How Much Protein Is in One Roti (2026)

Last updated: 22 September 2026

> Quick Answer: A roti made from 30 g of atta carries about 3.2 g of protein, close to 6% of an adult's daily need. One from 40 g of atta carries about 4.2 g. ICMR-NIN measures atta at 10.57 g of protein per 100 g, so the flour weight sets the figure and the water adds none of it.

The arithmetic gets easy once you weigh the flour instead of the bread. The Indian Food Composition Tables put wheat flour, atta at 10.57 g of protein per 100 g across six regions. Multiply by what you pinch off: 25 g gives 2.6 g, 30 g gives 3.2 g, 40 g gives 4.2 g.

Which is why published figures run from 2.5 g to 3.84 g without any of them being wrong. Each page has quietly picked a roti size and a weighing basis, and almost none say which.

Why do published roti protein figures disagree?

Three variables move independently and most pages state none of them: how much flour goes into one roti, how much water that flour absorbs, and which wheat the atta came from. Change any one and the figure moves by a gram or more.

Water is the biggest mover. A 2019 study in the Journal of Food Science and Technology measured whole wheat flours absorbing 59.2 to 78.8 percent of their own weight in water. The thirstier flour makes a heavier roti carrying the same protein, so a figure quoted per 100 g of cooked roti drops while nothing nutritional changed. A 2022 study of chakki atta measured fresh chapatis at 29.42 to 31.21 percent moisture.

The wheat is the third variable. The same 2019 work found flour protein running from 9.63 to 14.76 percent, enough to swing a 30 g roti between 2.9 g and 4.4 g.

What do the published figures actually say, source by source?

Every figure below carries the basis its own source states, with nothing converted or averaged. The disagreement between them is the finding rather than a mess to tidy away, because dry flour and cooked bread are not the same denominator.

Set the Anuvaad row against the atta row and the mechanism shows: 5.88 g per 100 g cooked against 10.57 g dry, the gap being water plus whatever fat the recipe added.

How much protein is in 2, 3 or 4 rotis?

Multiply and stop there. On 30 g of atta per roti, two carry about 6.3 g, three about 9.5 g and four about 12.7 g. Larger 40 g rotis take the same counts to 8.4 g, 12.7 g and 16.9 g.

Set that against the requirement. ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians put the adult RDA at 0.83 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, or 54 g for someone weighing 65 kg. Four medium rotis are roughly a quarter of it, and that is the trap: the guidelines note cereals already supply 50 to 70 percent of daily energy in Indian diets against a recommended 45. Adding rotis is not how the protein gap closes.

Do bajra and jowar rotis carry more protein than wheat?

Bajra is marginally ahead and jowar behind, by margins too small to change a meal. Per 100 g of dry grain the composition tables give bajra 10.96 g, atta 10.57 g and jowar 9.97 g. Across one roti that is about a tenth of a gram.

Bajra also carries 5.43 g of fat per 100 g against atta's 1.53 g, part of why it behaves so differently on the tawa.

Does ghee on the roti change the protein?

No. Ghee is a fat and contributes energy rather than protein, so a roti with ghee and the same roti without it carry identical grams. What ghee moves is the per-100-g figure everyone quotes.

The Anuvaad chapati entry lists 3.56 g of fat per 100 g where plain atta carries 1.53 g, so its recipe included added fat. More fat means protein is a smaller share of the weight, and the cooked figure falls while your plate is unchanged.

Why is a gram of wheat protein worth less than a gram from dal?

Because wheat is short of lysine, and short by a measurable amount. ICMR-NIN sets the lysine requirement at 45 mg per gram of protein. Atta supplies 24.2 mg, a little over half, which caps how much of its protein a body can put to work.

A 2020 study in Frontiers in Nutrition covering 14 North India wheat cultivars found lysine to be the first limiting amino acid in every one, at 1.27 to 3.61 g per 100 g of protein. Wheat clears the methionine requirement comfortably, 17.7 mg per gram against 16.

Pulses sit the other way round, high in lysine and low in the sulphur amino acids, which is why national guidance puts cereals and pulses at 3:1 by raw weight to meet every essential amino acid requirement. The protein figures for every common Indian dal sit on a separate page. Dal beside the roti lifts a meal's usable protein more than anything done to the roti.

Can an atta be sold as high in protein in India?

Not a plain one, and it misses by a hair. Under Schedule I of the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, a solid food is a source of protein at 10 percent of the RDA per 100 g, and rich or high at 20 percent.

At an RDA of 54 g those thresholds land at 5.4 g and 10.8 g per 100 g. Atta at 10.57 g clears source comfortably and falls 0.23 g short of high, which is why protein-claim attas are nearly always blended with besan, soya or millet flour.

The flour is the one lever you control. SatRas mills its Sona Moti whole wheat atta with the bran and germ kept in, from Sona Moti, an old Indian wheat variety. Keeping the bran matters far more for fibre than for protein: the comparison of atta and maida puts 10.57 g against 10.36 g.

What these numbers do not settle

They describe flour and grain as sold, not protein absorbed. ICMR-NIN puts protein digestibility for most vegetarian foods in a 70 to 85 percent range, so the grams on a composition table and the grams a body uses are different quantities. The arithmetic here inherits that limit.

The published atta value is also a six-region average, and the flour in your kitchen came from a particular wheat nobody analysed, one more reason choosing an atta for everyday rotis is not a protein decision.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. If you are managing a health condition or setting protein targets on medical guidance, speak to a qualified doctor or registered dietitian.

Frequently asked questions

Is roti higher in protein than rice?

Yes, by a wide margin on dry weight. Indian composition tables give wheat atta 10.57 g of protein per 100 g against 7.94 g for raw milled rice, and the gap survives cooking. Rice is lower in fibre and minerals too, though easier to digest.

Does a paratha carry more protein than a plain roti?

A paratha made from the same weight of flour carries the same protein, because the difference is added fat rather than added flour. What changes is the calorie count and the share of energy coming from protein. A stuffed paratha is different again, since the filling brings its own.

Is a day-old roti nutritionally the same as a fresh one?

On protein, yes. Protein is stable through storage, reheating and freezing, so a day-old roti carries the grams it had when fresh. What changes is moisture and texture. Very prolonged high-heat cooking can damage lysine, but a tawa reheat sits well below that.

Is a tandoori roti different from a tawa roti in protein?

Only through the flour and the size. A tandoor cooks hotter and drives off more moisture, so a tandoori roti weighs less than a tawa roti from the same dough while carrying identical protein. Restaurant versions are often rolled larger and brushed with fat.

Does kneading the dough with milk or curd raise the protein?

Slightly, and the amount is easy to overstate. ICMR-NIN measures whole cow milk at 3.26 g of protein per 100 g, so replacing the water in a 30 g roti with 20 ml of milk adds about 0.65 g. It also brings lysine, which helps more than the gram gain suggests.

Could roti alone cover a day's protein need?

Around 510 g of atta a day, roughly 17 medium rotis, taking the 54 g RDA for a 65 kg adult. Nobody eats that and nobody needs to, because a day's protein arrives from several foods at once. The figure mainly shows what a cereal-only plate cannot do.