When you are trying to lose weight, deciding whether to have a snack between meals can be difficult.
Sometimes a small but healthy 100 calorie snack is just enough to tide you over between meals so that you can keep your blood sugar levels balanced, your energy and mood regulated, and prevent a downward spiral into a place of insatiable hunger such that you overeat at your next meal.
In this article, we will briefly discuss the best food to include in your 100 calorie snacks and provide a list of the best 100 calorie snack ideas to help give you some low-calorie snack options.
We will look at:
- What Can You Eat for Under 100 Calories?
- What Are the Best 100 Calorie Snacks?
Let’s get started!
What Can You Eat for Under 100 Calories?
While there aren’t really any 100 calorie meals per se, there are plenty of foods under 100 calories and snacks under 100 calories you can create by combining low-calorie foods.
The other crucial piece of the puzzle when trying to put together snacks under 100 calories is not just choosing low-calorie foods but being very careful of your portion sizes.
Essentially, when people ask, “What foods are under 100 calories?” the real answer is that almost any food can be less than 100 calories if you eat a tiny serving.
For example, when people try to list the highest-calorie foods, they likely think of things such as butter, ice cream, peanut butter, etc.
While it is true that these foods are very calorically dense and contain the highest number of calories per serving if you tweak the serving size and have just a tiny bit, the portion of that food can have fewer than 100 calories.
Therefore, when people want to know which foods have less than 100 calories, they generally are looking for foods that are under 100 calories per serving as dictated by the USDA for that food type or by the serving size on the food package.
What Are the Best 100 Calorie Snacks?
When you want to have a snack under 100 calories, you don’t have very many calories to work with, as 100 calories of even the lowest calorie foods aren’t going to amount to a particularly sizable snack.
However, choosing high-volume, low-calorie foods like raw vegetables for 100 calorie snacks will allow you to “eat more“ in terms of the portion size of your snack relative to choosing a 100 calorie snack consisting of high-calorie foods like french fries or cheese.
With that said, even though you may not get a full serving size of some of the foods you include in a snack under 100 calories, adding a tiny bit of high-calorie foods like nut butter or cheese can actually increase the satiety of 100 calories snacks.
This will help you feel fuller for longer than if you have a full serving of empty calorie foods under 100 calories like fruit roll-ups, artificial fruit popsicles, or a 100 calorie-snack pack made from highly processed tiny cookies.
Adding healthy fats, protein, and fiber to your snacks and meals will help control appetite and promote satiety over having simple carbs only.
Here are some of the 100 calorie snacks:
#1: 3 Cups of Air-Popped Popcorn
For a high-volume snack under 100 calories, you can have 3 cups of air-popped popcorn with some sea salt or sprinkled spices (skip the butter).
#2: Cottage Cheese With Cantaloupe
The benefit of having cottage cheese with a small wedge of cantaloupe as one of your 100 calorie snacks is that you will get the satiating effects of 13 grams of protein in a half-cup of fat-free cottage cheese with only 70 calories, and some fiber and vitamin C from the cantaloupe.
Plus, with this low-sugar fruit, you can have almost a quarter of the melon in your 100-calorie snack.
#3: Celery and Hummus
If you want to stretch your calories and eat more food, one of the best 100 calorie snacks is celery with hummus.
Celery is one of the lowest-calorie foods. A medium-sized celery stalk has only about 5 calories. There are about 35 calories in one tablespoon of hummus, and you’ll also get a little bit of fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
This means that you can have 2 tablespoons of hummus, which is a full serving, along with six celery stalks, and have a pretty filling, nutritious, fiber-packed 100-calorie snack.
#4: Air Fryer Broccoli
Using an air fryer is a great way to impart some texture and crunch to vegetables without adding calories.
You can use just a quick spray of oil, or sometimes you don’t even need to add oil and still get crispy food from the air fryer.
One of the best air fryer healthy snacks is air fryer broccoli bites.
You can have a full cup of chopped broccoli and only consume about 30 calories.
Plus, you’ll get 2.5 grams of fiber and 2.5 grams of protein per cup of broccoli, along with a wide swath of vitamins and minerals.
This means that you can put 3 cups of fresh broccoli in the air fryer and make a nutritious snack under 100 calories.
#5: Tuna Fish Salad
One 3-ounce can of light tuna in water has only 90 calories and a whopping 20 grams of protein.
You can have the full can of tuna and dice up two celery stocks and have a tuna celery salad or dip the celery in the tuna for a high-protein weight loss snack under 100 calories.
#6: Tomato Soup
If you want a savory snack, you can have one cup of low-sodium tomato soup or 2 cups of low-sodium chicken noodle soup.
The fluid content of soup helps fill you up and control your appetite.
#7: String Cheese
Cheese is a fairly high-calorie food, but you can stick with low-fat, low-calorie cheese options if you want a low-carb 100 calorie snack.
For example, one part-skim mozzarella string cheese has only 40 to 60 calories, which means that you can have two string cheeses or one string cheese and a handful of grapes, blueberries, or a couple of strawberries for a healthy snack under 100 calories.
You will get protein and calcium from the cheese.
#8: Veggies and Salsa
If you don’t like plain veggies but don’t want to have hummus or salad dressing, which can push you over the 100 calorie snack limit, you can dip veggies in salsa.
Alternatively, you can whip up half a cup of fat-free cottage cheese with some spinach to make a healthy spinach dip for broccoli, carrot sticks, pepper sticks, and celery sticks.
#9: Hard-Boiled Egg
Eggs are one of the foods under 100 calories per serving if you have a single whole, extra-large egg.
Therefore, you can have a hard-boiled egg for just 80 calories, or you can add a little bit of hot sauce and paprika and make deviled eggs, or scramble up one whole egg and two additional egg whites for a more filling protein-packed 100 calorie snack.
#10: Edamame
Edamame is a great healthy food for 100 calories snacks because these young soybeans are rich in antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber, and protein.
You can have 1/3 of a cup in a 100 calorie healthy snack.
#11: Almonds
Nuts aren’t generally the first foods under 100 calories that come to mind when you want a low-calorie snack because the healthy fats and proteins in them do make nuts and seeds calorie-dense foods.
However, if you are on a low-carb diet and want a low-carb 100 calorie snack, a handful of almonds is a great option.
You can have 14 almonds while staying under 100 calories for your snack, and you’ll also get some fiber, protein, vitamin E, healthy fats, and no sugar.
#12: Pistachios
Another healthy, low-carb 100 calories snack is 25 pistachios.
Plus, if you buy the nuts in the shell, it will take time to eat the pistachios, which can help your brain register that you have eaten a satisfying snack.
#13: 1 Tablespoon of Nut Butter
Nut butters don’t really fall under the realm of foods under 100 cal per serving because the typical serving of peanut butter, almond butter, or other nut butter is 2 tablespoons, which is generally right around 200 calories.
However, if you are following a low-carb diet and want a high-fat, high-protein, no-carb snack, you can have 1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter for a 100 calorie keto snack to hold you over until the next meal.
#14: Nonfat Greek Yogurt with Honey
If you want a high-protein 100 calorie snack, you can have 3/4 of a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt and get about 16 grams of protein.
Alternatively, if you want something slightly sweeter, you can have half a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of honey drizzled on top for 12 grams of protein and just 84 calories.
#15: Frozen Banana Pop
You can make a 100 calorie dessert snack by cutting a banana in half and sticking a popsicle stick in each half. Then, melt a little bit of dark chocolate and twirl the banana in the chocolate, and set it in the freezer.
Each pop will have only about 80 calories for a surprisingly indulgent snack of less than 100 calories.
#16: Watermelon Smoothie
One cup of fresh watermelon has only 46 calories, so you can blend up a refreshing watermelon smoothie with 2 cups of watermelon, some ice, and a little bit of seltzer water for a refreshing treat.
For more flavor, you can use one and a half cups of watermelon and one cup of strawberries or half a cup of blueberries for additional antioxidants.
If you are working hard on your diet to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight, check out our guide to what “clean eating“ looks like here.
