diff --git a/docs/about/releases.md b/docs/about/releases.md
index 26c9cd7f..31f671e7 100644
--- a/docs/about/releases.md
+++ b/docs/about/releases.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## v2.7.1 (unreleased)
 
 ### New Features
+- Added [VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor.nrefs][virtualizarr.accessor.VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor.nrefs] — a method that returns the total number of virtual chunk references in the dataset, ignoring non-virtual variables. Closes #573.
 
 ### Breaking changes
 
diff --git a/docs/api/virtualizarr.md b/docs/api/virtualizarr.md
index d7cb28af..36125eb7 100644
--- a/docs/api/virtualizarr.md
+++ b/docs/api/virtualizarr.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Users can use xarray for every step apart from reading and serializing virtual r
 
 ::: virtualizarr.accessor.VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor.nbytes
 
+::: virtualizarr.accessor.VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor.nrefs
+
 ## Renaming paths
 
 ::: virtualizarr.accessor.VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor.rename_paths
diff --git a/virtualizarr/accessor.py b/virtualizarr/accessor.py
index 5a63e733..5f51833f 100644
--- a/virtualizarr/accessor.py
+++ b/virtualizarr/accessor.py
@@ -285,6 +285,27 @@ def nbytes(self) -> int:
             for var in self.ds.variables.values()
         )
 
+    def nrefs(self) -> int:
+        """Count the total number of virtual chunk references in the dataset.
+
+        Ignores non-virtual variables (i.e. those not backed by a ManifestArray).
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        int
+            Total number of virtual references across all virtual variables.
+
+        Examples
+        --------
+        >>> vds.vz.nrefs()  # doctest: +SKIP
+        42
+        """
+        return sum(
+            len(var.data.manifest)
+            for var in self.ds.variables.values()
+            if isinstance(var.data, ManifestArray)
+        )
+
 
 @xr.register_dataset_accessor("vz")
 class VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor(_VirtualiZarrDatasetAccessor):
diff --git a/virtualizarr/tests/test_xarray.py b/virtualizarr/tests/test_xarray.py
index 05ccca23..1c882bf6 100644
--- a/virtualizarr/tests/test_xarray.py
+++ b/virtualizarr/tests/test_xarray.py
@@ -1163,3 +1163,25 @@ def test_isel_iterative_append_simulation(self, array_v3_metadata):
 
         # every original chunk should have been visited exactly once
         assert sorted(seen_refs) == [0, 100, 200, 300]
+
+
+@requires_hdf5plugin
+@requires_imagecodecs
+def test_nrefs(simple_netcdf4, local_registry):
+    parser = HDFParser()
+    with open_virtual_dataset(
+        url=simple_netcdf4,
+        registry=local_registry,
+        parser=parser,
+    ) as vds:
+        # simple_netcdf4 has one virtual variable 'foo' with a single chunk
+        assert vds.vz.nrefs() == 1
+
+    with open_virtual_dataset(
+        url=simple_netcdf4,
+        registry=local_registry,
+        parser=parser,
+        loadable_variables=["foo"],
+    ) as vds:
+        # when the only variable is loadable (non-virtual), nrefs should be 0
+        assert vds.vz.nrefs() == 0