Ghee adds energy, about 45 kcal per 5 g teaspoon on USDA figures, so it can raise a day's calories, but India's dietary guidelines still limit ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day and give no advice to use ghee for weight gain. If you are underweight, or losing weight without trying, see a doctor before changing what you eat. This article gives the calories, the arithmetic and the guideline wording; it does not give a routine.
The NHS puts the first step plainly: speak to a GP if you have lost weight suddenly or without changing your diet or exercise routine, because that "could be a sign of an underlying health condition". A doctor or dietitian can then say whether you need more energy, how much, and from what.
At a glance
- USDA FoodData Central lists 900 kcal per 100 g for clarified butter (ghee), so a 5 g teaspoon is 45 kcal and two teaspoons 90 kcal, 4.5 per cent of a 2,000 kcal day.
- ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines say "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible", inside a visible-fat limit of 20 to 50 g a day; they say nothing about ghee as a way to gain weight.
- ICMR-NIN counts fat at 9 kcal per gram against 4 for protein or carbohydrate, and recommends a BMI of 18.5 to 23 for Asians.
- The NHS says adults could try adding around 300 to 500 extra calories a day; in ghee alone that would be 33 to 56 g, more than three times the ICMR-NIN ghee limit.
- A PubMed search for ghee and "weight gain" found no trial of ghee in underweight people; a search for ghee and "underweight" returned nothing.
Does ghee help you gain weight?
Ghee adds calories, and extra calories are what weight gain needs, but that is the whole of the case. A 5 g teaspoon of ghee carries about 45 kcal. Nothing in the guidelines, and no human trial we could find, says ghee is a better way to add those calories than any other food.
The ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) explains why fat is energy-dense: "Fats increase the energy density of food as each gram of lipid gives energy of 9 Kcal, while protein or carbohydrates give only 4 Kcal for every gram." Ghee is a visible fat in the guidelines' terms, listed with vegetable oils, vanaspati and butter. The same chapter says fats "impart a feeling of fullness and satisfaction and thus delay the onset of hunger".
We searched PubMed for ghee and "weight gain" and got four papers, none a trial of ghee in underweight people: two rat studies, a questionnaire survey of obese Indian adults during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and a before-and-after Ayurvedic study of a medicated ghee preparation in 28 patients with a joint disorder. A search for ghee and "underweight" returned nothing. The evidence that ghee helps you lose weight is just as thin, as our article on whether ghee is good for weight loss sets out. In both directions, ghee is simply fat with calories.
Why see a doctor before trying to gain weight?
Because being underweight, or losing weight you did not mean to lose, can have a cause that food alone will not fix. The NHS page on healthy ways to gain weight says to speak to a GP if you have lost weight suddenly, if you have lost weight without changing your diet or exercise routine, or if you use the control of food to cope with feelings. It adds that being underweight "could mean you're missing out on vitamins and minerals".
ICMR-NIN uses body mass index to decide who is underweight. It recommends that for Asians "the BMI should be between 18.5 to 23". In its pregnancy chapter it calls a BMI under 18.5 underweight and says such women "should increase the dietary intake and their weight gain should be monitored closely at ICDS or healthcare facilities". There, the guideline's answer to being underweight is more food and monitoring at a health facility, not a spoon of anything.
How many calories does ghee add to a day?
About 45 kcal per level teaspoon and 90 kcal for the two teaspoons ICMR-NIN allows at most. On a 2,000 kcal day, the guidelines' reference diet, that upper limit is 4.5 per cent of the day's energy. The table shows each measure, its weight, its energy and its share of 2,000 kcal, with the arithmetic.
The figures use the USDA FoodData Central entry for clarified butter (ghee), 900 kcal per 100 g, which is 9.00 kcal per gram (900 ÷ 100) and matches the 9 kcal per gram of fat that ICMR-NIN uses. Spoon weights are ICMR-NIN's household measures, "Teaspoon 5g" and "Tablespoon 15g"; our article on spoons of ghee in grams explains why other references weigh a tablespoon differently.
| Measure | Grams | Energy (grams × 9.00 kcal) | Share of a 2,000 kcal day (kcal ÷ 2,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 5 g (ICMR-NIN) | 5 × 9.00 = 45 kcal | 45 ÷ 2,000 = 2.25 per cent |
| 2 teaspoons, ICMR-NIN's upper limit for ghee or butter | 10 g (2 × 5) | 10 × 9.00 = 90 kcal | 90 ÷ 2,000 = 4.5 per cent |
| 1 tablespoon | 15 g (ICMR-NIN) | 15 × 9.00 = 135 kcal | 135 ÷ 2,000 = 6.75 per cent |
| All visible fat ICMR-NIN allows for a 2,000 kcal diet | 27 to 30 g | 27 × 9.00 = 243 kcal; 30 × 9.00 = 270 kcal | 243 ÷ 2,000 = 12.15 per cent; 270 ÷ 2,000 = 13.5 per cent |
| Ghee needed for the NHS's 300 extra kcal | 300 ÷ 9.00 = 33.3 g, about 6.7 teaspoons | 300 kcal | 300 ÷ 2,000 = 15 per cent |
| Ghee needed for the NHS's 500 extra kcal | 500 ÷ 9.00 = 55.6 g, about 11 teaspoons | 500 kcal | 500 ÷ 2,000 = 25 per cent |
The last two rows are the point. The NHS suggests that adults trying to gain weight "could try adding around 300 to 500 extra calories a day". From ghee alone that would take 33 to 56 g a day, more than three to five times the ICMR-NIN ghee limit of 10 g (33.3 ÷ 10 = 3.3; 55.6 ÷ 10 = 5.6). The 56 g figure is also above the 50 g ICMR-NIN sets as the ceiling for all visible fat, even for men doing heavy physical work. Extra calories, if a doctor says you need them, have to come mostly from food other than ghee.
What do the ICMR-NIN guidelines say about ghee for weight gain?
Nothing. We read the Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) for every mention of ghee, and none concerns gaining weight. Ghee appears as a visible fat, as a source of saturated fat, as a 5 g teaspoon in the sample menus and in the one limit that applies to everyone: "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible."
That limit sits inside a wider one. Visible fat "must be limited to 20–50g (4–10 teaspoon full) per person/ day depending on the level of energy (calorie) requirement", with "not more than 27–30g visible fat/cooking oil" for a 2,000 kcal diet. The split by sex and activity is in our article on how much ghee per day the guidelines allow.
Where the guidelines do talk about eating enough, they talk about balance rather than fat. A balanced diet should give "50%–55% of total calories from carbohydrates, 10%–15% from proteins and 20%–30% from dietary fats". The recommended dietary allowance for protein is 0.83 g per kg of body weight a day, "54g/day for a person weighing 65kg, regardless of physical activity or gender", and the guidelines add that "protein requirements are not as high as commonly perceived". Their suggested food groups are stated to be "for adults with normal BMI (18.5 to 23)"; for anyone outside that range they offer no separate diet, which is another reason to ask a doctor.
How can ghee fit if your doctor says to eat more?
As one small, measured part of the extra, not as the plan. The guidelines let ghee contribute at most about 90 kcal a day, and a doctor or dietitian may set less. These points follow from the sources, not from a routine of ours.
- Keep ghee within its own limit. ICMR-NIN's ceiling is 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, 5 to 10 g, and it counts inside your total visible fat, not on top of it.
- Measure with a level teaspoon. ICMR-NIN used tablespoons and teaspoons "to standardize most of the measurements"; a heaped serving spoon from a cold jar is not a teaspoon.
- Put the rest of the extra calories into whole foods. The NHS says to "add extra calories to your meals with cheese, nuts, and seeds", to have high-calorie drinks such as milkshakes between meals, and to "add protein to your meals with beans, pulses, fish, eggs and lean meat".
- Do not use sweets to make up the gap. The NHS says "do not rely on chocolate, cakes and sugary drinks to gain weight", and ICMR-NIN says sugar "must be restricted to 25–30 grams per day".
- Do not fill up on drinks before meals. That is the NHS's other "don't"; ICMR-NIN adds that body weight "must be monitored periodically".
We have left out any "best time" to eat ghee and any number of spoons per meal. No source we opened gives either, and the calories in a teaspoon are the same whenever it is eaten.
Which ghee is best for weight gain?
For calories, they are all the same to within a spoonful's rounding. FSSAI's standard for milk fat products requires ghee to be at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, with at most 0.5 per cent moisture, so there is almost nothing in a jar of ghee that is not fat, whatever the breed, the method or the price.
USDA's two relevant entries make the point: clarified butter (ghee) at 900 kcal per 100 g and butter oil, anhydrous at 876 kcal. On a 5 g teaspoon that is 45 kcal against 43.8 kcal (5 × 8.76), a difference of about 1 kcal. We make bilona ghee at Himdhara, and we would rather say so plainly than sell a jar on that promise. Choose a ghee for its taste, its method and its batch report; choose how much to eat with your doctor.
The short version
Ghee is almost pure fat, about 45 kcal per 5 g teaspoon on USDA figures, so it can add calories, but the ICMR-NIN guidelines limit ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, or none, and say nothing about using it to gain weight. Two teaspoons are 90 kcal, 4.5 per cent of a 2,000 kcal day; the 300 to 500 extra kcal the NHS mentions would need 33 to 56 g of ghee, far past the limit. Both bodies treat being underweight as a matter for a balanced diet, enough protein and a health check. Measure what you use, keep it inside the limit, and let a doctor or dietitian set the plan.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad.
- NHS (2023). Healthy ways to gain weight. NHS, Live Well.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter, Clarified butter (ghee). FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter oil, anhydrous. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: Chapter 2.1, Dairy products and analogues (2.1.8 Standard for Milk Fat Products). FSSAI.