Indian takeaway calories, curry, rice and the bread bag.

How it adds up

Curry, rice, bread — count all three.

Count an Indian takeaway in three parts: your share of the curries, your rice, and your bread. The bread is the one people forget — a whole restaurant naan is about 550 calories, as much as a curry. Starters (samosas, bhajis, poppadoms) are a fourth part if you order them.

Biryani is the exception: rice and meat in one pot, so it is a whole meal on its own.

The menu, roughly

Indian takeaway calories by dish.

Each dish links to its own page, with the usual range, what pushes it up and the sources behind it.

Put together

Curry with rice and naan.

These are sums of single-dish estimates, so read them as rough. Restaurant portions vary, and takeaway rice tubs are often more than a level cup.

• Butter chicken with rice and naan: about 790 with a cup of rice; add a quarter of a naan (about 140) for roughly 930, or a whole naan (about 550) for roughly 1,350.
• Chicken korma with rice: about 440 + 210, so roughly 650 — more if the korma is a rich restaurant one.
• Chicken tikka masala with rice and a naan: about 1,100.
• A night for two: a chicken tikka masala curry, a lamb rogan josh, two cups of rice, one naan and two samosas is about 540 + 520 + 420 + 550 + 620 = 2,650 — roughly 1,325 each if you split everything evenly.

The korma question

Is korma the lightest curry?

Not always. Korma is mild, not light: its sauce is built on cream, yogurt and ground nuts, and British-style kormas are often sweetened. Our korma figure (about 440) is a home-style value; restaurant kormas made with more cream and nuts reach about 900, past a tikka masala curry. Tomato-based and lentil dishes, and tandoori from the grill, are the steadier lighter choices.

No number yet

Takeaway favourites we don’t have a number for.

We only quote numbers with a proper source behind them, so these have no figure here yet:

• Pilau rice: cooked with oil or ghee, so it runs higher than plain rice.
• Onion bhajis and pakoras: battered and deep-fried, like samosas.
• Poppadoms and the chutney tray: fried crisps plus sweet mango chutney; easy to finish before the mains arrive.
• Peshwari or cheese naan: a filled naan, richer than plain.
• Jalfrezi, madras and saag dishes: oil-based rather than creamy; expect them nearer vindaloo and rogan josh than a creamy korma.

Portions vary

Where the number moves most.

• The bread. A whole naan is about 550; a quarter is about 140. Sharing one naan between four changes a lot.
• Cream and ghee. Restaurants finish sauces richer than home cooks, especially kormas and makhani dishes.
• Rice. Plain rice is about 210 a level cup; takeaway tubs usually hold more, and pilau runs higher.
• Starters. Two samosas are about 620 — a meal’s worth before the curry.
• Biryani size. A takeaway biryani is often enough for two.

Lighter orders

If you want a lighter takeaway.

• Tandoori chicken from the grill instead of a creamy curry.
• Dal or a tomato-based curry instead of korma or butter chicken.
• Plain rice instead of pilau, and one naan shared.
• Raita and salad on the side instead of a second starter.

At home

One photo of the tubs.

Calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. With them on, snap the spread and each tub becomes its own save; a PlateDiary AI read gives each dish one rough “~” number, and you can edit it to your share — half the naan, a spoonful of each curry — or type your own number on any save without AI. See how the calorie counter works. Restaurant and takeaway portions vary, so treat every number here as rough, and check with a doctor for medical guidance.

In PlateDiary

A rough number for the dishes you save — only if you want one.

Sources

Where the facts come from