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Calories · Thai & Vietnamese

Calories in larb

A typical restaurant serving of larb (one plate of larb (about 200 g): minced meat tossed with lime, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and toasted rice powder, about 200 g) is about 240 calories, usually 180–400.

Restaurant portions vary; this is a typical estimate, not a label. Also called laab, laap, larb moo, larb gai, Thai meat salad.

~240
Larb

The usual range

Drawn on one 0–2,000 scale shared by every dish page, so plates compare at a glance.

Protein, carbs and fat

  • Protein25 g
  • Carbs16 g
  • Fat9 g

One serving

Serving
one plate of larb (about 200 g): minced meat tossed with lime, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and toasted rice powder
Weight
~200 g
Per 100 g
~122

The dish

About larb

Larb is the minced meat salad of Isan and Laos: pork, chicken or beef cooked quickly, then tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, dried chilli, shallots, mint and toasted ground rice, and eaten with sticky rice and raw vegetables. On its own it is a light, protein-heavy plate. Numbers from Mahidol University’s Thai food tables for northeastern beef larb (122 per 100 g) and steamed sticky rice, for a 200 g plate; the plate weight is our estimate.

Ways it comes

One dish, a few numbers

Larb · rough numbers

  • With a portion of sticky rice (100 g)~480

What moves the number

Why one plate is 180 and another 400

  • The meat: fattier minced pork runs higher than lean beef or chicken
  • Sticky rice on the side, about 230 per 100 g
  • Pork crackling or fried toppings
  • Sugar in some restaurant dressings

Ordering lighter

If you want a lighter plate

  • Pick chicken (larb gai)
  • Eat it with cabbage and herbs instead of a lot of sticky rice
  • Ask for no crackling

Side by side

Next to other Thai & Vietnamese dishes

Thai & Vietnamese · typical restaurant servingAll about Thai & Vietnamese food →

  • Tom yum~160one bowl of clear shrimp tom yum with broth, rice not included · usually 100–350
  • Som tam~210one plate of som tam Thai: pounded green papaya with dried shrimp, peanuts, tomato and palm sugar dressing · usually 60–350
  • Larb~240one plate of larb (about 200 g): minced meat tossed with lime, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and toasted rice powder · usually 180–400
  • Thai milk tea~280one regular cup (400 ml) of Thai milk tea over ice, sweetened with sugar and milk or creamer · usually 150–400
  • Fresh spring rolls~300about three rice-paper rolls with vegetables and meat, dipping sauce not included · usually 200–400
  • Tom kha gai~370one bowl of tom kha gai: chicken, galangal, lemongrass and mushrooms in coconut milk broth · usually 250–550
  • Pho~440one medium bowl with broth · usually 330–650
  • Mango sticky rice~490one plate of sticky rice, sweet coconut sauce and half a mango · usually 380–650
  • Khao pad (Thai fried rice)~500one plate of khao pad: jasmine rice fried with pork, egg, onion and tomato, with lime and cucumber · usually 400–750
  • Boat noodles~530one full-size bowl of pork boat noodles with meatballs and rice noodles in dark spiced broth · usually 380–940
  • Bánh mì~550one mixed-pork bánh mì on an 80 g roll · usually 400–750
  • Moo ping~560three moo ping skewers (about 120 g of pork) with a bag of sticky rice (100 g) · usually 400–750

In PlateDiary

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

Off unless you turn them on

Calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and, when PlateDiary AI reads your photo of the table, each dish gets one rough “~” number. Accept it or change it; a number you correct is remembered for that dish. With Calories off, the app looks exactly as it did before.

A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes, with the place's name as a hint — never the table photo, faces or your location. Calorie numbers never go to analytics, and nothing is written to a health app. PlateDiary AI starts with free tries; here is how it works.

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How these numbers were made

Method and sources

Last reviewed

Restaurant portions and cooking vary, so these are typical estimates for one serving, built from the sources below. Treat it as a rough number: your plate may land anywhere in the range.

If you manage a health condition, ask a doctor or registered dietitian.

AI helped draft this page; every number was checked against the sources.

  1. Thai Food Composition Database (INMU, Mahidol University) — Meat salad, northeastern style, Lab-nhua (food ID 1508); Rice, glutinous, polished, steamed (food ID 149)

Questions

Questions people ask.

How many calories are in larb?

A typical restaurant serving of larb (one plate of larb (about 200 g): minced meat tossed with lime, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and toasted rice powder, about 200 g) is about 240 calories, usually 180–400. The number depends mostly on the portion and how it is cooked.

How many calories in larb?

About 240 for a 200 g plate, at about 120 per 100 g.

How many calories in larb with sticky rice?

About 480 with a 100 g portion of sticky rice.

Is larb healthy?

It is one of the leanest Thai dishes: mostly meat, herbs and lime, with no coconut milk. The sticky rice is where most of the meal’s calories come from.

What changes the calories in larb?

The meat: fattier minced pork runs higher than lean beef or chicken. Sticky rice on the side, about 230 per 100 g.

How can I order larb lighter?

Pick chicken (larb gai). Eat it with cabbage and herbs instead of a lot of sticky rice.

Can PlateDiary show calories for the dishes I eat out?

Yes, if you want it to: calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and each dish you save from a photo of the table gets one rough “~” number you can accept or change.