Calories in Pizza: Per Slice, Whole Pizza and by Type

Pizza is one of the hardest foods to log, because “a pizza” can mean a 460 g Neapolitan Margherita or a 900 g American pie loaded with cheese. The good news: once you know the weight of what’s on your plate, the math is simple.

A slice of large cheese pizza has about 285 calories, a slice of pepperoni about 315, and a whole Neapolitan Margherita about 1,080 calories. Per 100 g, most pizzas land between 230 and 300 kcal. Here’s how crust, toppings and size change the numbers.

Calories in a slice of pizza

These values are for a large 14 inch (35 cm) pizza from a pizza chain, cut into 8 slices, from USDA FoodData Central.

Pizza (14 in, 8 slices)	Weight per slice	Calories per slice	Per 100 g
Cheese, thin crust	76 g (2.7 oz)	about 230 kcal	302 kcal
Cheese, regular crust	107 g (3.8 oz)	about 285 kcal	266 kcal
Cheese, thick crust	115 g (4.1 oz)	about 310 kcal	271 kcal
Pepperoni, regular crust	111 g (3.9 oz)	about 315 kcal	282 kcal
Meat and vegetables, regular crust	136 g (4.8 oz)	about 330 kcal	244 kcal

Two things stand out. First, the topping changes the calories per slice less than you might think: the crust and the size of the slice matter just as much. Second, a “slice” is not a unit. A slice from a 12 inch pizza is smaller, and a slice cut into 6 instead of 8 is a third bigger.

Calories in a whole pizza

Whole pizza	Weight	Calories
Neapolitan Margherita (Italian pizzeria)	about 460 g (16 oz)	about 1,080 kcal
Cheese, thin crust, 14 in	590 g (21 oz)	about 1,780 kcal
Cheese, regular crust, 14 in	853 g (30 oz)	about 2,270 kcal
Cheese, thick crust, 14 in	922 g (33 oz)	about 2,500 kcal
Pepperoni, regular crust, 14 in	895 g (32 oz)	about 2,520 kcal
Meat and vegetables, regular crust, 14 in	1,168 g (41 oz)	about 2,850 kcal

The Margherita figure comes from the Italian food composition tables (CREA), which analyzed 10 Margherita pizzas from 5 pizzerias in Naples. It’s a single-serving pizza of about 35 cm (14 in) with a thin center and a soft rim, so it weighs much less than an American pie of the same diameter.

Margherita nutrition facts

What’s inside a whole Neapolitan Margherita (about 460 g), according to CREA:

Nutrient	Whole pizza	Per 100 g
Calories	1,084 kcal	235 kcal
Carbohydrates	127 g	27 g
Protein	49 g	11 g
Fat	43 g	9 g
Fiber	12.5 g	2.7 g
Sodium	3,068 mg (about 7.7 g of salt)	664 mg

The protein is a nice surprise: 49 g for the whole pizza, mostly from the mozzarella and the flour. To see how this fits your own targets, try the macro calculator, or read what macros are for the basics.

The salt is the catch. The WHO recommends less than 5 g of salt a day for adults. A whole Margherita alone has about 7.7 g.

Does the crust or topping matter more?

Both matter, but not always the way people expect.

• Thin crust has fewer calories per slice, because the slice weighs less. Per 100 g it’s actually higher (302 versus 266 kcal), because there’s less dough and proportionally more cheese and fat.
• Thick and pan crusts add dough and often oil, so a slice is heavier and higher in calories.
• Pepperoni and sausage add fat: about 30 kcal more per slice than plain cheese on the same crust.
• Vegetables lower the calories per 100 g (they’re mostly water), but they add weight, so a veggie slice is not automatically lighter.
• Extra cheese, stuffed crust and dipping sauces are where calories climb fastest.

If you want the lowest-calorie option, a simple tomato and mozzarella pizza with a thin center, like a Neapolitan Margherita, is hard to beat at about 235 kcal per 100 g.

How pizza fits into a calorie deficit

Pizza isn’t fattening on its own. It’s just very easy to eat a lot of it quickly. A study of US national survey data found that on days when teenagers ate pizza, they took in about 230 kcal more in total than on days without pizza, and the effect was biggest when pizza was a snack or came from a fast-food restaurant.

Worked example. Say your target is 1,900 kcal a day (find yours with the calorie calculator).

Pizza night option	Calories	Share of 1,900 kcal
Whole Neapolitan Margherita	about 1,080 kcal	57%
3 slices of large pepperoni pizza	about 940 kcal	49%
Half a Margherita (salad on the side not included)	about 540 kcal	29%
2 slices of large thin crust cheese pizza	about 460 kcal	24%

A whole Margherita works if the rest of your day is light: a protein-rich breakfast and lunch, with plenty of vegetables. Sharing a pizza and adding a big salad or vegetable side gives you volume for far fewer calories. Chain slices add up fast once you add garlic bread, dips and a soft drink, so count those too. If you’re aiming for steady weight loss, our guide to what a calorie deficit is shows how one meal fits into the week.

How to log pizza accurately

• Weigh one slice the first time and multiply by the calories per 100 g from the tables above. You’ll learn what a “normal” slice looks like.
• Count slices, not “some pizza”. Note the size of the pizza and how many slices it was cut into.
• Log the extras: garlic dips, chili oil, breadsticks and drinks.
• Log it even when it’s a “bad” day. A food diary with gaps tells you very little.

With BananaCal you can take a photo of your pizza and get an estimate of calories and macros in seconds, then adjust the portion if you ate only part of it.

Summary

• A slice of large cheese pizza: about 285 kcal. Pepperoni: about 315 kcal. Thin crust: about 230 kcal.
• A whole Neapolitan Margherita: about 1,080 kcal. A large 14 inch chain pizza: about 2,270 to 2,850 kcal.
• Most pizzas have 230 to 300 kcal per 100 g.
• Slice size and crust matter as much as the topping.
• Watch the salt: a whole Margherita has more than the WHO daily limit.
• Pizza fits in a weight loss plan when you log it honestly and plan the rest of the day around it.