Free · No signup · Updated October 2026
Saturated fat calculator: how much is in your meal?
The American Heart Association’s goal is about 13 g of saturated fat a day on 2,000 calories. Butter, cheese, fatty meat and coconut oil carry the most. Type a meal or snap a photo, and see the saturated fat in each food.
- Best for checking one meal’s saturated fat
- Free, no account, no email
- Results in a few seconds
- Estimated from USDA values
Get Cloche on your iPhone, free on TestFlight
How much saturated fat a day is too much?
The American Heart Association says people who need to lower their cholesterol should keep saturated fat to 5 to 6% of calories. On 2,000 calories, that is about 13 g. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans set a looser limit, under 10% of calories. Food labels use 20 g.
The calculator compares your meal with 13 g. Trading butter for olive oil, nuts or fish lowers cholesterol. Trading it for white bread or sugar does far less.
Which everyday plates carry the most saturated fat?
These six plates carry the most saturated fat in Cloche’s food data, next to the 13 g day.
| Plate | Portion | Estimated saturated fat | Of 13 g reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Curry with Rice | 1 plate | 16 g | 122% |
| Mac and Cheese | 1 bowl | 16 g | 119% |
| Pad Thai | 1 plate | 14 g | 108% |
| Grilled Cheese | 1 sandwich | 14 g | 105% |
| Steak | 8 oz | 14 g | 105% |
| Cheeseburger | 1 burger | 13 g | 96% |
How does the saturated fat calculator work?
Describe the meal the way you’d say it. Cloche splits it into foods, sizes each one and estimates the saturated fat from USDA values. That includes the butter or oil a kitchen usually cooks with.
For the whole day, not one meal, see Cloche for cholesterol. More free tools: the sodium calculator and the fiber calculator. Every number is an estimate; we publish how far off the estimates run against USDA reference foods.
Questions people ask
How many grams of saturated fat should I eat a day?
About 13 g on a 2,000-calorie day if you are lowering cholesterol, by the American Heart Association. The general US limit is under 10% of calories, about 22 g.
What foods are highest in saturated fat?
Butter, cheese, cream, fatty cuts of beef and pork, bacon, sausage, coconut oil, palm oil, and pastries made with butter.
Is saturated fat worse than sugar for cholesterol?
Saturated fat raises the cholesterol a blood test calls bad. Sugar mostly raises blood fats called triglycerides. The best swap for saturated fat is unsaturated fat, such as olive oil, nuts and fish.
Does the calculator count cooking oil?
Yes, as a typical amount for the dish. Say how it was cooked, such as fried in butter, and the estimate follows what you typed.
See your saturated fat for the whole day
Cloche is a food journal for iPhone. Say what you ate or take a photo, and it adds up saturated fat and fiber across the day, then shows which meals carried the most.
Cloche is on TestFlight, Apple’s app for trying an app before its release. It’s free while it is. Leave your email and the invite comes from [email protected].