Rice Calculator
1 cup of uncooked rice yields about 3 cups of cooked rice, and 200 grams of uncooked rice yields about 500 grams cooked. This rice calculator converts uncooked rice to cooked rice and cooked rice back to uncooked, in either cups or grams. Enter an amount, pick your unit, and choose which direction you are converting. Rice absorbs water and expands as it cooks, so a small amount of uncooked rice turns into a noticeably larger amount once it is done. The two ratios used here, tripling by volume and multiplying by 2.5 for weight, are the most consistently cited figures across cooking references and recipe developers. They work well for everyday planning such as scaling a recipe, portioning a meal, or working out how much dry rice to buy for a given cooked yield. The ratios are general-purpose estimates rather than an exact figure for every rice variety. Actual results shift with the type of rice, the water ratio used, the cooking method, and how the rice is measured before and after cooking, so treat the output as a solid planning number and check package directions for a specific bag when precision matters.
Quick answer
Uncooked rice roughly triples in volume when cooked, so 1 cup uncooked becomes about 3 cups cooked.
What this tells you
- •Uncooked rice roughly triples in volume when cooked, so 1 cup uncooked becomes about 3 cups cooked.
- •Uncooked rice roughly multiplies by 2.5 in weight when cooked, so 200 g uncooked becomes about 500 g cooked.
- •Volume (cups) and weight (grams) use different ratios because rice absorbs water, which changes weight and volume differently.
- •To go the other way, cooked to uncooked, the calculator divides by the same ratio instead of multiplying.
- •These are general averages, not a per-variety table. White, brown, jasmine, basmati, and wild rice all vary somewhat around these figures.
- •Brown and wild rice sometimes land slightly under the 3x volume figure because of their bran layer.
- •Results are rounded to 4 decimal places for readability.
How to Use
- 1Enter the amount of rice you want to convert.
- 2Select the unit, either cups or grams.
- 3Select the direction, either uncooked to cooked or cooked to uncooked.
- 4Click Calculate to see the converted amount along with the ratio used.
- 5Use the cooked figure to plan servings, or the uncooked figure to work out how much dry rice to buy or cook.
How It Works
Formula
Uncooked to cooked: cookedAmount = uncookedAmount x ratio. Cooked to uncooked: uncookedAmount = cookedAmount / ratio. Ratio = 3.0 for cups, 2.5 for grams.Rice absorbs water as it cooks, which increases both its volume and its weight, but not by the same factor. By volume, a cup of dry rice grains has air gaps between them that close up and fill with absorbed water once cooked, roughly tripling the measured cup volume. By weight, the rice itself gains mass equal to the water it absorbs, which works out to roughly 2.5 times the starting dry weight. Because these are two different physical measurements, the calculator keeps the cups ratio and the grams ratio separate and never mixes them. To reverse the calculation, cooked to uncooked, the calculator simply divides the cooked amount by the same ratio instead of multiplying.
Calculation note: values are processed in the order shown above, using the current input units.
Worked Examples
2 cups uncooked rice
2 cups x 3.0 = 6 cups of cooked rice.
200 grams uncooked rice
200 g x 2.5 = 500 g of cooked rice.
6 cups cooked rice, reversed
6 cups / 3.0 = 2 cups of uncooked rice needed to produce that amount cooked.
1 cup uncooked rice
1 cup x 3.0 = 3 cups cooked. This is the cleanest reference figure for the tool, roughly enough for 2 to 3 servings depending on portion size, though the exact number of servings depends on how much rice each person is served.
Uncooked to Cooked Rice by Cup Amount
Common uncooked rice amounts in cups and the resulting cooked volume at the 3.0x ratio.
| Uncooked (cups) | Cooked (cups) |
|---|---|
| 0.5 | 1.5 |
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 |
Figures use the general 3.0x volume ratio. Brown and wild rice can land slightly under this because of their bran layer, so check package directions for a specific bag.
Why does rice expand when it cooks
Dry rice grains are mostly starch packed into a hard, dense form with almost no water content. When rice cooks in simmering water or steam, the grains absorb water and the starch granules swell, which is why a small pile of dry rice turns into a much larger pile of cooked rice. The volume increase is more dramatic than the weight increase because dry grains also sit with small air gaps between them, and cooking closes those gaps while adding absorbed water at the same time.
The exact water ratio and cook time varies by rice type. White rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, and wild rice all have different starch structures, bran content, and grain shapes, so they do not absorb water at identical rates. That variation is exactly why this calculator uses one general-purpose multiplier for volume and one for weight instead of a separate table for every variety, since cooking references themselves do not agree closely enough on per-variety figures to make a detailed table reliable.
Brown rice and wild rice keep their bran layer, which is tougher and slower to absorb water than the polished surface of white rice. Both can end up cooking to slightly less than 3 times their dry volume, sometimes closer to 2.5x depending on the batch and cook method. If a specific bag of rice includes cooking instructions with a stated yield, that figure will usually be more accurate for that product than a general average, so it is worth checking the package when the exact number matters.
Common mistakes
- Measuring cooked rice loosely packed instead of scooped and packed the same way each time. A loosely mounded cup and a lightly packed cup of cooked rice can differ by a noticeable amount, which throws off any comparison to a ratio-based estimate.
- Assuming every rice variety cooks at exactly the same ratio. White rice, brown rice, jasmine, basmati, and wild rice all vary somewhat, and brown and wild rice in particular often land a bit under the 3x volume figure.
- Confusing dry weight with dry volume when converting. Grams and cups are not interchangeable without a separate density figure for rice, so this calculator keeps the cups ratio and the grams ratio separate and never mixes them.
- Forgetting that the ratio only applies to rice cooked with a normal amount of water. Extra-wet preparations like rice pudding or very dry pilaf-style rice can shift the actual expansion away from the general estimate.
- Applying the cooked-to-uncooked direction to a rice dish that already contains other ingredients, such as fried rice or a rice pilaf with vegetables mixed in, where the measured volume no longer reflects rice alone.
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