Duck Meat Calories & Nutrition Calculator

The calorie gap between skin-on and skinless duck is staggering: 404 kcal vs. 135 kcal per 100g raw — a 200% reduction when skin is removed. Fat drops from 39.34g to 5.95g — the skin alone contributes approximately 33.4g of fat per 100g of the whole bird. For comparison, removing chicken thigh skin saves only 77 kcal/100g, and removing chicken breast skin saves only 13 kcal. Duck skin removal saves 269 kcal per 100g ^[1][2].

Protein also shifts dramatically: skin-on duck has only 11.49g protein per 100g (diluted by the thick fat layer) vs. meat only at 18.28g. The protein-to-calorie efficiency goes from abysmal 35.2 kcal/g protein (skin-on) to reasonable 7.4 kcal/g protein (meat only) — a 4.7x improvement in protein efficiency ^[1][4].

For food journaling: the skin-on vs. skin-off choice in duck is the single most impactful skin-removal decision across all common poultry. A 150g serving of skin-on raw duck has 606 kcal and 59g fat. The same weight skinless has 203 kcal and 8.9g fat. If you eat duck skin, logging it accurately is essential — the error margin is hundreds of calories.

Duck meat provides 2.4mg iron per 100g raw — 13% of the 18mg daily value and the highest iron content among commonly consumed poultry. Chicken breast has only 0.37mg (2% DV), chicken thigh 0.60mg, turkey dark meat 1.09mg, and quail 4.0mg (but quail is less commonly available). Duck's iron approaches beef round (2.6mg) and exceeds pork loin (1.0mg) ^[1][3].

Roasting concentrates iron to 2.7mg per 100g. Per 3 oz (85g) roasted: 2.3mg iron (13% DV). Per half duck breast (~150g roasted): 4.1mg iron (23% DV) — a meaningful contribution to daily iron needs from a single serving. The iron is predominantly heme iron, with approximately 40% bioavailability vs. ~10% for plant-based non-heme iron ^[1][2].

The dark color of duck meat (compared to chicken breast) directly correlates with its higher myoglobin content, which is the primary storage form of iron in muscle tissue. All duck meat is essentially 'dark meat' — even the breast is darker than chicken thigh, explaining the consistently higher iron across all cuts.

Duck meat (skinless, raw) provides notable amounts of all eight B-vitamins per 100g: thiamine 0.36mg (30% DV), riboflavin 0.45mg (35% DV), niacin 5.3mg (33% DV), B6 0.34mg (20% DV), folate 25mcg (6% DV), B12 0.40mcg (17% DV), pantothenic acid 1.50mg (30% DV). This breadth is unusual — chicken breast, for instance, is strong in niacin but weak in thiamine and riboflavin ^[1][3].

Thiamine at 0.36mg is particularly notable — 5x higher than chicken breast (0.07mg) and nearly double turkey breast (0.04mg). Per 3 oz duck meat: 0.31mg thiamine (26% DV). Riboflavin at 0.45mg is similarly high — 2.6x chicken breast (0.17mg). These two B-vitamins are often overlooked in poultry nutrition discussions ^[1][2].

Duck also provides 5.8mg vitamin C per 100g raw (6% DV) — unusual for meat, as most poultry has zero. Combined with 0.70mg vitamin E (5% DV) and 24mcg vitamin A (3% DV), duck has a broader vitamin profile than any other common poultry meat.

When properly roasted (rendering out much of the subcutaneous fat), duck meat only reaches 201 kcal with 23.5g protein and 11.2g fat per 100g — significantly more manageable than the raw skin-on values suggest. This roasted skinless profile is comparable to roasted chicken thigh (185 kcal, 24.5g protein, 9.3g fat) — only about 16 kcal more ^[1][2].

Roasted duck with skin is also improved from raw: 337 kcal vs. 404 kcal raw as substantial fat renders out during cooking. However, skin-on roasted duck is still 68% more calorie-dense than skinless roasted (337 vs. 201 kcal). If eating duck confit (cooked in its own fat), calorie density can exceed 400 kcal per 100g due to fat absorption ^[1][4].

For food journaling: roasted skinless duck is a perfectly reasonable protein source at a moderate calorie cost — comparable to dark-meat chicken. The perception that duck is always an extremely high-calorie food comes from skin-on preparations. Logging skinless roasted duck should be done with the 201 kcal/100g value, not the skin-on 337 kcal.

Duck skin-on raw has 13.22g saturated fat per 100g (66% DV) — extremely high. Skinless meat has only 2.32g (12% DV) — a manageable level similar to chicken thigh (1.70g). The skin carries 82% of the total saturated fat in the whole bird. Of the total fat in duck, approximately 49% is monounsaturated (primarily oleic acid), 33% saturated, and 13% polyunsaturated ^[1][4].

Rendered duck fat (used in confit and cooking) has a fatty acid profile surprisingly similar to olive oil: ~49% monounsaturated, ~33% saturated, ~13% polyunsaturated. Compare to butter at ~63% saturated or lard at ~39% saturated. Duck fat's smoke point (~190°C) is higher than butter (177°C), making it a stable cooking fat ^[3][4].

For food journaling: if you eat duck skin, log the full 13.2g saturated fat per 100g. If you eat meat only, saturated fat is modest at 2.3g — less than many cheeses per serving. The key variable is skin inclusion: skinless duck is a moderate-fat poultry; duck with skin is one of the highest-fat poultry preparations commonly consumed.