How Many Calories in Sup Sayur?

Sup sayur bening is a clear mixed vegetable soup, usually cabbage, carrot and tomato simmered in a light garlic broth, and it is genuinely one of the lowest-calorie things you can order in Malaysia.

60kcal / 1 bowl

One bowl of sup sayur (about 320g) comes in at roughly 60 calories. That is it. Two grams of protein, 10g carbs, 1g fat. The vegetables themselves are almost free calorie-wise; the broth adds maybe 15 calories and there is a tiny bit of oil used in the base. If you are tracking and you need something warm and filling to pad out a meal without blowing your budget, this is pretty much the answer lah.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 bowl (320g)	Amount	Per 100g
Calories	60 kcal	19 kcal
Protein	2 g	1 g
Carbs	10 g	3 g
Fat	1 g	0 g

Where the calories come from

Clear broth with aromatics (garlic, onion, salt)200g

15 kcal

Cabbage65g

16 kcal

Carrot40g

16 kcal

Tomato30g

5 kcal

Oil (minimal, used in base)1g

8 kcal

The real talk

Sup sayur bening is as simple as it sounds: clear broth, aromatics like garlic and onion, then cabbage, carrot and tomato. No coconut milk, no heavy rempah. The 60 calories for a full 320g bowl is genuinely that low because vegetables are mostly water and fibre. The 15-calorie broth and about 8 calories from the minimal oil in the base are actually doing more numerical heavy lifting than the vegetables themselves. To be honest, these numbers are a ballpark estimate because solid lab data for this dish is thin. Kedai to kedai will vary, and some hawkers are heavier-handed with oil than others, but 60 to 80 calories is a reasonable range for the plain version.

What actually moves the maths here is what gets added. Stay plain and you are at 60 calories. Throw in 60g of soft tofu and you are at 100. Ask for chicken and you are up to about 120. Add 30g of cooked vermicelli and you are at about 95, which now makes it a light noodle soup instead. The oil in the base is already minimal at 1g and 8 calories, but if you are at a stall that fries the aromatics more generously, you could creep toward 80 or 90 calories before any protein is added. Order it plain with rice on the side and you have basically used your soup allocation for nothing.

Sup Sayur variants, ranked by calories

Variant	Calories	Notes
Sup sayur bening (plain, no protein)	60 kcal	Just cabbage, carrot, tomato in clear broth; the version described
Sup sayur with tofu	100 kcal	Add 60g soft tofu; common in kedai kopi
Sup sayur ayam (with chicken)	120 kcal	Add ~50g chicken; roughly 75 cal per 240g per Inlivo database, scaled to 320g bowl
Sup sayur with glass noodles (mihun/vermicelli)	95 kcal	Add 30g cooked vermicelli (cooked weight, mostly water); turns it into a light noodle soup

How to eat it lighter

Order it bening, meaning plain, no protein added. That keeps it at 60 calories instead of 100 to 120.
If you want protein, ask for tofu instead of chicken. Sixty grams of soft tofu adds about 40 calories and keeps it light.
Avoid the version at places that fry the aromatics heavily. The base oil is supposed to be minimal. If the broth looks a bit greasy, that is where your extra calories are hiding.
Eat it with steamed rice rather than ordering the vermicelli version. Thirty grams of cooked vermicelli adds about 35 calories, and the volume difference is not that meaningful.
Use it to bulk out a meal: pair a bowl of sup sayur with a smaller portion of rice and one lauk. You get the volume and warmth without spending many calories on the soup itself.

Common questions

How many calories in Sup Sayur?

About 60 calories per bowl (320g), for the plain bening version with cabbage, carrot and tomato in clear broth. Add tofu and it goes to roughly 100, add chicken and it is about 120.

What exactly is sup sayur?

It is a clear Malaysian vegetable soup, usually with cabbage, carrot and tomato simmered in a light garlic and onion broth. No coconut milk, no curry paste. You find it at Malay kedai makan as a side to rice, and it is one of the mildest things on the menu.

Is sup sayur actually good for weight loss?

Bro, 60 calories for a full bowl of warm soup, yes. It is hard to find something this filling for this few calories. The fibre from the vegetables helps too. The only risk is if you order it with protein added or from a stall that is heavy on the oil, which can push it toward 90 to 120 calories.

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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 →