Top 10 Foods Highest in Sucrose

Written by Daisy Whitbread
BSc (Hons) MSc DipION

Last Updated: May 29th, 2023

Sucrose is a disaccharide created by the combination of glucose and fructose. Sucrose is mainly found in plants and is the primary component of most granulated sugars we use in baking. These sugars are mainly refined from sugar beets or sugar cane.

Consumption of refined added sugars such as sucrose is too high in the typical Western diet and should therefore be reduced. Today sucrose can be found in a range of fast foods, restaurant foods, and other commercially processed foods. These high sucrose foods include puddings, milkshakes, cakes, fruit juice drinks, deep-fried meats with sweet sauce, cookies, pancakes, candies, chocolate, and commercial cereals.

The list below gives the amount of sucrose in both grams and teaspoons. 1 teaspoon of packed sucrose weighs about 4 grams. For more high sucrose foods see the complete list of foods with sucrose in the nutrient ranking tool.

Table of Contents

Introduction
List of Foods Highest in Sucrose
About the Data
Lists By Food Group
Related
References
Feedback

List of Foods Highest in Sucrose

1 Dulce De Leche

Up to 41.8% Sucrose

Sucrose per Cup	Sucrose per 100g
127g (32 tsp)	41.8g (10 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Dulce De Leche. (Source)

More Desserts High in Sucrose

35g per cup of chocolate and vanilla pudding
30g per cup of rice pudding (arroz con leche)
29g per cup of tapioca pudding

2 Milkshakes (Blended with Candy)

Up to 16.9% Sucrose

Sucrose per 12oz Cup	Sucrose per 100g
58.8g (15 tsp)	16.9g (4 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for McDonalds Mcflurry With M&Ms. (Source)

More Ice-Creams and Milkshakes High in Sucrose

59g in a McDonald's McFlurry with Oreos
59g in a Soft-Serve Ice-Cream with Milk Chocolate Candies
35g in a McDonald's Hot Fudge Sunday

3 Cake with Frosting

Up to 36.5% Sucrose

Sucrose per Slice	Sucrose per 100g
52.6g (13 tsp)	36.5g (9 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Yellow Cake With Chocolate Frosting. (Source)

A slice of apple pie contains 14g of sucrose.

4 Cran-Lemonade Juice Drink

Up to 8.2% Sucrose

Sucrose per 16oz Glass	Sucrose per 100g
40.5g (10 tsp)	8.2g (2.1 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Ocean Spray Cran Lemonade. (Source)

More Drinks High in Sucrose

40g per 16oz cup of coffee with milk and sugar
32g per 16oz iced mocha
28g per 16oz horchata
27g per 16oz bottle of Ruby Red Cranberry Juice
13g per 8.4oz can of Red Bull

See the ranking of all drinks high in sucrose.

5 Orange Chicken (Deep Fried with Sweet Sauce)

Up to 12.3% Sucrose

Sucrose per 9 Pieces	Sucrose per 100g
23.2g (6 tsp)	12.3g (3.1 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Restaurant Chinese Orange Chicken. (Source)

More Deep Fried Dishes with Sweet Sauce High in Sucrose

22g in 9 pieces of sesame chicken
17g in 9 pieces of General Tso's Chicken
11g in 9 pieces of lemon chicken
9g in 9 pieces of sweet and sour chiekn
6g in 9 pieces of sweet and sour pork

6 Cookies

Up to 47.9% Sucrose

Sucrose in 3 Cookies	Sucrose per 100g
21.6g (5 tsp)	47.9g (12 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Glutino Gluten Free Cookies Vanilla Creme. (Source)

A 1.5oz KitKat Bar contains 17g of sucrose.

7 Fast Foods (Hot Cakes with Syrup)

Up to 7.8% Sucrose

Sucrose per 3 Pancakes	Sucrose per 100g
17.1g (4 tsp)	7.8g (1.9 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for McDonalds Pancakes. (Source)

More Fast Foods High in Sucrose

17g per cup of coleslaw
12g per fruit and yogurt parfait
9g in a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich
5g in a burger king double whopper

See over 100 fast foods high in sucrose.

8 Kit-Kat Bar

Up to 40% Sucrose

Sucrose per 1.5oz Bar	Sucrose per 100g
16.8g (4 tsp)	40g (10 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Kit Kat Wafer Bar. (Source)

6 tootsie rolls contain 16g of sucrose.

9 Chocolate (45-59% Cocoa)

Up to 46.3% Sucrose

Sucrose per 1oz Square	Sucrose per 100g
13.1g (3.3 tsp)	46.3g (12 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Dark Chocolate (45-59% Cocoa). (Source)

Milk chocolate is even higher in sucrose.

10 Malt-o-Meal Golden Puffs

Up to 35.5% Sucrose

Sucrose per 3/4 Cup	Sucrose per 100g
9.6g (2.4 tsp)	35.5g (9 tsp)

Nutrition Facts for Malt-O-Meal Golden Puffs. (Source)

See the list of breakfast cereals high in sucrose.

See All 200 Foods High in Sucrose Next ➞

About the Data

Data for the curated food lists comes from the USDA Food Data Central Repository.

You can check our data against the USDA by clicking the (Source) link at the bottom of each food listing.

Note: When checking data please be sure the serving sizes are the same. In the rare case you find any difference, please contact us and we will fix it right away.

From the Nutrient Ranking Tool

Use the ranking tool links below to select foods and create your own food list to share or print.

View more nutrients with the nutrient ranking tool, or see ratios with the nutrient ratio tool.

Data Sources and References

U.S. Agricultural Research Service Food Data Central

MyFoodData provides free nutrition data tools and articles to help you organize and understand the foods you eat.

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