Zero Calorie Foods: 45 Foods and Drinks With Almost No Calories

Only plain water has zero calories. Black coffee and plain tea come close with about 2 calories a cup. Every other food on this list has some calories, but so few that you can eat a large plate of most of them for less than 50. That is what people usually mean by “zero calorie foods”: foods with lots of water and fiber that fill you up for almost nothing.

Below are 45 of them with their real calorie counts from the USDA food database, grouped so you can scan them, plus the one thing many lists get wrong: which of them you can have while you are fasting.

Which Zero Calorie Foods Can You Have While Fasting?

Only these keep a fast intact:

• Water, still or sparkling
• Black coffee, with nothing added
• Plain tea: black, green or herbal, unsweetened

Everything else below, even a cup of cucumber or lettuce, has calories and breaks a fast. Eat them in your eating window instead, where they help you stay full on fewer calories. To check any other food or drink, use our what breaks a fast tool, or read how many calories break a fast.

Zero Calorie Drinks

Add milk, cream, sugar or syrup and these stop being near-zero. A tablespoon of lemon juice in water adds about 3 calories.

Leafy Greens (Under 10 Calories a Cup)

Watery Vegetables (Under 30 Calories)

Cabbage Family and Other Vegetables (Under 45 Calories)

Low Calorie Fruits (Under 70 Calories a Cup)

Fruit is not near-zero the way greens are, but it gives you a lot of volume, fiber and sweetness for the calories.

Flavorings That Add Almost Nothing

Pickles, mustard and hot sauce are low in calories but often high in salt, so go easy if you watch your sodium.

Calories are from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), rounded to the nearest whole calorie, for raw produce unless stated.

How to Use Low Calorie Foods to Lose Weight

These foods help because of volume. A big salad or a bowl of vegetable soup fills your stomach for very few calories, so you feel full while eating less overall. Some practical ways to use them:

• Start meals with a salad or broth-based vegetable soup.
• Swap half your pasta or rice for zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice.
• Bulk up omelets, stir-fries and sandwiches with spinach, mushrooms, peppers and sprouts.
• Keep cut vegetables ready for snacking: cucumber, celery, radishes, sugar snap peas.

Don’t live on them alone. You still need protein, healthy fats and enough total calories to function and keep muscle. Work out your daily target with our calorie calculator, or, if you fast, our intermittent fasting calculator. For more ideas, see our list of low calorie foods.

Are There Negative Calorie Foods?

No. The idea is that foods like celery take more energy to digest than they provide. Your body spends roughly a tenth of the calories you eat on digesting food, so a 14-calorie cup of celery still gives you most of its 14 calories. Celery is a great low calorie food; it just doesn’t burn fat by itself. More on this in our guide to negative calorie foods.

Watch Out for “Zero Calorie” Labels

In the US, a packaged food can be labeled “calorie free” if it has fewer than 5 calories per serving. (1) That is why cooking sprays, sweetener packets and some sauces say “0 calories” but still add up if you use a lot. Konjac (shirataki) noodles are mostly water and fiber and very low in calories; check the label, as products vary.

FAQs

Does any food have zero calories?

No food does. Only water is truly zero. Black coffee and plain tea have about 2 calories a cup, and leafy greens like spinach and lettuce have 5 to 10 calories a cup.

Can I eat zero calorie foods while fasting?

No. Water, black coffee and plain tea are fine, but any food, even cucumber or celery, has calories and breaks a fast. Save them for your eating window.

What is the lowest calorie vegetable?

Watercress, with about 4 calories per chopped cup, followed by arugula, spinach and lettuce.

What are the best zero calorie snacks?

Cucumber slices, celery, radishes, cherry tomatoes and pickles are crunchy and very low in calories. Pair them with a little protein, such as Greek yogurt or a boiled egg, to stay full longer.

Bottom Line

True zero calorie foods don’t exist, apart from water. But dozens of vegetables, a handful of fruits and a few flavorings have so few calories that you can eat them freely in your eating window. Build meals around them to feel full on fewer calories, and keep your fast to water, black coffee and plain tea.

References

Fitness Volt is committed to providing our readers with science-based information. We use only credible and peer-reviewed sources to support the information we share in our articles.

1. US Code of Federal Regulations. 21 CFR 101.60: Nutrient content claims for the calorie content of foods.
2. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central (SR Legacy, April 2018).