🥙 Sugar📰 Article

How Much Sugar Is in a Falafel?

By Smoothie Nutrition Calculator · Updated 2026 · 6 min read

How Much Sugar Is in a Falafel? — illustration of a grain bowl with rice, vegetables and sauce

Mezeh Nutrition Calculator: The Short Answer

The Falafel (4 pc) contains 6g of sugar — the most of any item at Mezeh. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item is about 12% of a day's sugar budget: the highest on this menu, though modest next to the sweet drinks at most chains.

Sugar at Mezeh is concentrated, not spread out: most savoury items sit in single digits, and the total is driven by drinks, desserts and sweet sauces. The ranking below shows exactly where the sugar lives on this menu.

The Highest-Sugar Mezeh Items, Ranked

From the Mezeh calculator data. If you are managing blood sugar or simply cutting back, this table — not the calorie column — is the one to scan before ordering.

ItemSugarCaloriesProteinCarbsSodium
Falafel (4 pc)6g31011g32g400mg
Baklava (1 pc)5g2003g12g55mg
Chicken Shawarma Bowl Base4g52032g48g980mg
Chopped Salad Base4g602g9g90mg
Pita Bread (whole)4g3509g59g630mg
Pickled Onions & Cucumbers3g251g5g280mg
Tzatziki (serving)2g453g2g105mg
Lentil Soup (cup)2g19010g28g640mg
How Much Sugar Is in a Falafel? — illustration of fresh vegetables (in-article illustration)

How to Keep Sugar Down Without Skipping the Visit

Three moves cover most of it. Make water or an unsweetened drink the default — sweetened drinks are the largest single sugar source on almost every fast-food menu. Treat the items in the table above as dessert, not as part of the meal. And when two similar items differ mainly in a sweet sauce or glaze, take the plainer build: the sugar difference is usually larger than the calorie difference suggests.

One caution against over-reading the numbers: sugar in a whole-food item (fruit, milk) arrives with fibre and protein that slow it down, while sugar in a sweetened drink arrives alone. The calculator's sugar column treats them identically because labels do — your judgement should not. Check your full build, drink included, before you order.

  • Sweetest item: Falafel (4 pc) — 6g sugar
  • Reference points: FDA daily value 50g; AHA suggested limits 25g (women) / 36g (men)
  • Savoury core of the menu: mostly 0–5g sugar per item

The Lowest-Sugar End of the Mezeh Menu

The other end of the scale is where everyday orders should live. These are the lowest-sugar items in the Mezeh calculator — the savoury core of the menu, where sugar is an ingredient trace rather than a headline.

ItemSugarCaloriesProteinCarbsSodium
Chicken Kabob (protein portion)0g20019g2g240mg
Unsweetened Iced Tea0g00g0g10mg
Lamb Gyro Meat (protein portion)1g29020g4g700mg
Turmeric Rice (serving)1g2805g52g420mg
Brown Rice (serving)1g2803g34g550mg
Steak Shawarma (protein portion)1g23021g5g1010mg
Spicy Feta (serving)1g1304g2g160mg
Hummus (serving)1g1203g9g140mg

Check It Yourself in the Mezeh Calculator

Every figure in this article comes from the Mezeh calculator on this site, and you can reproduce the answer in under a minute: open the calculator, add your meal with the drink included exactly as you order it — size, side, drink and sauce included — and read the live totals. Published menu numbers describe the standard build; your build is the one you actually eat, and the two diverge most often on drinks, sauces and portion upgrades.

If your total differs from the headline figure here, the difference is information, not error: it tells you which of your regular additions carries the calories. Change one component at a time and watch which single swap moves the total most — that swap, repeated, is worth more than any one-off light order.

The Full Nutrition Profile of the Falafel

Here is the complete panel for the Falafel (4 pc), exactly as the Mezeh calculator carries it, with each nutrient also expressed as a percentage of its daily value on a 2,000-calorie reference diet. Read down the percentage column rather than the grams: it is the fastest way to see which nutrient this item is really about. For the Falafel, the standout is dietary fibre, at 25% of a full day in a single item.

Two cautions belong with any single-item panel. First, published values describe the standard build — your portion, your sauce quantity and your size can move every line. Second, percentages are shares of a whole day, not grades: an item at 45% of the day's sodium is a problem only in the context of what else the day holds, which is why the calculator totals the full order rather than judging items one at a time.

NutrientAmount% Daily Value
Calories31016%
Protein11g22%
Carbohydrates32g12%
Total Fat17g22%
Dietary Fibre7g25%
Sugars6g12%
Sodium400mg17%

Where This Answer Sits on the Whole Mezeh Menu

Zoom out and the Mezeh menu tracked here spans 16 items across 7 categories, from the Unsweetened Iced Tea at 0 calories to the Chicken Shawarma Bowl Base at 520 — a 520-fold spread inside one restaurant. The average item is about 202 calories, 0 items pass 700 calories, and 15 of 16 sit under 500. Any single number quoted from this menu means little until it is placed inside that spread.

That spread is also the opportunity. A menu this wide almost always contains a build for the goal you actually have — the protein target, the sodium ceiling, the 500-calorie lunch — provided the order is assembled deliberately rather than inherited from habit. The rankings in this article are the map; the calculator is where you test the route before you travel it.

  • Menu range: 0 cal (Unsweetened Iced Tea) to 520 cal (Chicken Shawarma Bowl Base)
  • 13 items under 300 calories · 15 under 500 · average 202
  • Most protein-dense: Chicken Kabob (protein portion) at 9.5g protein per 100 cal

The One Swap That Changes the Answer

If the Falafel (4 pc) is your usual order and the numbers above are more than you wanted, the highest-value single change on this menu is the Chicken Kabob (protein portion): 200 calories against 310 (110 fewer), 19g of protein against 11g, and 240mg of sodium against 400mg (160mg less salt). One swap, repeated weekly, is worth more than a month of good intentions.

Not every swap has to be a downgrade in enjoyment: the pattern that works at Mezeh is swapping the component, not the meal — the same style of order rebuilt around a lighter anchor, with the sauce, cheese or side demoted from default to deliberate. Price both versions in the calculator once and the better default usually picks itself.

How Much Sugar Is in a Falafel? — illustration of a grain bowl with rice, vegetables and sauce (another serving view)

People Also Ask

How Much Sodium Is in a Steak Shawarma?

The Steak Shawarma (protein portion) contains 1010mg of sodium — 44% of the 2,300mg daily guideline, in a single item, before any side or drink. It is the saltiest item at Mezeh, and the clearest example of why sodium, not calories, is this menu's quiet problem.

Can You Eat Mezeh on a Keto Diet?

Yes — you can eat keto at Mezeh, but only from a short list. The lowest-carb item in the Mezeh calculator is the Unsweetened Iced Tea at 0g of total carbs (about 0g net), and a workable keto meal usually combines one or two of the lowest-carb items below while skipping breads, batters, sweet sauces and starchy sides entirely.

How Much Sugar Is in a Pad Thai?

The Pad Thai (Regular) contains 44g of sugar — the most of any item at Noodles & Company, and more than the American Heart Association's full-day suggested limit for women (25g) and men (36g) in a single serving. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item can cover most of a day's sugar budget before anything else is eaten.

How Much Sugar Is in a Coca-Cola?

The Coca-Cola (20 oz) contains 65g of sugar — the most of any item at Marco's Pizza, and more than the American Heart Association's full-day suggested limit for women (25g) and men (36g) in a single serving. For scale, the FDA daily value for added sugar is 50g, so this one item can cover most of a day's sugar budget before anything else is eaten.

Build This Meal in the Mezeh Nutrition Calculator

Every number in this guide comes from the same data as our free Mezeh Nutrition Calculator — open it, build your exact order, and check your totals live.

Open the Mezeh Nutrition Calculator →

Frequently Asked Questions

The Falafel (4 pc), with 6g of sugar and 310 calories.

Related Questions

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