Steamed dim sum like har gow has about 150-160 calories per 100 g, so a single 25 g shrimp dumpling is roughly 40 calories. Deep-fried dim sum runs 260-430 calories per 100 g. A meal of 100 g each of six popular dishes comes to about 1,060 calories, or about 720 for a lighter steamed version.
The numbers here come from lab tests by Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety, which has analysed more than 90 dim sum items. Values are per 100 g because piece sizes vary between restaurants; per-piece figures use USDA's standard 25 g dumpling.
Key takeaways
- Har gow: about 40 calories per 25 g piece (150-160 per 100 g).
- Siu mai: about 42-50 calories per piece (170-200 per 100 g), with more protein than har gow.
- Char siu bao: about 240-260 calories per 100 g; a large 100 g bun is about 250.
- Deep-fried items like taro dumplings (360), spring rolls (320) and wonton (420 per 100 g) are two to three times denser than steamed dumplings.
- Sodium is high: most savory items carry 300-600 mg per 100 g.
Dim sum calories chart
Steamed dim sum
| Dish | Calories per 100 g | Protein (g) | Fat (g) | Sodium (mg) | Per 25 g piece (calories) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steamed rice roll with shrimp (har cheung fun) | 100 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 150 | n/a (sold as rolls) |
| Steamed rice roll with beef | 100-120 | 2.6-2.8 | 3.5-4.1 | 150-160 | n/a |
| Steamed rice roll with barbecued pork | 140-150 | 5.1-5.8 | 4.8-5.7 | 180-410 | n/a |
| Steamed vegetarian dumpling | 110 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 360 | 28 |
| Steamed spinach dumpling | 120 | 2.3 | 4.1 | 290 | 30 |
| Chiuchow-style dumpling (fun gor) | 150 | 3.1 | 5.7 | 360 | 38 |
| Har gow (shrimp dumpling) | 150-160 | 6.7 | 6.2-6.7 | 400-430 | 38-40 |
| Siu mai (shrimp and pork) | 170-200 | 11 | 9.3-13 | 560-590 | 42-50 |
| Steamed chicken feet, black bean sauce | 190 | 15 | 13 | 620 | n/a |
| Sticky rice in lotus leaf (lo mai gai) | 190-210 | 6.3-7.6 | 5.4-6.7 | 420 | n/a |
| Steamed pork ribs, black bean sauce | 220 | 14 | 15 | 570 | n/a |
| Shanghai-style pork dumpling | 230 | 9 | 14 | 390 | 58 |
| Steamed barbecued pork bun (char siu bao) | 240-260 | 7.3-7.4 | 6.1-7.3 | 290-320 | n/a |
| Steamed custard bun (nai wong bao) | 250 | 4.3 | 6.4 | 100 | n/a |
| Steamed beancurd sheet roll | 260 | 11 | 22 | 440 | n/a |
Where two values are shown, the lab tested the dish twice (an older sample and a 2021 sample).
Pan-fried dim sum
| Dish | Calories per 100 g | Fat (g) | Sodium (mg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steamed turnip cake (for comparison) | 87 | 3.6 | 430 |
| Pan-fried turnip cake (lo bak go) | 130 | 5.7-5.8 | 380-540 |
| Pan-fried rice flour roll | 140 | 4.4 | 190 |
| Pan-fried taro cake | 160 | 7.4 | 460 |
| Pan-fried pork bun | 240 | 11 | 250 |
| Pan-fried pork dumpling (potsticker) | 280 | 18 | 340 |
| Pan-fried beancurd sheet roll | 300-310 | 25-26 | 520-600 |
Deep-fried dim sum
| Dish | Calories per 100 g | Fat (g) | Sodium (mg) | Per 25 g piece (calories) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep-fried prawn dumpling | 260 | 17 | 590 | 65 |
| Spring roll | 320 | 21 | 500 | 80 |
| Deep-fried meat dumpling (ham sui gok) | 330 | 16 | 230 | 83 |
| Spring roll with shrimp | 340 | 23 | 480 | 85 |
| Deep-fried taro dumpling (wu gok) | 360 | 27 | 370 | 90 |
| Deep-fried wonton | 420 | 29 | 440 | 105 |
| Barbecued pork puff pastry | 430 | 29 | 320 | n/a |
Har gow, siu mai and char siu bao calories
Har gow
Har gow is shrimp wrapped in a thin wheat starch dough and steamed. The lab samples came in at 150-160 calories, 6.7 g protein and about 400-430 mg sodium per 100 g. At 25 g a piece, a basket of four is about 160 calories and 7 g of protein, which makes it an easy pick if you're counting.
Siu mai
Siu mai is an open-topped dumpling of pork and shrimp. It's denser than har gow at 170-200 calories per 100 g, but it also has more protein (11 g per 100 g) because the filling is mostly meat. A basket of four 25 g pieces is roughly 170-200 calories.
Char siu bao
The steamed barbecued pork bun is mostly fluffy dough with a sweet filling: 240-260 calories, 7.3 g protein and 39-42 g carbs per 100 g, including about 13-14 g of sugars. USDA counts a bao bun as 100 g, so a large bun lands around 250 calories. Restaurant buns vary in size, so weigh one if you eat them often.
Steamed vs fried dim sum
Cooking method matters more than filling. Steamed dumplings in the lab data range from 110 to 230 calories per 100 g, while deep-fried items range from 260 to 430. Compare the two shrimp dumplings: steamed har gow has 150-160 calories per 100 g and the deep-fried prawn dumpling has 260, with about two and a half times the fat (17 g vs 6.2-6.7 g).
Pan-fried items sit in between. Turnip cake stays fairly light (130 per 100 g) because it's mostly radish and rice flour, while pan-fried potstickers reach 280.
How many calories are in a dim sum meal?
Here is a typical shared order, worked out at 100 g (3.5 oz) per person of each dish:
| Dish (100 g each) | Calories | Sodium (mg) |
|---|---|---|
| Har gow | 160 | 400 |
| Siu mai | 200 | 560 |
| Steamed rice roll with shrimp | 100 | 150 |
| Pan-fried turnip cake | 130 | 540 |
| Steamed barbecued pork bun | 260 | 290 |
| Sticky rice in lotus leaf | 210 | 420 |
| Total, 600 g (1.3 lb) | 1,060 | 2,360 |
A lighter version swaps siu mai for steamed vegetarian dumplings, picks steamed turnip cake and skips the sticky rice: har gow 160, vegetarian dumplings 110, shrimp rice roll 100, steamed turnip cake 87 and the pork bun 260. That's 717 calories for 500 g, with about 1,630 mg sodium.
Adding one deep-fried basket changes the math fast. 100 g of fried taro dumplings is 360 calories, about the same as nine har gow.
Dim sum desserts
| Dessert | Calories per 100 g | Sugars (g) |
|---|---|---|
| Mango pudding | 92 | 13 |
| Sweet soup with black sesame rice balls | 150 | 9.6 |
| Glutinous rice balls with peanut and sesame | 240 | 6.9 |
| Steamed custard bun | 250 | 28 |
| Steamed lotus seed paste bun | 300 | 21 |
| Egg tart (Hong Kong style) | 310 | 15 |
| Portuguese egg tart | 370 | 9.9 |
Egg tarts are the densest common dessert because of the pastry shell. Mango pudding is the lightest by weight.
Sodium, sauces and tea
Most savory dim sum carries 300-600 mg of sodium per 100 g, and the example meal above reaches about 2,360 mg before any dipping sauce. The Daily Value for sodium is 2,300 mg.
- Soy sauce: about 880 mg sodium per tablespoon (16 g), with only 8 calories.
- Hoisin: about 35 calories and 260 mg sodium per tablespoon.
- Chili oil: mostly oil, so treat each tablespoon like oil (about 120 calories).
- Tea: plain brewed oolong, jasmine or pu-erh is close to zero calories.
If you're cutting sodium, dip lightly and lean on vinegar and chili rather than soy sauce. For a full takeout menu beyond dim sum, see our Chinese food calories guide. If the meal comes with bubble tea, our bubble tea calories guide covers the drink.
How to log dim sum
- Count pieces, not baskets. Baskets hold three or four pieces depending on the restaurant.
- For dumplings, use about 25 g per piece unless you've weighed one.
- Log buns and sticky rice by weight; they vary the most.
- Note any fried baskets separately, since they move the total most.
Set your daily budget first with the calorie deficit calculator. Photo logging helps with a shared table; our guide to tracking restaurant meals with AI explains how it handles several dishes in one shot. Nutrify, the app we make, can log a meal from a photo or a typed description; it has a 7-day free trial, then a paid subscription. If you eat dim sum with plain rice or congee, calories in a bowl of rice has the numbers by bowl size.
Sources
- Centre for Food Safety, Hong Kong, Nutrient Information Inquiry System, Food Research Laboratory nutrient profiles, per 100 g (Chinese dim sum, desserts, and cakes and pastries subgroups), checked October 26, 2026.
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS piece weights: wonton, dumpling or pot sticker, steamed, FDC 2708708, fried, FDC 2708705, bao bun, FDC 2708724.
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: soy sauce, FDC 174277, hoisin sauce, FDC 172886, oolong tea, brewed, FDC 174120, olive oil, FDC 171413.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Sodium in Your Diet.
