Baklava as the Bahrain tables sampled it
Baklava is a pastry of many paper-thin sheets layered with chopped nuts, baked, then soaked in syrup and cut into diamonds, squares or triangles, or rolled into fingers.
The Food Composition Tables for the Kingdom of Bahrain print it as Baqlawa, in section 3, in a table of traditional confections. Those sweets were bought in Bahrain, and each figure is the analysis of three samples pooled together, so the row measures baklava as it was bought there at the time, not the recipe of any single shop.
The tables do not record which nut was used (pistachio, walnut, cashew or a mix), how much syrup the pieces held, their shape or size, or where they were bought, so this page does not attach the figure to any one kind.
Fat and carbohydrate, nearly level
Each 100 g of the analysed baklava holds 41.8 g carbohydrate and 38.8 g fat, almost the same weight, with carbohydrate slightly ahead. Protein follows at 9.5 g and fibre at 2.1 g. Together these make up most of the 100 g and leave little room for water, which is one reason a modest weight of baklava carries a lot of energy.
Gram for gram, though, fat holds more than double the energy of carbohydrate, so in this row fat supplies more of the 555 kcal than carbohydrate does despite weighing slightly less. The tables give total fat only, so they cannot show how much came from the nuts and how much from the pastry.
In a macro count, baklava lands mostly in the fat and carbohydrate columns, with about four times as much fat as protein. The macro calculator sets daily targets for all three, and the guide to macros and daily nutrition explains what each one does.
Pistachio, Turkish, fingers: what one row can answer
Searches ask about pistachio baklava, Turkish baklava, fingers, triangles and small pieces. The Bahrain tables print a single baklava row with no nut, style or shape attached, so none of these has a figure of its own here.
The recipe questions, which nut and which style, cannot be settled from this row. A different nut or more syrup would change the figure per 100 g by an amount these tables never measured, and calling the figure pistachio or walnut baklava would claim what the source does not say. The size questions are easier: a small piece and a large one cut from the same tray differ in weight, not in recipe, and weight is easy to measure.
Weighing baklava by the piece
No source used here publishes a piece weight for baklava, and pieces change with the cut, the maker and the syrup they carry, so this page assumes none.
- Sort the pieces by shape. Triangles, fingers and squares from one box need not weigh the same, so count each shape separately.
- Put a plate on the scale and zero it, add several pieces of one shape, then divide the grams by the number of pieces. The average is steadier than any single piece.
- Weigh them as you will eat them: syrup left in the box is not part of your portion, syrup that comes up with the piece is. How much syrup the analysed samples carried is not recorded, so that uncertainty stays with the figure either way.
- Open the food calorie calculator, type Baklava, and enter the grams: one average piece, or everything you ate. It reads the same record as this page.
To compare the result with a whole day, the calorie calculator estimates a daily energy target. Either number is only as close as your baklava is to the samples bought in Bahrain, and the tables give no way to check that.
Next to luqaimat, kunafa and umm ali
Luqaimat, small fried dough balls finished with syrup, have their own page. Per 100 g in the same tables, baklava measured about twice the energy of luqaimat, and most of the gap is fat: baklava has about four times as much, and about three times the protein, while its carbohydrate is a little lower. The luqaimat were prepared in homes in Bahrain and the baklava was bought there. By the piece the comparison could go either way, since neither has a published weight.
Kunafa and umm ali are different sweets with no published analysis in these tables, and the baklava row is not used in their place, so they get no figures here. Both are listed with the reason on the food calories page; the analysed sweets are grouped in its sweets section.
This page reports what was measured in one food; it is general information, not dietetic advice. If a medical condition or a prescribed diet shapes what you eat, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how sweets fit into it.
Questions, answered.
How many calories are in one piece of baklava?
These tables publish no piece figure, because they give no piece weight. Put several pieces of the same shape on a scale and divide the total by how many there are; the food calorie calculator turns that average into calories from the 555 kcal per 100 g of the analysed baklava bought in Bahrain.
How many calories are in baklava per gram?
The tables give energy per 100 g only: 555 kcal for the analysed baklava. The food calorie calculator scales that to the grams you enter.
Is pistachio baklava higher in calories than walnut baklava?
That has not been measured in these tables. The one baklava row does not record which nut was used, so it cannot be split into pistachio, walnut or cashew versions, and this page does not estimate a difference between them.
How much protein is in baklava?
9.5 g per 100 g. That is about three times the protein of luqaimat in the same tables, but still far below the baklava's own fat. The protein calculator estimates how much protein a day suits your weight and goal.
Does baklava have more calories than kunafa?
These tables cannot say, because kunafa has no published analysis in them. It is a different sweet, so the baklava figure is not used in its place; kunafa is listed with the reason on the food calories page.