Cevapi calories: 5 or 10 in flatbread, with kajmak

One cevap (about 30 g) has about 80 calories. Five cevapi in a lepinja flatbread come to about 810 kcal, ten to about 1,215, and ten with a tablespoon of kajmak to about 1,320. In a full serving, the bread carries as many calories as five cevapi.

In my experience calorie apps miss cevapi more than any other dish: they don't know them, or they count them as plain sausages without the bread. So they were among the first dishes in my regional table. Below are my numbers and how to make the same dinner lighter.

What are cevapi?

Cevapi (also ćevapi or cevapcici) are small grilled rolls of minced meat, eaten all over the Balkans. They're served by the count, five or ten, in a lepinja flatbread (somun in Bosnia) with raw onion, and often with kajmak, a rich clotted cream, or ajvar, a roasted red pepper relish. My table's values are for a usual home mix of beef and lamb.

How many calories are in one cevap?

A cevap of about 30 g (about 1 oz) has about 80 kcal, about 5 g protein and 6 g fat; per 100 g that's about 270 kcal. The meat has almost no carbs; nearly all of them come from the bread.

The number depends most on the meat: a fattier mix gives more, pure beef a bit less. So my table marks it as medium confidence, good for planning a day, not a lab analysis (how I build these values).

How many calories are in cevapi with lepinja?

Cevapi in a 150 g lepinja flatbread come to about 810 kcal for five and about 1,215 for ten. The values are from my table, the same one behind the pages for cevapi, lepinja, kajmak and ajvar.

Serving	kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs
5 cevapi (150 g)	405	26 g	32 g	2.3 g
10 cevapi (300 g)	810	51 g	63 g	4.5 g
lepinja (150 g)	405	13 g	3 g	81 g
tablespoon of kajmak (30 g)	105	1.5 g	11 g	0.6 g
5 cevapi in lepinja	810	38 g	35 g	83 g
10 cevapi in lepinja	1,215	64 g	66 g	86 g
10 cevapi in lepinja with kajmak	1,320	65 g	77 g	86 g
5 cevapi in half a lepinja with ajvar	640	32 g	35 g	45 g

Source: my regional food table, medium confidence; rounded.

For scale, 1,320 kcal is about two thirds of the 2,000 calories the FDA uses as a general daily guide. If you don't know your own number, see how many calories you need a day.

Why is the lepinja half of the count?

A 150 g lepinja has about 405 kcal, the same as five cevapi and more than three slices of white bread. On the grill it also soaks up fat and meat juices, so in practice it's often a bit richer than the table shows.

The first time I added the bread separately, my dinner was a third bigger than I'd thought. The bread doesn't have to go; half a lepinja is the easiest way to save about 205 kcal and keep the same dinner.

What do kajmak, ajvar and onion add?

Kajmak adds the most: one 30 g tablespoon has about 105 kcal and 11 g fat. Spread by eye it's easily two or three tablespoons, so about 210 to 315 kcal of kajmak alone.

Ajvar is lighter than it looks: a 30 g tablespoon has about 35 kcal. Swapping kajmak for ajvar saves about 70 kcal per spoonful and keeps the taste of a proper cevapi plate.

Raw onion hardly counts: 50 g is about 20 kcal, so take as much as you like. A tomato and cucumber salad is also a good side, as long as it isn't swimming in oil.

Which has fewer calories, cevapi or pljeskavica?

Pljeskavica has fewer calories per 100 g than cevapi, about 240 against 270, and pork skewers fewer still, about 200. Per serving, from the same table:

• Pljeskavica, the Balkan burger patty, 200 g in a lepinja: about 885 kcal and 45 g protein.
• Two pork skewers (150 g) in a lepinja: about 705 kcal and 49 g protein.
• Five cevapi in a lepinja: about 810 kcal and 38 g protein.

Skewers give the most protein for the fewest calories, because in my table the cubed meat is leaner than the minced mixes: 11 g of fat per 100 g against 21 g in cevapi. If you eat from the grill often while losing weight, skewers are the best pick; if you really want cevapi, five are perfectly fine.

Are cevapi healthy?

Cevapi are rich in protein and in fat. In cevapi, fat gives about 70 % of the calories (fat has 9 kcal per gram, protein 4, per the NIDDK), while the WHO advises keeping fat under 30 % of your total energy. With vegetables and a sensible amount of bread they fit a normal week; ten with kajmak every weekend is another story.

How do I make a cevapi meal lighter?

To make a cevapi meal lighter, these changes work for me, from the biggest saving to the smallest:

• Five cevapi instead of ten: about 405 kcal less, and still about 26 g protein.
• Half a lepinja instead of a whole one: about 205 kcal less.
• Ajvar instead of kajmak: about 70 kcal less per tablespoon.
• A salad on the side: more food on the plate for few calories, so stopping at five is easier.

Five cevapi in half a lepinja with ajvar come to about 640 kcal plus the salad: a normal lunch on a weight-loss plan that doesn't look like a diet.

How do I estimate a portion at a grill?

At a grill, estimate cevapi by count: my numbers are for a cevap of about 30 g, and grills differ. If yours are clearly bigger, count ten as twelve or thirteen. Packaged cevapi from a supermarket have a label, and that's the best number.

Or photograph the plate: Calorko, the Android app I'm building, recognises the cevapi, the bread and the kajmak and estimates the portion with a range, and you fix it with a slider.

In short

• One 30 g cevap has about 80 kcal; 100 g of cevapi about 270 kcal.
• Five cevapi in a lepinja are about 810 kcal, ten about 1,215, with kajmak about 1,320.
• The lepinja carries about 405 kcal, as much as five cevapi.
• Easiest savings: five instead of ten, half the bread, ajvar instead of kajmak.