Rajgira nutrition per 100g: calories, protein, carbs and GI

The table gives rajgira nutrition per 100 g of raw amaranth seed as IFCT 2017 — the Indian Food Composition Tables of ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition — reports it, with whole wheat and quinoa from the same source, so the numbers carry context. Energy is 356 kcal, above whole wheat at 322 kcal and quinoa at 329 kcal; what separates the three is protein and the minerals.

Two reading notes. First, these numbers belong to the raw seed: cooked rajgira soaks up water and ends far heavier than the dry seed that went into the pot, so a 100 g scoop of the cooked grain carries only part of them; the portion section below works that out. Second, IFCT 2017 reports no figure at all for vitamin C in rajgira, so no vitamin C entry sits in the table above. Every number here is that table's value for the pale-brown seed Indian shops sell as rajgira.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). GI: University of Sydney GI database. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Nobody eats 100 g of dry seed. These are the portions an Indian kitchen actually serves, worked out from the values above: a rajgira roti is made from about 30 g of flour, and a katori of cooked rajgira from about 40 g of dry seed. The ghee on a roti, the oil in an upma and any jaggery or milk in a sweet are extras on top.

So a rajgira roti made from 30 g of flour carries about 107 kcal before any ghee, and two rotis 214 kcal. The rajgira roti recipe on this site works ghee into the dough and on top, which brings one finished roti to about 141 kcal. A katori of rajgira cooked from 40 g of dry seed, boiled the way rice is, lands at about 142 kcal with 5.3 g protein, and an upma portion built on the same 40 g starts at those 142 kcal before oil and vegetables join in. At the sweet end, one rajgira laddu from the site's recipe is about 118 kcal, most of its 6.8 g of fat coming from ghee. Rajgira beside kuttu and quinoa for anyone counting calories is on the rajgira for weight loss page.

Does rajgira have protein? Yes, and more of it than the cereal it most often replaces: 13.3 g per 100 g, against 10.6 g in whole wheat and 13.1 g in quinoa. A 2012 review in the Journal of Food Science (Caselato-Sousa and Amaya-Farfan) calls amaranth a highly nutritional pseudocereal and finds its amount of protein ahead of true cereals. One roti's 30 g of flour supplies about 4 g.

Fibre is the quieter line: 7.5 g per 100 g, below whole wheat's 11.2 g and about half of quinoa's 14.7 g. That still matters on a plate, because the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines describe fibre as the part that holds up carbohydrate and fat absorption and stretches the feeling of fullness. In plain terms, the 2.2 g of fibre in one roti or the 3 g in a katori is part of why the meal holds you. Fat sits at 5.6 g and carbohydrate at 61.5 g per 100 g, so rajgira is an energy food portioned like rice or wheat, not a free pass. What each of these nutrients does for the body, one by one, is on the rajgira benefits page.

Rajgira has no tested glycemic index, and this page gives none. The University of Sydney GI database records no value for plain amaranth grain. The entry the database does hold is popped amaranth tested with milk in India, at 97, and since that milk brings carbohydrate of its own, the reading cannot stand in for the plain grain, so no tested figure for plain rajgira is on record.

For context, the grains around rajgira are tested: whole wheat at 47 (an average of two India-tested entries) and quinoa at 52 (the mean of three entries for plain boiled quinoa), and on that Sydney scale a reading up to 55 sits in the low band. Where rajgira would land is unmeasured, so anyone who plans meals around GI has no amaranth figure to work from. The 2012 Journal of Food Science review, looking across the studies it gathered, ties amaranth instead to lower blood glucose levels, among other effects. For the meal itself the levers are the usual ones: a counted portion, with dal or curd beside it. With diabetes, ask your doctor or dietitian to set the portion.

Per 100 g, rajgira carries 8 mg iron, 162 mg calcium, 270 mg magnesium, 413 mg potassium, 2.5 mg zinc and 24.7 mcg folate (IFCT 2017). Against whole wheat's 4 mg iron and 39.4 mg calcium, that is about twice the iron and about four times the calcium; at 270 mg, magnesium runs at more than double wheat's 125 mg and quinoa's 119 mg. Quinoa answers back on calcium (198 mg) and folate (173 mcg), so neither pseudocereal wins the whole board.

Two practical notes on the iron. Plant iron is what it is, so the ICMR-NIN guidelines pair it with vitamin C foods — guava, pineapple or citrus, or a chutney of green chillies and coriander — and keep tea away from the hour around meals, since tea makes the iron in plant foods unavailable. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of amaranth-based food interventions (Yilma and colleagues, Public Health Reviews) found a positive but not statistically significant shift in haemoglobin across ten studies, and its authors ask for more research on iron bioavailability and the grain's phytic iron ratio. Sodium, at 2.8 mg per 100 g, is close to nothing: the salt in a rajgira dish is the salt the cook adds.

IFCT 2017's figures are for the whole pale-brown seed, and the other forms of rajgira are the same seed handled differently. Rajgira atta is the seed milled, so the flour carries the seed's numbers; a roti is just flour, water and a little ghee. Cooked rajgira is the seed boiled, which dilutes every nutrient by the water it takes up — count by dry weight, as the katori figures above do, and the numbers hold. Popped rajgira is the seed heated until it bursts, the form behind the GI 97 note above when it is eaten with milk.

How the dish is cooked changes the energy side. The ICMR-NIN guidelines' list of healthy methods is grilling, baking, steaming or sauteing with minimal oil instead of frying, which they say reduces the energy density of the meal; a fried rajgira puri or a ghee-rich sheera puts energy on top of the grain's own 356 kcal. The same guidelines put amaranth seeds in the set of foods with health promoting effects, in the company of fenugreek, flax, chia and basil seeds, and suggest eating that group at least three to four times each week — a handy rhythm for anyone asking how often rajgira belongs on the plate. For the dishes themselves, the amaranth recipes roundup collects roti, puri, sheera and laddu, and names, storage and buying notes for the grain sit on the rajgira hub.

What is rajgira?

Rajgira is amaranth — the tiny pale seed behind the name 'Amaranth seed, pale brown' in IFCT 2017, botanically Amaranthus cruentus. Per 100 g it gives 356 kcal, 13.3 g protein, 7.5 g fibre, 8 mg iron and 162 mg calcium. It is sold whole, milled as rajgira atta, or popped.

Does rajgira have protein?

Yes: 13.3 g per 100 g of raw rajgira (IFCT 2017), ahead of whole wheat's 10.6 g and level with quinoa's 13.1 g. A 2012 Journal of Food Science review calls amaranth a highly nutritional pseudocereal and finds a larger amount of protein in it than in true cereals. A roti made from 30 g of that flour supplies about 4 g of it.

What is rajgira atta?

Rajgira atta is amaranth flour — the pale-brown seed milled — and 'atta' is simply Hindi for flour. The flour carries the whole seed's IFCT 2017 numbers — 356 kcal and 13.3 g protein per 100 g — because nothing is removed in milling. It is the flour behind rajgira roti and rajgira laddu.

Is rajgira healthy?

It is a nutritious staple, not a medicine. What makes it so is the package that rides with its 356 kcal: 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g, with 8 mg iron, 162 mg calcium and 270 mg magnesium (IFCT 2017), and no gluten. Health comes from how it is used — a roti replacing refined flour in a counted portion, not an extra sweet laddu on top of the day.

Can rajgira be eaten in fast?

Yes. Rajgira is one of the flours Indian homes keep for vrat days, when wheat and rice step aside, and rajgira roti and rajgira laddu are both farali dishes. The same 30 g roti that gives 107 kcal on an ordinary day is the fast-day flatbread. This is kitchen practice rather than a nutrition rule; each fast draws its own allowed list.

Can rajgira cause constipation?

Not typically. Rajgira carries 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g, and the ICMR-NIN guidelines note that dietary fibre is important for proper bowel function and increases the bulk of the stools. Those are the guidelines' general fibre facts; they are not a test of rajgira alone.

Is rajgira good for weight loss?

It can help as a swap, not an extra. At 356 kcal per 100 g it is a dense grain, but the 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre ride along, and a roti made from 30 g of flour lands at about 107 kcal. The full arithmetic, rajgira against kuttu and quinoa, is on the rajgira for weight loss page.