How Many Calories in Lempeng?

Lempeng is a traditional Malay griddle pancake made with flour and grated coconut, eaten plain with sugar or paired with sambal, and comes in a few tasty variants including banana and corn.

155kcal / 1 piece (medium, ~10cm diameter)

One medium lempeng (about 95g, roughly 10cm across) comes in at 155 calories. That is for the standard kelapa version cooked on a griddle with a bit of oil. Add sambal on the side and you are looking at around 175 calories. The banana version is actually lighter at about 130 calories since the pieces tend to be smaller and thinner.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 piece (medium, ~10cm diameter) (95g)	Amount	Per 100g
Calories	155 kcal	163 kcal
Protein	3 g	3 g
Carbs	22 g	23 g
Fat	6 g	6 g

Where the calories come from

All-purpose flour (batter base)22g

80 kcal

Fresh grated coconut17g

60 kcal

Cooking oil absorbed on griddle4g

15 kcal

The real talk

Lempeng is basically a coconut pancake, bro. Flour, fresh grated coconut, a splash of water, and then fried on a griddle with oil. It is a kampung-style breakfast or afternoon snack that a lot of people outside the Peninsula or rural areas might not have had before. At 155 calories per piece it is actually pretty reasonable for a snack, and the grated coconut is doing most of the calorie work at 60 kcal out of the 155. Worth flagging though: these numbers are a ballpark estimate because there is basically no proper lab data on lempeng out there. Different grandmothers, different coconut ratios, different amounts of oil on the griddle. Treat it as a solid guide, not gospel.

What actually moves the number is the oil on the griddle and what you eat it with. A griddle-cooked pancake absorbs maybe 1 to 2g of oil, which is about 15 kcal, but a heavier-handed cook re-greasing the pan constantly can push that higher. The berlauk version with rendang or curry chicken on top can jump to 220 calories or more because the lauk alone adds 40 to 70 kcal. If you are tracking, eat it plain or with just a sprinkle of sugar, skip the second piece lah, and go for the pisang version if you can find it since it saves you about 25 calories per piece.

Lempeng variants, ranked by calories

Variant	Calories	Notes
Lempeng pisang (banana)	130 kcal	Smaller, thinner crepe-style with mashed banana folded in; banana adds ~20 kcal but pieces are usually smaller and use less coconut
Lempeng kelapa plain (no sambal)	155 kcal	Standard medium pancake with grated coconut, eaten with white sugar or kaya
Lempeng kelapa with sambal	175 kcal	Add ~20 kcal for a tablespoon of sambal accompaniment
Lempeng jagung (corn)	180 kcal	Corn kernels added to batter; slightly more carbs and a touch more sugar than plain kelapa
Lempeng berlauk (with filling/topping)	220 kcal	Served with heavier lauk like rendang or curry chicken; accompaniment adds 40-70 kcal depending on portion

How to eat it lighter

Go for the pisang version when available. At around 130 calories it is the lightest of the lot, and the banana adds natural sweetness so you do not need to dump sugar on top.
Ask the person making it to go easy on the griddle oil. Absorbed oil accounts for around 15 calories and is entirely in the cook's hands.
Eat it plain with just white sugar instead of sambal. You save about 20 calories per piece and it is honestly how a lot of people eat it anyway.
One piece is usually enough as a snack. It is 95g of food, not 30g, so it does fill you up more than you expect.
Pair it with a black coffee or teh-o kosong instead of teh tarik. The pancake itself is fine; it is the sweet drinks beside it that wreck your count.

Common questions

How many calories in Lempeng?

One medium lempeng is about 155 calories. The banana version (lempeng pisang) is lighter at around 130 calories, while the corn version (lempeng jagung) is slightly higher at 180 calories. Add a heavy lauk topping and it can reach 220 calories.

What exactly is lempeng?

Lempeng is a traditional Malay pancake made from flour, fresh grated coconut, and a little water, cooked flat on a griddle with oil. It is a common kampung breakfast or teatime snack, usually eaten with white sugar, kaya, or sambal on the side.

Is lempeng a healthy snack?

It is decent for a snack at 155 calories per piece, not amazing but not terrible either. The main thing to watch is the oil used on the griddle and what you eat it with. Plain with minimal accompaniment it fits fine into a calorie-controlled day. Just do not eat three of them.

Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical hawker or kopitiam serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

New to all this? Read how I went from 128kg to 86kg without cutting rice →