How Much Sugar Is in a Tangerine?
A medium tangerine has about 9 g of natural sugar — smaller and easier to peel than an orange, with a similar sugar profile.
in 1 medium (88 g) · about 2.1 teaspoons
- Per serving
- 9 g
- Per 100 g
- 10.6 g
- Type
- Natural sugar
- In teaspoons
- ≈ 2.1 tsp
Fine in a portion — worth keeping an eye on.
A medium tangerine carries about 9 g of sugar, a touch less than a whole orange simply because it's smaller. It's also easier to peel with your hands, which is exactly why portion control gets tricky — a snack-size fruit invites eating two or three at once.
Two tangerines edge close to what a single orange delivers, so treat a second one as a real second serving. Whole, they're still a solid low-effort fruit choice; just skip the temptation to juice them, which strips the fibre the same way it does for oranges.
How tangerine compares
Out of 205 everyday foods and drinks we track, tangerine ranks #113 for sugar per serving — more than 45% of them.
- Greek Yogurt, Blueberry10g
- Watermelon9g
- Tangerine (this page)9g
- Coconut water9g
- Mandarin Orange9g
Bars show sugar per serving. Tap any food to see its full breakdown.
Lower-sugar swaps
- Peel and eat one at a time rather than a whole bag in a sitting
- Choose the whole fruit over orange juice if you want the citrus flavour without the sugar spike
Frequently asked questions
- Is a tangerine lower in sugar than an orange?
- Slightly — a medium tangerine has about 9 g versus roughly 12 g for a medium orange, mostly because tangerines are smaller.
- Is it easy to overeat tangerine sugar?
- Yes — because they're small and easy to peel, eating two or three in one sitting can quietly double or triple the sugar total.
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Sugar values from USDA FoodData Central; actual amounts vary by brand, ripeness, and recipe. Last updated 2026-08-09.