Mung Bean Vermicelli Calories & Nutrition Calculator

Despite being made from mung beans, glass noodles contain virtually no protein — only 0.16g per 100g dry and 0.04g per 100g cooked ^[1]. For context, whole cooked mung beans provide 7.0g protein per 100g — roughly 175 times more. The starch extraction process that creates the translucent noodles strips away nearly all of the bean's protein, fat, and fiber.

This is the single most important fact for anyone logging glass noodles: they are pure starch. A cup of cooked mung bean vermicelli (190g) delivers 39.3g of carbohydrates but only 0.1g of protein and 0.02g of fat. Nutritionally, they function more like white rice or plain pasta than like a bean product.

If you're tracking protein intake, glass noodles contribute essentially nothing. The protein in a glass noodle stir-fry comes entirely from the added ingredients — chicken, shrimp, tofu, or eggs — not from the noodles themselves. Log the noodles for their carbohydrate content and track protein sources separately.

Dry mung bean vermicelli contains 351 calories per 100g. After cooking, the same noodles absorb approximately 3–4 times their weight in water, dropping to 84 calories per 100g cooked — a 76% decrease in energy density ^[1]. One standard serving of dry noodles (85g, about 298 kcal) becomes roughly 250–300g cooked (210–252 kcal, accounting for some starch loss to cooking water).

This hydration ratio is higher than wheat pasta (which absorbs about 2x its weight) and similar to rice noodles. The practical implication for portion tracking is significant: if you weigh cooked glass noodles, a 200g plate contains only 168 calories — less than a cup of cooked rice (206 kcal for 158g).

When using this calculator, always specify whether you're entering dry or cooked weight. The difference is 4x in calorie density, which can lead to major tracking errors if the wrong variant is selected.

Per 100g cooked, mung bean vermicelli (84 kcal) has fewer calories than wheat vermicelli (~160 kcal) and is comparable to rice noodles (~109 kcal). However, the protein picture is dramatically different: wheat vermicelli provides about 5.8g protein per 100g cooked, while glass noodles provide essentially zero ^[1].

The fiber comparison follows a similar pattern: wheat vermicelli has 1.8g fiber per 100g cooked, rice noodles have about 1.0g, and glass noodles have only 0.1g. Glass noodles are the most refined of the three — nearly pure amylose starch with no bran, germ, or protein residue.

For nutrition journaling, this means glass noodles are the lowest-calorie noodle option per serving weight, but they also contribute the least nutritional value beyond energy. If you're tracking macronutrient balance, you'll need to add protein and fiber from other components of the meal — the noodles themselves provide only carbohydrates.

Plain cooked glass noodles are one of the lowest-fat foods available — 0.01g fat per 100g. But stir-frying with even a tablespoon of oil transforms the profile to approximately 3.8g fat per 100g, raising the calorie count from 84 to about 125 kcal per 100g. The noodles' porous, absorbent starch matrix readily soaks up cooking oil ^[2].

Soy sauce is the other major modifier: a single tablespoon adds 879mg sodium to a dish that starts with only 5mg per 100g. A typical pad woon sen (Thai glass noodle stir-fry) serving can contain 800–1200mg sodium from combined soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce — roughly 35–50% of the Daily Value.

For accurate food journal entries of stir-fried glass noodle dishes, estimate oil absorption at about 1–2 teaspoons per serving (40–80 additional calories) and track sauce-based sodium separately. The noodle base is low-calorie; the cooking method and seasonings determine the final nutritional impact.

Glass noodles become transparent when cooked because they're made from nearly pure amylose starch extracted from mung beans. Unlike wheat flour (which contains gluten proteins that create opacity), mung bean starch forms a clear gel when hydrated — the same principle that makes tapioca pearls translucent ^[3].

This purity is why the nutritional profile is so extreme: the extraction process washes away protein (which would cloud the noodle), fiber (which would create texture), and minerals (which are bound to the hull). What remains is essentially a refined carbohydrate matrix with trace minerals from the processing water.

For practical tracking purposes, this means glass noodles behave similarly to sugar or refined starch in terms of macronutrient composition — they're nearly 100% carbohydrate by dry weight. The key difference from table sugar is that glass noodle starch is complex (long-chain amylose) rather than simple (mono/disaccharides), which is a structural distinction relevant for food science classification. From a calorie and macro perspective, they should be logged as a pure carbohydrate source.