Convert food weight from raw to cooked (and back)
Rice and pasta soak up water and almost triple their weight; meat loses water and shrinks. If you weighed your food after cooking, here you can see what it weighed raw and how many calories it has, and the other way round.
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How is cooked weight worked out?
We compare the raw and cooked entries of each food in the USDA database (SR Legacy) using a nutrient that is not lost in cooking: carbs for grains and legumes, which absorb water but keep their carbs, and protein for meat and fish, which lose water and some fat but keep their protein. So 100 g of raw white rice gives about 284 g cooked (factor ×2.84), 80 g of dry pasta about 194 g cooked (×2.42) and 150 g of raw chicken breast about 109 g roasted (×0.73). Cooking does not change the calories, only the water: if you weigh 200 g of cooked rice, it was about 70 g raw and about 257 kcal. It is an average: more water or longer cooking changes the final weight, so weighing raw is still the most reliable.
Cooked weight: 16 foods
What 100 g raw becomes once cooked, and the calories per 100 g raw and cooked. The difference is water: rice and pasta gain it; meat and fish lose it.
| Food | Factor | 100 g raw gives | kcal per 100 g raw | kcal per 100 g cooked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White rice | ×2.84 | 284 g | 365 kcal | 129 kcal |
| Brown rice | ×2.98 | 298 g | 367 kcal | 123 kcal |
| Pasta | ×2.42 | 242 g | 371 kcal | 153 kcal |
| Quinoa | ×3.01 | 301 g | 368 kcal | 122 kcal |
| Couscous | ×3.33 | 333 g | 376 kcal | 113 kcal |
| Bulgur | ×4.08 | 408 g | 342 kcal | 84 kcal |
| Oats (porridge with water) | ×5.52 | 552 g | 389 kcal | 70 kcal |
| Lentils | ×3.15 | 315 g | 352 kcal | 112 kcal |
| Chickpeas | ×2.3 | 230 g | 378 kcal | 164 kcal |
| White beans | ×2.4 | 240 g | 333 kcal | 139 kcal |
| Chicken breast | ×0.73 | 73 g | 120 kcal | 164 kcal |
| Ground beef (15% fat) | ×0.67 | 67 g | 215 kcal | 321 kcal |
| Ground turkey | ×0.72 | 72 g | 148 kcal | 206 kcal |
| Pork tenderloin | ×0.8 | 80 g | 109 kcal | 136 kcal |
| Salmon | ×0.92 | 92 g | 208 kcal | 226 kcal |
| Cod | ×0.78 | 78 g | 82 kcal | 105 kcal |
USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): raw versus cooked entry, by carbs (grains and legumes) or protein (meat and fish). Oats are porridge made with water. Averages: water and cooking time change the result. These are reference ranges for healthy adults, not a diagnosis or individual advice.
FAQ
Should I weigh food raw or cooked?
Raw is the most reliable: the raw weight does not depend on how much water or time you cook with, and it is how package labels are given. If it is already cooked, weigh it anyway and use the converter to see what it weighed raw; what matters is not mixing a cooked weight with raw calories.
How much does rice weigh once cooked?
On average about 2.8 times its raw weight: 100 g of raw white rice gives about 284 g cooked; brown rice, about 298 g. It depends on water and time, so treat it as a reference, not an exact rule.
How much does chicken shrink when cooked?
Roasted breast weighs about 27% less than raw: 150 g raw ends up around 109 g. It loses water (and some fat) but not protein, which is why cooked chicken has more protein per 100 g.
Does cooking change the calories?
Hardly: what changes is the water. 100 g of raw rice has about 365 kcal and is still 365 kcal spread over about 284 g cooked. With meat some of the fat stays in the pan, so the real calories may be slightly lower; and any oil you add does count.
Keep reading
- How to count calories without going crazy →
- Weekly meal prep for beginners →
- Batch cooking for the week →
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