I was curious to know just how bad or good for you arepas are. So I went ahead and did some calculations. According to the Harina PAN packaging Nutritional Facts, in 1 serving of 30 g. there is:
| Calories | 110 |
| Calories from Fat | 5 |
| Total Fat | 0,5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Trans Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 0 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 24 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
Harina PAN & Arepa Nutritional Facts
So, if we do some math… ugh math… we can establish that (if you follow my recipe) we are using 1 cup of Harina PAN, which I measured out to be about 170 grams. Out of that I got about 4 arepas, so each arepa would contain about 42.5 grams of Harina Pan, in which with a simple cross-multiplication we can conclude that the nutritional information would be as follows (keep in mind this is just an estimate):
Serving = 1 Arepa of about 42.5 g. of Harina Pan + Water (without adding the salt)
| Calories | 156 |
| Calories from Fat | 7 |
| Total Fat | 0,7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Trans Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 0 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 34 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4.25 g |
| Protein | 2.83 g |
For those of you in a Gluten Free diet or Low Sodium/Heart Healthy Diet, an arepa can be a healthier alternative to a sandwich, as long as you fill it with healthy fillings like some scrambled egg whites and other cheeses or meats you are allowed to eat. For the low sodium diets, just don’t add salt to the mix before you prepare the dough. And you can also use the Harina PAN to make empanadas, tortillas, hallaquitas, tamales and other similar products.
Also I think the arepas made in the Tostiarepa are about twice the size of the arepas I measured out here.
¡Buen Provecho!
***I just realized it took me 4 posts to cover everything about arepas.
Venezuelan Cooking 
Hi! I’m guessing you speak Spanish but since I’m not sure I’m gonna go ahead and ask in English: How big are the arepas in your recipe? I’m doing a low carb diet and wanted to make sure that I take into considerations the exact amount of carbs per arepa so I don’t shoot myself in the foot. Is it as big as one from a arepera in Caracas? Or less?
Thanks so much for this post I really, truly appreciate it.
Jose Scott,
Thank you for visiting the blog and thank you for your comments and your question. I do speak fluent Spanish, English is my second language, so you can post your comments and questions in either language. The arepas in my recipe can be viewed in this post. There you can see a picture of me holding one. My arepas are definitely smaller than the arepas from Areperas in Caracas. The nutritional facts I posted here are the nutritional facts for the recipe here in my blog. Good luck with your diet. I am always in a diet it seems, but there is always room for arepas, and they are really not that bad for you. You just have to consider what you fill them with.
MW
Hey there – Thanks so much for this Post, super useful for me as I too am on a diet and was scratching my head earlier today trying to figure out just how many calories I had eaten from 2 of these! I checked out your recipe (https://venezuelancooking.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/recipe-venezuelan-arepas/) but it didn’t mention anything about scooping out any of the dough after you have cooked them and cut them open. A friend of mine from Caracas scoops a decent amount of the dough out, making it less ‘doughy’. I just wanted to ask if you too did this and therefore if you ended up actually eating less than the 42.5 grams? Sorry, I know this sounds an over convoluted thing to ask – but the amount that I ended up scooping out myself was considerable!
Thanks again for you post.
Sheri, your observation is right on the money. Almost every Venezuelan scoops out a considerable amount of dough in order to make room for the filling. I would say not less than 40% of the dough gets scooped off. Also, the ones mwolowicz is making are considerably smaller than the ones were sold in Caracas when Venezuela existed as a free nation.
Hi AlPicci,
Thank you for visiting the blog and for your comments. Yes, the arepas pictured here are definitely smaller than those you would find in Areperas. Most people make them smaller at home, because at home you would usually eat them with your typical ham and cheese for breakfast or with scrambled eggs, or perhaps some leftovers from pabellón. I do have to say, even though we do “scoop-out” the inside dough of the arepas to make room for the fillings, we usually put it (the scooped-out dough) on the side of the plate and eat it with butter or dip it in the egg yolk of your over-medium fried eggs for breakfast… YUM! I would never let the scooped-out go to waste 😉
-MW
You are completely right, I don’t let the scooped out dough go to waste either, but there is a good portion of the people that do, especially the American people. I guess that in the Post-Chavez era the arepas are getting thinner and thinner at home, but the original ones that I ate all my life when Venezuela was free, prosperous and happy, were always just a little bigger than the ones in the Areperas. I’m an old-timer and one of the few privileged ones who got to eat, when I was a very little boy, at the original Arepera “El Chance” and then later at the “Hermanos Alvarez”
Thank you very much for this info. It is very helpful as I now realize I have been undercalculating the calories.
Nelson,
Thank you for visiting the blog and thank you for your comment. I am glad this post was helpful to you.
MW
The only thing I do not get is how you can get four arepas out of one cup of arina pan. I make them all the time and the recipe is two cups of arina + 2.5 cups of water for four or, at most, five arepas depending on the size. But certainly four arepas out of a cup of arina does not seem realistic. Is is possible that your calculations above or the number or cups you used are off on the description?
AG remember the kid said he’s always on a diet, that’s probably why he makes his arepas so tiny. No way I could get four arepas out of a cup of harina. I only get around 10 arepas out of a whole package of harina….yes, I make’em huge. Regularly people get 20 out of a package.
AlPicci,
Thanks again for visiting the blog and for the comments. You are correct, all of these calculations would depend on how big you make your arepas.
-MW