Abstract: The better a person's nutrition knowledge, the more he will pay attention to the quality and quantity of food he consumes. This study aims to determine the relationship of balanced nutrition knowledge with the nutritional status of orphanage children. The study design was a cross-sectional study. A total of 60 samples originating from 2 orphanages in the Makassar City area. Data collected; subject characteristics, nutritional status, and level of knowledge about balanced nutrition. Statistical analysis using the chi-square test. The results showed that the majority (75%) of the subjects' nutritional status was dominated by normal nutritional status (–2 SD to +1 SD). For the level of knowledge, most of the subjects had well-balanced nutrition knowledge in 36 samples (60%), while the subjects in the less category were 24 samples (40%). From the chi-square, test results showed that the p-value was not significant (p> 0.05), which is p = 0.164, which means there was no relationship between knowledge of balanced nutrition with the nutritional status of the subject. It was concluded that there was no relationship between balanced nutrition knowledge and the nutritional status of orphanages in Makassar City (p = 0.164). Nutrition education programs need to be developed and implemented for groups of orphanage children because nutrition education can be an easily accessible and effective tool for increasing knowledge about food in supporting the nutritional status of children.