Basil Water Calories and Nutrition

Plain basil water has an estimated 0–1 kcal per 250 ml when made with about 5 g of fresh basil per 1 litre of water and served without leaves or sweeteners. Use the ai nutrition analyzer to estimate calories if you add other ingredients. The estimate depends on how much basil you use, whether you eat the leaves and what else goes into the glass. See the basil water guide for more on the drink.

How many calories are in basil water?

The 0–1 kcal estimate applies to fresh basil leaves steeped in water and then strained out. It is not a measured USDA value for basil water: the amount of material that passes from the leaves into the water is unknown. Using more basil or steeping it differently could change the result.

A whole-leaf calculation provides a reference. USDA FoodData Central lists fresh basil at 23 kcal per 100 g. At that rate, the 5 g of leaves used for a 1-litre batch contain about 1.15 kcal in total, or about 0.29 kcal per 250 ml if divided equally among four servings.

That calculation describes the whole leaves, not the strained drink. Some material may enter the water during steeping, but the leaves you remove still contain part of their original material. The amount transferred has not been measured for this preparation.

If you eat the leaves, their calories count too. As an approximation, count the whole leaves you consume rather than adding their full calorie value on top of an estimated infusion value, which could count some material twice.

Sweeteners and other calorie-containing additions can change the total more than a few basil leaves. For a homemade batch, account for each addition and divide its calories by the number of servings. For packaged basil water, use the product’s label and check how its serving size compares with your glass.

What are the nutrition facts per 250 ml?

USDA FoodData Central provides data for fresh basil, not for this strained basil water. The table therefore compares the estimated drink calories with the calculated nutrients in the whole basil leaves allocated to one 250 ml serving. Nutrient amounts in the infused water itself have not been measured.

The whole-leaf figures are scaled from USDA FoodData Central’s “Basil, fresh” entry, FDC ID 172232. The 1.25 g portion represents one quarter of the 5 g of basil used in the example batch. It does not mean that all those nutrients are present in a strained glass.

Water can also contain minerals, with amounts depending on its source. Without a measured value for the finished drink, the table cannot establish how much of any listed nutrient a particular glass supplies.

Basil water is primarily a way to add flavor to water, rather than a dependable source of vitamins or minerals. If you track nutrients, use the values for leaves you actually eat and avoid counting the whole-leaf figures as though they were all in the infusion.

How does basil water compare with juice or soda?

Unsweetened basil water is generally lower in calories than juice or regular soda, which contain sugars. Its own calorie count changes if you add a sweetener or another calorie-containing ingredient.

To compare a bottled basil water with any other drink, check the calories on each label for the same volume. Also check the ingredient list: a product described as basil-flavored may include additions that are not part of the plain, strained infusion used for the estimate above.