How Many Calories Are in a Baked Potato?

The baked potato is a healthy low-fat and low-calorie food. However, a topping made of butter and sour cream can add plenty of calories to your potato.

The medium baked potato weighing 173 grams has 161 calories. This provides only 8% of the daily value for calories assuming the standard diet of 2000 calories per day. The potato is very low in fat, with only 0.2 gram of fat per potato. Only 2 calories in baked potato come from fat.

The potato contains 36.6 grams of carbohydrates including 3.8 grams of dietary fiber and 2 grams of sugar. This carbohydrate total is 12% of the recommended daily value. The potato is a relatively weak provider of protein, with only 4.6 grams of protein per medium potato. However, the potato is a very good source of potassium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C.

To estimate how many calories are in the baked potato with a topping of sour cream and butter, we should add the caloric values of butter and sour cream to the caloric value of the baked potato. One tablespoon of sour cream has 26 calories. Butter is much higher in calories, with 102 calories per tablespoon. Most calories in sour cream and all calories in butter come from fat. So if you add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of sour cream to your potato, you get a meal that has 289 calories. The more butter and sour cream you add, the higher is your meal in calories and artery-clogging saturated fat. To cut down calories and saturated fat in your meal, use low-fat sour cream and olive oil in place of full-fat sour cream and butter. Make sure you use toppings judiciously and prepare potatoes in a diet-friendly way.

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