High Calorie Snacks: Ranked by Calories Per Bite

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026.

The highest calorie snacks are nuts, chocolate and nut butters. Macadamia nuts carry 7.2 calories per gram, pecans 6.9, and dark chocolate and peanut butter about 6, so a 40g handful of macadamias gives about 290 calories. Crisps, flapjacks and cereal bars sit lower, at about 3.5 to 5 calories per gram.

A rice cake is 35 calories. A tablespoon of peanut butter is 94. They take about the same time to eat, and only one of them makes a real difference to your day. That gap is what this page is about: which ready-to-eat snacks give you the most for each bite, and how much of each makes a proper snack.

Calories per gram is the number I designed Phoenix Bars around, so it is the number I rank by here. For cooking ingredients as well as snacks (oils, butter, cream), see the full list of calorie-dense foods. If you fill up quickly, high calorie low volume foods ranks food by the spoonful instead.

How do you compare snacks by calories?

Divide the calories by the weight. Calories per gram tells you how much a snack gives you for its size, which is the closest thing to calories per bite that a label can show.

For scale: raw vegetables sit around 0.15 to 0.4 calories per gram, bread about 2.4, chocolate 5.2 to 6.0 and olive oil 8.8. Pure fat is the ceiling, at 9. Anything above 4 calories per gram is calorie dense, and only nuts, seeds, chocolate and a few fried snacks get past 5. Cereal bars in the UK tables sit at 3.5 to 4.4, and a Phoenix Bar at 4.4 to 4.6.

A worked example: a 40g cereal bar with 150 calories is 3.75 calories per gram (150 divided by 40). A 30g handful of macadamias, at 7.2 per gram, is 215 calories. The nuts weigh 10g less and give you 65 calories more.

High calorie snacks ranked by calories per gram

Each snack shows calories per gram, then a realistic portion. Nuts, chocolate, rice cakes, dried mango and croissants use USDA FoodData Central; British snacks such as flapjacks, sausage rolls, pork pies, crisps, Bombay mix, Cheddar, scones and hummus use the UK's McCance and Widdowson tables. Portions follow the West Suffolk NHS snack leaflet wherever it gives one.

Top tier: 5 calories per gram and above

• Macadamia nuts: 7.2 cal/g. A 40g handful is about 290 calories, and they are softer than almonds, which helps if chewing is hard work.
• Pecans: 6.9 cal/g. A 40g handful is about 275 calories.
• Roasted salted peanuts: 6.0 cal/g. A 50g bag is about 300 calories. My guide to cheap high calorie foods prices peanuts and other staples per 100 calories.
• Dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more): 6.0 cal/g. Five small chunks (25g) are about 150 calories.
• Peanut butter: 5.9 cal/g. Two tablespoons (32g) are 188 calories, on toast, on a banana or straight from the jar.
• Milk chocolate: 5.4 cal/g. A 45g bar is about 240 calories.
• Bombay mix: 5.0 cal/g. A 35g portion is about 175 calories.

High tier: 4 to 5 calories per gram

• Crisps: 4.9 cal/g. A small 25g packet is about 125 calories, so two packets make a proper snack.
• Trail mix: 4.3 to 4.8 cal/g, depending on how much dried fruit is in it. 50g is 215 to 240 calories, and homemade trail mix lets you push the nuts and chocolate up and the fruit down.
• Flapjack: 4.3 cal/g shop-bought, 4.6 homemade. A 75g shop flapjack is about 325 calories.
• Phoenix Bars: 4.4 to 4.6 cal/g. One compact 120g bar carries up to 557 calories and can be eaten whole, in pieces across the day or stirred into porridge.
• Cheddar: 4.2 cal/g. A 40g piece is about 165 calories, and hard cheese is on our list of the best camping snacks.
• Croissant: 4.1 cal/g. A medium croissant (57g) is about 230 calories. It was also the least filling food per calorie in the 1995 Satiety Index study.
• Sausage roll: 4.0 cal/g. A medium 60g sausage roll is about 235 calories.

Mid tier: 2.5 to 4 calories per gram

• Rice cakes: 3.9 cal/g, but one cake weighs 9g, so it is only 35 calories. It takes eight rice cakes to match a 40g handful of macadamias.
• Pork pie: 3.7 cal/g. A 65g snack-sized pie is about 240 calories.
• Scone: 3.5 cal/g plain. With jam and clotted cream, Kent Community Health NHS puts one in its 350 to 500 calorie snack band.
• Dried mango: 3.2 cal/g. A 60g bag is about 190 calories, against about 60 for 100g of fresh mango.
• Hummus: 3.1 cal/g. With a pitta it lands in the same NHS leaflet's 200 to 350 calorie band.

Low tier: under 2.5 calories per gram

• Full-fat Greek-style yoghurt: 1.3 cal/g. A 150g pot is about 200 calories; a tablespoon of honey and one of mixed seeds take it to about 320.
• Banana: 0.9 cal/g. A medium banana is about 105 calories: good with peanut butter, thin on its own.
• Vegetable sticks: 0.15 to 0.4 cal/g. If you like them with hummus, keep the sticks few and the hummus generous, because the hummus does almost all the work.

What is a 500 calorie snack?

A 500-calorie snack is usually two snack items together, or one dense item plus a glass of milk. Some UK examples, with the working:

• A 50g bag of roasted salted peanuts (301) and a 45g bar of milk chocolate (241): about 540 calories.
• Two slices of wholemeal toast (174) with butter (74) and two tablespoons of peanut butter (188): about 435 calories, or about 560 with a 200ml glass of whole milk.
• A 75g shop flapjack (325) and a 200ml glass of whole milk (126): about 450 calories.
• A 150g pot of full-fat Greek-style yoghurt (200) with 50g of granola (225) and a tablespoon of honey (64): about 490 calories.

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust lists more ideas in its 350 to 500 calorie band, from a bagel with two tablespoons of peanut butter to two slices of cheese on toast.

How do you build a high calorie snacking routine?

Keep snacks where you can see them, eat them at regular times between meals, and rotate what you eat. NHS dietitians at West Suffolk suggest three small meals and three small snacks a day, keeping snacks in sight as a reminder and carrying one when you go out.

Keeping food within reach does the most. On the desk, in the bag, on the bedside table, in the car: if you have to go and find food, you often will not. This is especially true when appetite comes and goes, because when a window of wanting to eat opens, food that is already there gets eaten. For more on this, see why do I get full so fast?

Variety helps more than people expect. The same snack every day for two weeks gets hard to face. Rotating three or four snacks across a week (trail mix, cheese and crackers, peanut butter on a banana, a bar) keeps the calories similar and the experience different.

Take the decisions out. One simple way is a snack box: at the start of the week, fill a container with a portioned snack for each day, so between meals you open it and eat what is there, with no choosing and no preparing.

Which snacks suit weight gain, endurance or a small appetite?

The best high calorie snack depends on why you need it.

To gain weight, the NHS suggests smaller meals more often with snacks in between, and adding around 300 to 500 calories a day, gradually. Two snacks of 200 to 250 calories between meals cover that on their own. Nuts, nut butters, cheese, chocolate, dried fruit and high calorie bars for weight gain make the core, and high calorie drinks add more without much fullness. I've compared the realistic options in energy bars for weight gain.

For endurance training or expeditions, the priority shifts to calories per gram of pack weight. Every gram you carry costs effort, which is why nuts, nut butters, chocolate and compact bars are the usual choices on multi-day routes. For whole-day fuelling plans, see the ultra-endurance and expedition nutrition guide. For snacks timed around a walk, ride or run, see my high energy snacks guide.

If your appetite varies, keep both savoury (cheese, crackers, nuts) and sweet (chocolate, dried fruit, flapjack) within reach, so you can match the snack to what you can face that day. Softer options are in soft high-calorie foods.

Are high calorie snacks healthy?

Many are. Nuts, seeds, nut butters, cheese, full-fat yoghurt and dried fruit bring protein, fibre and minerals along with their calories, which crisps and sweets mostly do not. The catch is that most snacking advice online is written for people eating less: carrot sticks, low-fat versions, small portions. The West Suffolk NHS leaflet for people who need more calories says the opposite, and advises against low-calorie options such as plain vegetable sticks, plain fruit or low-fat products unless they come with something energy-dense.

If you have lost weight suddenly or without trying, the NHS advises speaking to a GP. If you are unsure whether eating more is right for you, a GP or registered dietitian can give personal advice.

Bars are one of the easiest high calorie snacks to carry, so I've also ranked the highest calorie bars in the UK by calories per bar.

How customers use Phoenix Bars as a snack

"They worked really well broken off into little chunks." Kate Allen, July 2024

"They also help me stop buying service station food." Simon Adams, ultra runner and lorry driver, May 2026

Frequently asked questions

What are the highest calorie snacks?

The highest calorie snacks per gram are macadamia nuts (7.2 cal/g), pecans (6.9 cal/g), roasted peanuts and dark chocolate (6.0 cal/g), and peanut butter (5.9 cal/g). For a single-item snack with the highest total calories, a Phoenix Bar provides up to 557 calories in just one compact 120g bar, and a 50g bag of salted peanuts about 300.

How many calories should a snack have?

If you are trying to gain or hold weight, aim for 200 to 500 calories per snack. NHS dietetic leaflets such as Kent Community Health's group snack ideas into 200 to 350 and 350 to 500 calorie bands. By that measure 190 calories is a light snack and 480 a substantial one. If you are not trying to eat more, smaller is fine.

What snack is 1,000 calories?

Few single snacks get there. 100g of roasted salted peanuts (602) with a pint of whole milk (358) comes to about 960 calories. For most people 1,000 calories is a meal, and it is easier split into two or three snacks across an afternoon than eaten in one go; the 1,000 calorie meals guide has whole-meal versions.

What high calorie snacks do not need refrigeration?

Nuts, dried fruit, nut butters, dark chocolate, crisps, Bombay mix, oatcakes, flapjacks and cereal bars all keep at room temperature, as do Phoenix Bars, which have a shelf life of up to two years. They are also the easiest snacks to keep in a bag, a desk drawer or by the bed.

Which junk food has the most calories?

Per 100g, the densest everyday junk food is milk chocolate (519 to 535 calories), then Bombay mix (503), crisps (493) and chocolate digestives (488). None of them beats nuts: macadamias are 718 and roasted salted peanuts 602, which is why a bag of nuts is the better buy if calories are the point.