whether graham or whole wheat flour is listed first or whether enriched flour comes ahead of it, since that ordering tells you which one dominates. A typical serving size is 2 full sheets or about a quarter cup of crumbs.
Frequently Asked Questions
About 130 calories per 8-cracker serving (31g), which is 2 full sheets. That serving also carries 24g of carbohydrate, 8g of sugar, 3g of fat and 160mg of sodium.
A moderate amount: about 8g per 8-cracker serving of 130 calories. That is less than most cookies but more than a plain cracker, putting graham crackers in between the two categories.
They sit in a middle ground: lower in sugar and fat than most cookies, but with little fiber or protein to call them a nutritious snack. Reasonable in moderation, not something to rely on for nutrition.
Generally yes on sugar and fat: a graham cracker serving typically has less of both than an equivalent serving of most cookies, since there is no egg, butter-heavy dough or chocolate involved. Fiber and protein are still low in both, so the difference is one of degree, not a graham cracker being a health food.
Only partly, and less than the name suggests. Graham flour is a coarse whole-wheat flour, but most modern commercial graham crackers use a mix that includes enriched refined flour, which is why fiber comes in at just 1g per serving. Check whether graham or whole wheat flour is listed ahead of enriched flour on the label.
Not many. They provide a small amount of iron and dietary fiber, about 6% and 4% of the Daily Value per serving, but are not a meaningful source of vitamins, protein or fiber compared to whole-grain bread, oats or fruit. Treat them as a snack, not a nutrient source.
Related Reading
- High-Fiber Foods: 10 Best Sources — what a snack with real fiber looks like.
- Cheez-It Nutrition Facts — the savory cracker comparison.
- Cheerios Nutrition Facts — another whole-grain claim examined.
- Fast Food & Brand Nutrition Facts: The Complete Guide — every brand we have broken down.
Sources
- Brand-published nutrition labels (Honey Maid and comparable graham cracker products). Figures vary by brand, so check the box you have.
- US FDA — Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels (basis for all % DV figures on this page). fda.gov
Written and fact-checked by the HealthCoachJP editorial team, following our editorial process. No clinician has reviewed this article. This page is general nutrition information, not medical advice. Last updated: August 2026.
