Which rows are kofta, and why
Kofta is minced meat or chicken, seasoned and shaped into fingers or balls, or pressed onto a skewer as kofta kebab, then grilled and eaten with bread, rice or salad.
The fast-food study in the Food Composition Tables for the Kingdom of Bahrain describes two rows as grilled minced meat (beef, coriander and wheat flour) and grilled minced chicken (chicken, coriander and wheat flour). The ready-to-eat study's row is labelled Kabab leham, and its ingredient table describes it as grilled minced meat of beef, coriander and flour: the same description as the fast-food beef row. That is why it is on this page, under its own label. Each figure is the analysis of three pooled samples bought in Bahrain.
Section 1 of the tables prints the two fast-food analyses a second time, as minced meat (kofta) and minced chicken (kofta). That is the source naming them kofta, and the basis for this page's name. The section 1 copies carry lower carbohydrate figures; being the same analyses, each appears once here, in the fast-food version, whose energy agrees more closely with its own protein, fat and carbohydrate.
A different food is not covered: a home-prepared Bahraini dish called kabab, which is flour-based. It has its own row in the cooked dishes list and a different make-up, with carbohydrate as its largest part after water and far less protein than any row here. Its figure is not used for kofta, or kofta's for it.
A shish kebab of meat or chicken cubes is closer to tikka, and a doner-style kebab sliced from a vertical spit is closer to a shawarma sandwich.
Mostly protein and fat, very little carbohydrate
Water aside, protein is the biggest part of all three rows, between 25.2 g and 26.7 g per 100 g, and fat comes second. Carbohydrate is 1.5 g in the beef kofta, 1.6 g in Kabab leham and 0.8 g in the chicken kofta. Flour is in all three ingredient descriptions, but the tables do not say how much.
In both beef rows protein is close to twice the fat; in the chicken row the two sit closer together.
Beside the shawarma sandwiches from the same two studies, these rows fall in a similar energy range per 100 g but are built differently: more protein and more fat than any of the sandwiches, and only a sliver of their carbohydrate. The obvious difference is bread, which the sandwiches were analysed in and no ingredient description here names.
Chicken or beef kofta: the same energy, a different split
If you expected chicken kofta to come out lower in calories, these tables do not show it. In the fast-food study, the only one that analysed chicken, the chicken row measured 242 kcal per 100 g and the beef row 242 kcal: exactly the same.
The split differs. The chicken had more fat, 15.4 g against 14.3 g, and a little less protein, 25.2 g against 26.7 g. Mince can come from leaner or fattier cuts of either, and the tables do not record which went into these samples, so read this as a feature of those samples, not a rule about chicken.
Two beef figures from two studies
Grilled minced beef was analysed in both studies: 242 kcal per 100 g as the fast-food beef kofta and 223 kcal as the ready-to-eat Kabab leham. The ready-to-eat sample had less fat, 13 g against 14.3 g, and a little less protein, with carbohydrate about the same.
Both are real measurements, so neither is dropped and no average is made. Use either in the calculator, or the higher one if you would rather not undercount.
Counting a skewer, a wrap or a plate
Searches ask for kofta calories per piece, but no source used here publishes the weight of a skewer, finger or ball, so this page does not suggest one. Weigh the cooked kofta with the skewer out.
In the food calorie calculator, type “Kofta”: all three rows come up, along with the Bahraini home kabab, labelled as not grilled kofta; leave that one out. Enter your grams, and the calculator scales the same record shown above.
- Bread is a separate food: weigh it and add it from the Arabic bread rows.
- Rice, tahini, garlic sauce and salad are separate foods too. Hummus has no published figure yet, and anything the calculator does not list stays out rather than being guessed.
For the whole day, the calorie calculator estimates an energy target, the macro calculator splits it into protein, carbohydrate and fat, and the protein calculator gives a daily protein range.
Kofta dishes these rows do not cover
- Lamb, veal or mixed-meat kofta: only beef and chicken were analysed.
- Kofta baked, fried, or cooked in tomato sauce or with tahini: the method and the sauce change the dish, and none of these was analysed.
- Home-made kofta and other recipes that were not among the samples bought in Bahrain.
- Malai kofta, a different dish altogether: vegetable or paneer dumplings in a creamy sauce.
Foods with no usable published analysis yet are on the food calories page, each with the reason, rather than estimated.
The figures on this page are general information from published analyses, not dietetic advice for you. If you have a medical condition or eat to a plan a clinician gave you, talk your meals through with your doctor or a registered dietitian.
Questions, answered.
How many calories are in kofta per 100 g?
Grilled beef kofta measured 242 kcal per 100 g in the Bahraini fast-food study, and chicken kofta from the same study 242 kcal. The ready-to-eat study's grilled minced beef, labelled Kabab leham, measured 223 kcal.
How many calories are in one kofta skewer?
That depends on its weight, which no source used here publishes. Weigh the cooked kofta without the skewer and enter the grams in the food calorie calculator.
How much protein is in kofta?
Between 25.2 g and 26.7 g per 100 g across the three analysed rows. The fast-food beef kofta had the most.
Is chicken kofta lower in calories than beef kofta?
Not in these tables: in the fast-food study, chicken and beef kofta both measured 242 kcal per 100 g. Another recipe or another mince could change that.
Is Bahraini kabab the same as kofta?
No. It is a flour-based home dish with its own row in the cooked dishes list, and none of the figures on this page apply to it.