Cooked Yield Calculator for Rice, Dal and Pasta
Use this cooked yield calculator to turn one cook-and-weigh test into the raw amount you need for any number of portions, from your own weights, not a fixed table.
Work out how much raw food to cook
Optional helper: portion × people becomes the wanted cooked amount for any food below whose amount you leave blank.
Foods (example test weights shown; replace them with your own cook-and-weigh test)
Values are rounded: factors to 2 decimals, percentages and weights to 1 decimal.
How does a cooked yield calculator work?
A cooked yield calculator uses the weights from one cook-and-weigh test to predict how much a food weighs after cooking, or how much raw food you need to reach a cooked weight. You weigh the food raw, cook it, weigh it again, and the calculator turns the two numbers into a yield factor:
yield factor = cooked weight ÷ raw weight
raw needed = wanted cooked weight ÷ yield factor
cooked expected = raw weight in hand × yield factor
The change in weight is (yield factor − 1) × 100, shown as a percentage. A factor above 1 means the food swells, as rice, dal and pasta do when they absorb water. A factor below 1 means it shrinks, as spinach and other leafy greens do. All test weights must use one weight unit, and the calculator converts between grams, kilograms, ounces and pounds exactly. It does not accept cups or millilitres, because turning volume into weight needs a density for each food.
Worked example: rice, dal and spinach
These are example test numbers to show the arithmetic. They are not reference yields for any food. With a helper of 150 g cooked per person for 4 people (600 g in total):
| Food | Your test | Yield factor | Change | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice | 100 g raw → 300 g cooked | ×3 | +200% | Raw needed for 600 g cooked: 200 g |
| Dal | 100 g raw → 250 g cooked | ×2.5 | +150% | Raw needed for 600 g cooked: 240 g |
| Spinach | 300 g raw → 100 g cooked | ×0.33 | -66.7% | Cooked from 450 g raw: 150 g |
The spinach factor is shown rounded to 0.33; the calculator uses the exact one-third, which is why 450 g of raw spinach gives exactly 150 g cooked.
Why is a fixed cooking ratio unreliable?
A fixed ratio such as “rice triples” is unreliable because the amount of water a food holds after cooking changes with several things you control or buy. This page therefore contains no built-in yield table: no ratio here is a reference value, and none is presented as typical.
- Variety. Different kinds of rice, lentils and pasta absorb different amounts of water.
- Soaking. Food that was soaked before cooking starts out holding water, so its yield differs from the same food cooked dry.
- Water and method. Draining boiled pasta, absorbing all the water in a pot of rice, and simmering dal to a thick or thin consistency all give different cooked weights.
- Cooking time. Longer cooking can soften food further and change how much liquid it keeps or loses.
Because of this, a cooked yield calculator is only as good as the test behind it. Your own test, with your own ingredient and method, is the most reliable source for your kitchen.
How do I run my own yield test?
Run the test once for each food, using the quantity you usually cook. Then reuse the result until you change the food or the method.
- Weigh the raw food on a kitchen scale and note the unit.
- Cook it exactly as you normally would, including any soaking, draining and seasoning you normally do.
- Weigh the cooked food on the scale with the same empty pot or bowl set to zero, and use the same unit.
- Enter both weights in the calculator, then enter the cooked amount you want, or the raw amount you have.
If you cook for a fixed number of people, enter the cooked portion per person and the number of people. The cooked yield calculator multiplies them to give the wanted cooked amount for every food whose amount you leave blank. When you plan a week of meals, our recipe scaler helps you scale the other ingredients, and the kitchen converter turns scale readings into other units. To price the raw amount, try the recipe cost calculator. For ideas on protein-rich meals built around dal and rice, see the high-protein diet plan.
What are the limits of this method?
- It predicts weight, not nutrition. Nutrition labels usually describe food as sold, so a cooked weight and a raw label need care. Use the nutrition label portion calculator to work with label amounts.
- It assumes a similar batch. Doubling a batch in a bigger pot can change how much water evaporates.
- It rejects extreme factors. A cooked weight more than 20 times, or less than 1/20 of, the raw weight is treated as a likely typo.
- It is not safety advice. It does not tell you how long to cook or how to store cooked food.
Sources and what this page uses
This page cites no external source and quotes no typical yield for any food. Every number comes from the arithmetic above and the weights you enter. No published yield table is used here.
Used with your own test weights, this cooked yield calculator gives a quick, honest answer to how much raw food to cook.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on your rice and how you cook it, so weigh a test batch first. In the example test, 100 g of raw rice weighed 300 g cooked, a factor of ×3, so 600 g of cooked rice needs 200 g of raw rice. Your rice may give a different factor, and the calculator uses whatever your own test shows.
A yield factor is the cooked weight divided by the raw weight of the same food. Rice that goes from 100 g to 300 g has a factor of 3. Spinach that goes from 300 g to 100 g has a factor of 0.33, which means it shrinks by about two thirds. Multiply raw weight by the factor to predict cooked weight.
Leafy vegetables lose water as they wilt, so their cooked weight is lower than their raw weight. In the example test, 300 g of raw spinach became 100 g, a change of -66.7%. The calculator shows a factor below 1 and works out how much raw spinach you need to end up with a given cooked amount.
No. This calculator only accepts weights, because turning cups into grams needs the density of each food, and that changes with grain size, packing and moisture. Weigh the raw food and the cooked food on a kitchen scale in the same unit. If you need to convert units for other recipes, use the kitchen converter.
One careful test is a good start for the same food cooked the same way. Change the variety, the soaking time, the amount of water or the cooking time and the yield can change too. If a batch comes out noticeably wetter or drier, run the test again and replace the weights in the cooked yield calculator.