How Many Calories In A Slice Of Cantaloupe? | Cal Count

A typical slice of cantaloupe has about 20–35 calories, depending on melon size, slice thickness, and whether you eat the rind.

When you ask “how many calories in a slice of cantaloupe?”, you usually want a simple number you can use for logging, meal planning, or weight goals. The tricky part is that a “slice” can mean a thin wedge off a small melon or a thick boat from a big one. So the best answer blends clear ranges with real serving sizes based on nutrition databases and produce yield data.

Cantaloupe is a low-calorie, water-rich fruit. USDA’s
FoodData Central entry for cantaloupe shows about 34 calories per 100 grams of raw melon, which sits behind all the slice estimates you see in this guide. You’ll see that even a generous wedge stays in snack-size calorie territory.

How Many Calories In A Slice Of Cantaloupe? By Slice Size

To pin down calories in a slice of cantaloupe, you need two pieces of info: how much the slice weighs and the calorie density (about 34 calories per 100 grams of fresh cantaloupe). Nutrition tables from health systems and food-tracking databases list typical wedge weights and energy values, which gives usable, real-world numbers for common slices.

Here’s a simple way to think about it. A small wedge from a small melon might land under 20 calories. A wedge from a medium melon commonly falls in the low 20s. A thick wedge from a large melon can climb to the mid-30s. All of those still sit in “light snack” range for most people.

These numbers come from calorie tables that list about 23 calories for a medium wedge and about 35 calories for a large wedge, along with 34 calories per 100 grams of raw cantaloupe. They are still estimates, because no two melons have the exact same size or water content, but they give a realistic range for everyday tracking.

So, boiled down: a typical everyday slice of cantaloupe, cut as a medium wedge, brings about 23 calories. A larger wedge that fills your hand will be closer to 30–35 calories, still modest compared with many other snacks.

What Counts As A Slice Of Cantaloupe?

One reason “how many calories in a slice of cantaloupe?” feels confusing is that people picture very different slices. Someone cutting melon for toddlers might serve thin crescents with most of the rind trimmed away. Another person might serve big boats with a wide band of rind as a handle. Both people say “slice,” but the actual fruit volume and calories are not the same.

When nutrition databases talk about a wedge, they usually mean one eighth of a whole melon, cut from pole to pole. That wedge is the “standard slice” behind many calorie tables. A small melon gives a lighter wedge; a large melon gives a heavier wedge. Produce yield data from food service guides shows that medium melons often weigh around 1.3 pounds edible portion, which lines up with the wedge weights in calorie charts.

For home use, you can treat these rough categories as a guide:

• Light bite: skinny wedge from a small melon, or half of a medium wedge.
• Standard snack slice: one medium wedge from a medium melon.
• Hearty slice: thick wedge from a large melon, or one and a half standard wedges.

If you track food closely, the most accurate option is to cut your slice, weigh the edible orange flesh on a kitchen scale, and use the 34 calories per 100 grams figure from FoodData Central. That turns into a simple rule of thumb: about 3–4 calories per 10 grams of cantaloupe.

Factors That Change Cantaloupe Slice Calories

Even with solid reference data, a slice of cantaloupe on your plate will never be identical to a slice in a textbook. A few simple factors nudge the calorie count up or down. Once you know them, you can adjust your estimate without needing a calculator every time.

Melon Size And Ripeness

Bigger melons produce heavier wedges, so a slice from a large fruit tends to carry more calories than a slice from a small one. That shows up clearly in tables where a large wedge sits near 35 calories while a medium wedge sits near 23.

Ripeness also plays a small part. Very ripe cantaloupe can taste sweeter because some starches have turned into sugars. The overall calorie density does not swing wildly, though. For most home situations, you can still stick with that 34-calories-per-100-grams figure and know you are close enough for daily tracking.

Rind, Seeds, And Trim

When you eat a slice right off the rind, you usually leave a strip of green behind. That leftover rind has almost no calories compared with the sweet orange part. If you trim slices very aggressively before serving, you might remove some edible flesh, which lowers the calories on the plate.

Seeds and stringy center sections are another point of variation. Scooping them cleanly keeps the portion consistent. Leaving a lot of soft, pale flesh near the seed cavity in place adds a bit more weight and calories, though the difference stays small unless the slice is very thick.

Served Plain Or With Toppings

Cantaloupe slices often share a plate with yogurt, cottage cheese, prosciutto, or a drizzle of honey. The melon itself stays low in calories, yet the toppings can change the total very quickly.

To keep an eye on the numbers:

• Plain slice: use the 20–35 calorie range from the wedge tables above.
• Slice with a spoon of plain yogurt: add about 20–30 calories.
• Slice wrapped with cured meat: add 40–80 calories or more, depending on the meat portion.
• Slice with a honey drizzle: add roughly 15–20 calories per teaspoon of honey.

Cantaloupe Slice Calories Compared To Other Portions

Sometimes you are less worried about “how many calories in a slice of cantaloupe?” on its own and more about how that slice stacks up against a cup of cubes or a fruit salad serving. Since the calorie density stays fairly steady, most portions line up neatly once you translate them back to grams.

One cup of cantaloupe balls (about 177 grams) sits around 60 calories, and one cup of cubes or diced melon sits near the low-50s. That means a medium wedge at roughly 23 calories is like a third to half of a cup of cantaloupe cubes in energy terms.

From this view, a single cantaloupe slice is one of the lighter ways to add fruit to a meal. The USDA SNAP-Ed cantaloupe guide points out that cantaloupe is rich in water and provides vitamin A and vitamin C along with its modest calorie count, which makes those slices useful when you want volume and sweetness without a large calorie hit.

How Cantaloupe Slice Calories Fit Into Your Day

In the context of most eating patterns, 20–35 calories from a slice of cantaloupe is a very small share of daily intake. Even if you eat three medium wedges across a morning, you are still under 75 calories from the melon itself. That leaves plenty of room for protein, grains, and other fruits and vegetables.

People who track calories for weight loss often look for snacks that feel generous on the plate without adding much energy. A chilled cantaloupe slice works well here. The high water content adds bulk, the sweetness can reduce dessert cravings, and the slices sit nicely beside foods like cottage cheese, yogurt, or eggs.

Simple Ways To Use Cantaloupe Slices

To put these slice calories to work, you can slot cantaloupe into common meals:

• Breakfast: one or two wedges beside eggs or oatmeal for color, hydration, and a gentle sweetness.
• Mid-morning snack: a medium wedge on its own or with a spoon of plain yogurt.
• Post-work snack: a larger wedge with a handful of nuts, so you pair low-calorie fruit with a small dose of healthy fat and protein.
• Dessert swap: cantaloupe slices with a few berries instead of a heavier dessert after dinner.

If you manage blood sugar, it still helps to keep portions steady and pair cantaloupe with protein or fat. Even though the calorie count is modest, cantaloupe carries natural sugars, so balanced meals and snacks stay helpful.

Checking Portion Size Without A Scale

You will not always have a kitchen scale nearby, and that is fine. Hand and plate cues make calorie estimates doable even at a picnic or restaurant.

• Finger-wide strip: a slice about as wide as one finger and about as long as your palm is close to a small snack slice.
• Palm-wide boat: a slice that fills the width of your palm and feels thick tends to match a hearty slice in the table above.
• Two slim slices: two very slim slices together usually track near one standard wedge in calories.

With a little practice, you can glance at the plate and decide whether to log your slice as 20, 25, or 35 calories. That level of precision is more than enough for most food diaries.

Final Thoughts On Cantaloupe Slice Calories

So, how many calories in a slice of cantaloupe? For a medium wedge, plan on about 23 calories. For a larger wedge from a large melon, plan on about 35 calories. Either way, you are dealing with a light, hydrating fruit that fits smoothly into most eating patterns.

When you want a quick way to log a serving, you can treat a small snack slice as around 15 calories, a standard wedge as low-20s, and a generous wedge as mid-30s. Those simple ranges pair well with the 34-calories-per-100-grams figure from USDA data and match the wedges listed in common nutrition tables.

In daily life, that means you can enjoy cantaloupe slices freely, with more attention on what you add around them than on the melon itself. The slices bring color, sweetness, and texture, while the calorie cost stays low enough for breakfast plates, snack trays, or dessert swaps.

Send us your feedbackTell us what you thought about this post

⚠Please use a real email you check. If it's fake or mistyped, your message won't reach us and we can't reply — wrong addresses are rejected automatically.

Name *Email *

Your comment *

Quick check — what is …? *

Send feedback