How many calories in jam? Per teaspoon, per slice of toast, and jam against jelly
Jam is about 250 kcal per 100g, 18 per teaspoon and 50 per tablespoon. Calories by spoon and spread, reduced-sugar jam, and why UK jelly and US jelly differ.
Jam is the part of breakfast people blame and should not.
Standard jam is about 250 kcal per 100g, or 18 kcal for a level teaspoon. That is roughly a third of the density of butter. On a slice of toast, the jam is almost never the expensive layer.
What jam is, is sugar. Around 60g in every 100g. So the honest framing is that jam is a sugar question, not a calorie question.
The quick answer
| Spread | Calories per 100g | Per level tsp (7g) | Per tbsp (20g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar-free jelly (UK dessert), made up | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Jelly (UK dessert), made up | 60 | 4 | 12 |
| Reduced-sugar jam | 160 | 11 | 32 |
| Standard jam, any fruit | 250 | 18 | 50 |
| Marmalade | 260 | 18 | 52 |
| US grape jelly | 265 | 19 | 53 |
| Honey | 304 | 21 | 61 |
| Lemon curd | 315 | 22 | 63 |
Calories by the spoon and the jar
| Amount | Reduced-sugar | Standard jam | Marmalade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level teaspoon (7g) | 11 | 18 | 18 |
| Heaped teaspoon (12g) | 19 | 30 | 31 |
| Tablespoon (20g) | 32 | 50 | 52 |
| Knife scrape on toast (10g) | 16 | 25 | 26 |
| Generous spread (15g) | 24 | 38 | 39 |
| 25g portion pot (hotel or café) | 40 | 63 | 65 |
| 340g jar | 544 | 850 | 884 |
| 454g jar | 726 | 1,135 | 1,180 |
A café portion pot is 20 to 28g depending on the brand. Most people tip the whole thing onto one scone or one slice, so log the pot, not a teaspoon.
Jam on toast: which layer costs what
This is the correction. Jam looks like the indulgent part of toast because it is sweet and bright red. It is the lightest thing on the plate.
| Toast | Bread | Butter | Jam | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 slice, jam only (1 tsp) | 75 | 0 | 18 | 93 |
| 1 slice, butter only (10g) | 75 | 72 | 0 | 147 |
| 1 slice, butter and 1 tsp jam | 75 | 72 | 18 | 165 |
| 1 slice, butter and 1 tbsp jam | 75 | 72 | 50 | 197 |
| 2 slices, butter and 1 tsp jam each | 150 | 144 | 36 | 330 |
| 2 slices, generous butter (15g) and jam (15g) each | 150 | 214 | 75 | 439 |
The bread figures come from the bread calorie breakdown (a 28g medium slice is 75 kcal) and the butter from the butter breakdown (7.2 kcal per gram). If you want lighter toast, drop or weigh the butter and keep the jam. Jam on dry toast is a perfectly good breakfast at 93 kcal a slice.
Jam against jelly: the false friend
The same word names three different foods, and two of them are not close in calories.
| Word | In the UK | In the US | Calories per 100g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jam | Fruit and sugar spread, seeds and pieces in | The same | about 250 |
| Jelly | A wobbly gelatin dessert, made from cubes or crystals | A clear, seedless spread made from fruit juice | 60 (UK dessert), 265 (US spread) |
| Jello / Jell-O | Rarely used | The gelatin dessert | about 60 |
| Preserves | Occasionally on labels, means jam | Jam with whole or large fruit pieces | about 250 to 278 |
| Conserve | Jam with whole fruit, sometimes softer set | Rare | about 245 |
| Marmalade | Citrus only, usually Seville orange with peel | Citrus, sometimes other fruit | about 260 |
| Redcurrant jelly | A clear spread served with lamb | The US sense of jelly | about 250 |
So a "jam sandwich" in Manchester and a "jelly sandwich" in Ohio are the same calorie count. A bowl of UK jelly at a children's party is a quarter of the density. If a calorie app returns 265 kcal per 100g for the jelly in your trifle, it has picked the US spread, and it has overcounted by four times. The trifle breakdown uses the dessert figure.
Does the fruit change anything?
Not in a way you can track. Strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant, apricot and plum jams all land within about 10 kcal per 100g of each other. The fruit is a minority ingredient. Sugar is the majority.
| Type | Calories per 100g | Sugar per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry jam | 250 | 60g |
| Raspberry jam, seedless | 252 | 61g |
| Apricot jam | 248 | 60g |
| Blackcurrant jam | 245 | 58g |
| "No added sugar" fruit spread | 120 to 230 | 30 to 55g |
| Reduced-sugar jam | 160 | 38g |
"No added sugar" spreads are often sweetened with concentrated grape or apple juice. That is still free sugar under the NHS definition, and some of these jars are within 20 kcal per 100g of the standard jam next to them. Read the label, not the front of the jar.
The sugar is the real trade
Adults are advised to keep free sugars under 30g a day. Jam is about 60% sugar, nearly all of it free sugar.
| Amount of standard jam | Sugar | Share of 30g daily limit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 level tsp (7g) | 4g | 14% |
| 1 tbsp (20g) | 12g | 40% |
| 25g café pot | 15g | 50% |
| Scone with jam and cream, 2 tbsp jam | 24g | 80% |
A teaspoon a day is fine by any standard. The cream tea is where jam stops being a rounding error, and even then the scone itself carries more calories than the jam on it.
Jam against the other spreads
| Spread | Usual amount | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jam | 1 tsp (7g) | 18 | 0g |
| Marmalade | 1 tsp (7g) | 18 | 0g |
| Honey | 1 tsp (7g) | 21 | 0g |
| Lemon curd | 1 tsp (7g) | 22 | 0.1g |
| Butter | 10g scrape | 72 | 0.1g |
| Peanut butter | 1 tbsp (16g) | 95 | 4g |
Per teaspoon, jam and honey are close, which the honey breakdown covers in more detail. Lemon curd is heavier because it contains butter and egg as well as sugar. Peanut butter is the only one here that brings protein, at five times the calories of a teaspoon of jam.
How to log jam accurately
- Log teaspoons as 7g, not 5g. A level kitchen teaspoon of jam is heavier than a teaspoon of water, because jam is dense.
- Log café pots as the whole pot. It is 20 to 28g, about 50 to 70 kcal.
- If you spread from the jar with a knife, weigh the jar before and after once. Most people find 10 to 15g a slice, about 25 to 38 kcal.
- Do not log "jelly" without checking which one. The UK dessert is about 60 kcal per 100g, the US spread about 265.
- Spend your weighing effort on the butter. It is four times the calories of the jam on a normal slice.