Wondering how many calories and grams of fat are hiding in the splash of cream in your coffee or the whipped layer on your dessert? The Cream Nutrition Calculator gives you a quick, reliable estimate for heavy cream, light cream, half and half, sour cream, or crème fraîche. Enter any amount in tablespoons, cups, milliliters, grams, or ounces, and get calories, total fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugar, and protein for that exact serving.
This calculator is ideal for anyone tracking macros, planning keto or low-carb meals, counting calories, or simply learning more about the dairy products they use every day. It uses standard USDA nutrition reference values and accounts for cream's density to convert volumes into grams, so results stay accurate across cooking and baking recipes.
Use the quick-fill buttons for typical serving sizes, or type in a custom amount. The results panel even shows the per-100-gram values, which is handy when comparing nutrition labels or adapting recipes by weight.
🥛 Estimate the Nutrition in Your Cream
Pick a cream type, enter an amount, and see the full macro picture in seconds.
Cream type
Amount
📊 Nutrition Results
How to Use This Tool
Choose the cream product that matches what you're pouring, scooping, or whipping. If you're not sure, check the carton's butterfat percentage: heavy cream is typically 36% or higher, light whipping cream is 30–36%, light cream is 18–30%, and half and half is 10–18%. Sour cream varies by brand but usually lands around 18–20%. The calculator uses these broad categories to estimate nutrition.
Next, enter the amount. The quick-fill buttons are handy for common recipe amounts: 1 tablespoon for coffee, 2 tablespoons for a serving on berries, ¼ cup for a sauce, and 1 cup when you're making whipped cream or a creamy soup. For more precise tracking, weigh your cream on a kitchen scale in grams and enter that number directly — the results are then tied to the exact mass instead of a volume-based estimate.
Pro tip: For keto and low-carb users, the total carb count is small but not zero. A 2-tablespoon serving of heavy cream contains roughly 0.4 g of carbs, which fits easily into most macro budgets.
Cream Nutrition by Type
Nutrition values vary significantly by cream type because butterfat content drives calories. Sour cream and light cream are similar in fat, while half and half is roughly two-thirds lower in calories than heavy cream. The table below shows approximate values per 100 g based on USDA reference data.
| Cream type (per 100 g) | Calories | Total fat | Saturated fat | Carbs | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy whipping cream | 345 | 37 g | 23 g | 2.8 g | 2.8 g |
| Light whipping cream | 292 | 30 g | 18 g | 3.2 g | 2.5 g |
| Light cream | 195 | 19 g | 12 g | 3.9 g | 2.9 g |
| Half and half | 131 | 11.5 g | 7.2 g | 5.3 g | 3.3 g |
| Sour cream | 193 | 19 g | 11 g | 4.6 g | 2.4 g |
Sugars in cream are mostly lactose, the natural milk sugar. Heavy cream has about 2.9 g of sugar per 100 g, and half and half has about 4.4 g per 100 g. If a product label includes added sugar, the numbers will be higher than the plain cream values shown here.
How the Calculation Works
The calculator starts by converting your chosen serving size to grams. For volume units, it uses a density of roughly 1 gram per milliliter, which is a good approximation for cream. One US tablespoon equals 15 mL, 1 teaspoon equals 5 mL, and 1 cup equals 240 mL. If you enter ounces, it multiplies by 28.35 g per ounce.
Once the mass is known, the tool multiplies the per-100 g values for that cream type by the serving mass and divides by 100. For example, 2 tablespoons of heavy cream converts to about 30 g. The factor is 30 ÷ 100 = 0.30, so calories are 345 × 0.30 ≈ 104 kcal, fat is 37 × 0.30 ≈ 11.1 g, and saturated fat is 23 × 0.30 ≈ 6.9 g.
Example: Half a cup of half and half equals 120 g. Since half and half has 131 kcal per 100 g, a 120 g serving supplies about 157 kcal, 13.8 g fat, 8.6 g saturated fat, 6.4 g carbs, and 4 g protein.
Reference values are adapted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central. Actual values can vary by brand, butterfat content, and added ingredients, so treat the results as a close estimate rather than a lab analysis.
Tips & Common Mistakes
- Weigh cream in grams for the most accurate result, especially for calorie tracking. Volume measurements can vary by 5–10% depending on how you pour or scoop.
- Use the correct unit: a fluid cup is 8 fluid ounces but weighs about 240 g, while 1 ounce by weight is 28.35 g. Pick grams or ounces by weight rather than fluid-ounce volumes when measuring on a scale.
- Remember that whipped cream is aerated. If you measure whipped cream by volume, it weighs far less than liquid cream; this calculator is intended for liquid cream, half and half, or sour cream, not whipped topping in cups.
- Read the label if you're using flavored creamers or cream products with added sugar, stabilizers, or thickeners. Those extras change the carb and calorie totals.
Saturated fat adds up quickly in cream. A 1-cup serving of heavy whipping cream contains about 55 g of saturated fat, which is well above the American Heart Association's recommended limit of about 13 g per day on a 2,000-calorie diet. Cream is best enjoyed in moderate portions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is heavy cream keto-friendly? Yes, heavy cream is a staple on many low-carb and keto diets because it provides rich fat with only about 0.4 g of carbs per tablespoon. Even so, calories are high, so portion control matters when weight loss is a goal.
Can I substitute half and half for heavy cream in recipes? You can, but the result will be lower in fat and calories and higher in carbs. In baking and sauces, the texture may be thinner; adding a little butter can help make up for the reduced fat.
Why do nutrition labels say 1 tbsp = 15 mL, but my cream weighs only 14 g? Cream is slightly less dense than water because of its fat content, so 1 tablespoon is close to 15 g but not exactly. Most labels round to 15 mL; using 15 g per tablespoon is a reasonable kitchen estimate.
Are these values the same for organic or grass-fed cream? The calorie and total fat numbers are very similar, but the fatty acid profile can differ, with grass-fed cream often containing more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and a different ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. The macro totals remain essentially unchanged.
For more detailed tracking, see the cream potassium calculator if you're monitoring potassium, or the nutrition target for women calculator to plan daily calorie and macro goals.