Indian Takeaway Calories in the UK and Ireland: Lab Data

Most Indians in the UK and Ireland cook dal, sabzi and roti at home all week, then order from the local curry house on Friday. That Friday meal is not the curry you grew up with. It is made for a different palate, in a different pot, and in a much bigger box. Here is what it actually contains, measured in a lab, and how to order one that fits your week.

What the lab found, dish by dish

In 2015 safefood, the public food safety and nutrition body for the island of Ireland, bought the most popular dishes from 36 takeaways in 12 towns and cities across the Republic and Northern Ireland. Ulster University weighed every portion and a laboratory measured the calories, fat, protein and salt. These are the averages.

The averages hide a wide spread. Chicken tikka masala ranged from 510 to 2,033 calories depending on the takeaway, and the biggest starters were as large as an average main course. If your local place is generous, your numbers are likely at the top of these ranges, not the bottom.

Why the takeaway curry is so much heavier

The box holds three and a half katoris

The average chicken tikka masala weighed 523 g. The Food Standards Agency's typical portion of curry is 300 g, and a katori at home holds about 150 g. One takeaway box is roughly three and a half katoris of curry, before any rice or bread. The study's own conclusion was that a main course and a portion of rice were each enough for two people.

Cream and oil, gram for gram

Even at the same weight, the takeaway version is heavier. The lab measured 236 calories per 100 g of chicken tikka masala. A home-style chicken curry is about 150 per 100 g in our food table. Most of the difference is fat: an average tikka masala or korma carried about 91 g of fat and around 50 g of saturated fat. The guideline amount for saturated fat is 20 g for a whole day.

The sides double it

A portion of rice and a naan together add 900 to 1,300 calories, the report found. Poppadoms come free with many orders and add another 113 before the food arrives.

Salt, the part nobody counts

The average meal held about one and a half times the 6 g of salt an adult should have in a day. Jalfrezi, the lightest curry for calories, had the most salt at 5.2 g. If you have high blood pressure, salt is the number to watch on a takeaway night, not just calories.

Takeaway or home cooked: the same dinner twice

The home plate uses our food table, which is built on the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (ICMR NIN). Public Health England suggests aiming for about 600 calories at dinner.

Home cooking is not light by default. Butter chicken made at home with cream and butter is about 340 calories a katori in our table. What makes the takeaway heavy is the cream, the oil and the size of the box, and you can control all three when you order.

How to order a lighter Indian takeaway

1. Start from the tandoor. The chicken tikka starter was 249 calories with 41 g of protein, the best protein for the calories on the whole menu. Order it as your main with a salad.
2. If you want a curry, pick jalfrezi. At 721 calories it was about 530 lighter than tikka masala or korma, because it has no cream. Its salt is high, so keep the rest of the day low in salt.
3. Rice or naan, not both. Boiled rice instead of pilau saves about 110 calories. Plain naan instead of peshwari saves about 240.
4. Split the box. Put half on your plate and the rest in the fridge for lunch. Tomorrow's lunch is now sorted too.
5. Skip the poppadoms. That is 113 calories you will not remember eating.

Two orders that land near the 600 calorie dinner guide: half a jalfrezi with half a boiled rice is about 555 calories and 35 g of protein. A chicken tikka starter with half a boiled rice and a salad is about 440 calories and 46 g of protein.

Will the menu show the calories?

In England, since 6 April 2022, food businesses with 250 or more employees must show calories on their menus, with the line "adults need around 2000 kcal a day". Most family-run curry houses have far fewer staff, so they do not have to. Larger chains do. The rule applies to England only, so restaurants in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are not covered by it. When there is no number on the menu, use the table above as your guide.

One takeaway a week fits

A weekly takeaway does not undo a good week. A daily one does. Eat a normal, protein-rich lunch on takeaway day so you do not arrive starving, order with the steps above, and go for a walk after dinner. Do not judge the meal by the scale the next morning: the salt holds extra water, and that is what you see first. Weigh again after a few days.

Check your own meals

Our free Indian food calorie calculator works in katoris and rotis, and the katori portion calculator shows what a portion really weighs. For eating out with family and friends, read how to stay lean at Indian restaurants and desi parties, and if you order on apps in India, see what to order on Swiggy and Zomato.

We coach Indians in the UK and Ireland on video, in your time zone, with a nutritionist who plans around the food you actually eat, Friday takeaway included. Every member pays the same price, billed in Indian rupees. See how coaching in the UK works, or Start Your Journey.

Sources

• safefood, What's in your Indian takeaway? Nutritional content of a range of Indian takeaway food, September 2015, research by Ulster University (NICHE): full report (PDF). All takeaway portions, calories, protein, fat and salt above.
• The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021: legislation.gov.uk.
• Public Health England, 400 to 600 to 600 calorie guide for breakfast, lunch and dinner, March 2018: GOV.UK.
• Indian Food Composition Tables 2017, ICMR National Institute of Nutrition, through our own food database: home chicken curry, plain rice, roti, butter chicken.