How many calories are in ground beef (90/10)?
Ground beef (90/10) has 173 calories per 3 oz cooked (85 g) — that's 204 calories per 100 g, roughly 9% of a 2,000-calorie day. Most of those calories come from protein.
USDA FoodData Central · 90% lean, cooked, pan-broiled · FDC 171793
Calories by portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 oz cooked (85 g) | 173 | 21.4 g | 0 g | 9.1 g |
| 100 g | 204 | 25.2 g | 0 g | 10.7 g |
| 1 oz (28 g) | 58 | 7.1 g | 0 g | 3 g |
Where the calories come from
Protein 51% Carbs 0% Fat 49%
Calories computed from USDA per-100 g data (FDC 171793, SR Legacy). 90% lean, cooked, pan-broiled. The macro split uses general Atwater factors (protein and carbs ≈ 4 cal/g, fat ≈ 9 cal/g) and is approximate.
Ground beef is a protein people rarely think of as a calorie decision, but the blend on the package changes the math more than almost any other food. A 3 oz cooked serving of 90/10 (85 g) runs about 173 calories — that’s 204 calories per 100 g — and a quarter-pound raw patty is roughly what cooks down to that 3 oz once it shrinks. For those calories you get about 21 g of complete protein with essentially no carbohydrate. The reason a leaner grind earns its spot, and why “ground beef calories” isn’t a single number, is sitting in the fat line.
Where the calories come from
Unlike chicken breast, ground beef splits its calories fairly evenly. Run cooked 90/10 through the standard Atwater factors (protein and carbs ≈ 4 cal/g, fat ≈ 9 cal/g) and you get roughly 49% protein calories and 47% fat, with zero carbohydrate. The driver is the 10.7 g of fat per 100 g — modest for beef, but enough that fat, at 9 calories a gram, contributes nearly half the total. That’s the structural difference between beef and a lean white meat: chicken breast spends almost nothing on fat, while even a lean beef grind carries a real fat load alongside its protein. What you get for it is what fat brings — heme iron, B12, and zinc that lean poultry can’t match.
One note on the number itself: 204 calories per 100 g is the cooked, drained figure. Raw 90/10 tests lower per gram because cooking renders out fat and drives off water, concentrating the protein and calories together. Nearly every recipe quotes cooked weight, so unless a label says “raw,” assume cooked.
The blend is the whole calorie story
The lever you control is the lean-to-fat ratio, and it’s printed right on the package. “90/10” is the raw ratio — 90% lean, 10% fat by weight before cooking — and a fattier grind like 80/20 or 73/27 starts with more fat, lands higher in calories, and shrinks more in the pan. Cooked, every blend converges toward a similar protein-per-100-g figure, but the calorie totals don’t: per gram of protein, the leaner grind simply costs you fewer calories. A single habit closes most of the gap on fattier beef — drain or blot the rendered fat after browning, and you pull out a meaningful share of the calories while leaving the protein intact. That’s why 90/10 earns its place when calories matter: you keep more of the patty and less of it ends up as grease.
For the full protein side of the same beef — and how those ~21 g per serving stack toward a daily goal — see protein in ground beef.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in a 3 oz serving of 90/10 ground beef?
About 173 calories in a 3 oz cooked serving (85 g) of 90/10, based on 204 calories per 100 g (USDA FDC 171793). That's roughly a quarter-pound raw patty once it shrinks, and it brings about 21 g of complete protein with it.
How many calories are in ground beef per 100 g or per ounce?
204 calories per 100 g of cooked 90/10, which is about 58 calories per ounce (28 g). Note this is the cooked, drained figure — raw beef tests lower per gram because cooking renders out fat and drives off water, concentrating what's left.
Where do the calories in 90/10 ground beef come from?
A roughly even split between protein and fat. By Atwater factors, cooked 90/10 is about 49% protein calories and 47% fat, with essentially zero carbohydrate. The 10.7 g of fat per 100 g is what separates it from leaner proteins like chicken breast — fat carries 9 calories a gram, so it drives most of the calorie gap.
Does 80/20 ground beef have more calories than 90/10?
Yes. The package ratio is raw lean-to-fat, so 80/20 starts with more fat and lands meaningfully higher in calories than this 204-per-100-g 90/10 figure, even after some of that fat renders out. Draining the rendered fat after browning pulls a share of the calories from any blend while leaving the protein untouched.
How many calories are in a quarter-pound beef patty?
A quarter-pound (4 oz) raw 90/10 patty cooks down to roughly 3 oz, landing near 173 calories for about 21 g of protein. Two patties run close to 346 calories and 42 g of protein — a solid, protein-forward chunk of a day.
When was this data last verified?
2026-06-18, against USDA FoodData Central FDC 171793 (Beef, ground, 90% lean / 10% fat, cooked, pan-broiled; SR Legacy). We re-verify reference pages periodically and update when USDA revises its data.
Whole-food values are USDA reference data, not a Labelgrade (that score is for branded packaged products). See our methodology and the TDEE calculator to turn this into a daily target.