Group · Seafood
Squid (calamari)
Squid (calamari) are cephalopods of which we eat the mantle, the tube-shaped body, and the tentacles. Their firm white flesh suits frying, the plancha and slow-cooked dishes, provided you follow one particular cooking rule.
On the nutrition side, boiled squid provides 149 kcal per 100 g for 32.5 g of protein, one of the highest levels in the entire database, and only 1.4 g of fat. It provides 5.77 mg of iron, 180 mg of calcium, 637 mg of potassium and 5.4 µg of vitamin B12 per 100 g.
Macronutrient breakdown
Nutrition table per 100 g
| Calories | 149 kcal |
| Kilojoules | 632 kJ |
| Protein | 32,5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 1,7 g |
| Fat | 1,4 g |
Micronutrients per 100 g
All measured nutrients, ranked by share of the daily reference intake.
- Vitamin B125,4 µg216 %
- Vitamin B21,73 mg124 %
- Copper1 mg100 %
- DHA0,13 g52 %
- Iron5,77 mg41 %
- Zinc3,46 mg35 %
- Potassium637 mg32 %
- EPA0,08 g31 %
See the other 10 nutrients
- Calcium180 mg23 %
- Vitamin B60,27 mg19 %
- Magnesium60 mg16 %
- Vitamin B50,9 mg15 %
- Vitamin B32,19 mg14 %
- Vitamin B924 µg12 %
- Vitamin C8,5 mg11 %
- Manganese0,21 mg11 %
- Total omega-30,21 g8 %
- Vitamin B10,02 mg2 %
Anses Ciqual 2025. Source: Anses, 2025, Ciqual food composition table
Tips
32.5 g of protein for 1.4 g of fat: that is remarkable. No meat reaches this ratio. With 5.77 mg of iron, which is 41% of the reference intake, squid is one of the best-endowed seafoods in the database.
Two minutes or thirty minutes, never in between. This is the cooking rule for cephalopods: seared very hot and taken off after two minutes, they stay tender; simmered for half an hour, the collagen turns to gelatine and they become soft again. In between, it is rubber.
Frying completely changes the food. Fried calamari have little to do with the 149 kcal on this page: the batter absorbs oil and can double or triple the total. Cooked on the plancha with lemon and garlic, they remain what they are.
224 mg of cholesterol: keep it in perspective. Dietary cholesterol has little influence on blood cholesterol in most people, and guidelines no longer set an upper limit. What matters more here is that squid contains almost no saturated fat.
1.86 g of salt: that is the cooking. A high figure for seafood, linked to the salted water. Cooked in unsalted water or on the plancha, it drops considerably. See salt.
Sources
Average nutrition values per 100 g, given as a guide only (they may vary by brand and preparation).