Convert between dry and cooked rice amounts for any variety. Calculate servings, calories, and scaling for recipes.
One of the most common kitchen questions is "how much cooked rice will I get from this much dry rice?" Every recipe says "2 cups cooked rice" but your pantry has a bag of dry rice, and the expansion ratio depends entirely on the type of rice. White long-grain rice roughly triples in volume when cooked, but sushi rice barely doubles, and wild rice can expand by 3.5×. Getting this wrong means either not enough rice for dinner or a pot overflowing with leftover rice.
The conversion also works in reverse — when a recipe calls for 3 cups of cooked rice and you need to know how much dry rice to start with. This calculator handles both directions: dry to cooked and cooked to dry. It covers 13 rice varieties with their specific expansion ratios, calorie counts, water requirements, and serving sizes.
Beyond simple conversion, this tool helps you plan rice quantities for any number of servings. Need rice for a stir-fry for 6 people? It tells you exactly how much dry rice to cook, how much water to add, and the nutritional breakdown. It's the quick-reference tool every home cook needs.
Every rice variety expands differently. This calculator eliminates the guesswork when scaling recipes, planning meals, or converting between dry and cooked measurements. Keep these notes focused on your operational context. Tie the context to the calculator’s intended domain. Use this clarification to avoid ambiguous interpretation. Align this note with review checkpoints. Apply this where interpretation shifts by use case.
Cooked Rice = Dry Rice × Expansion Ratio. Expansion varies by type: white long-grain ×3.0, jasmine ×2.8, basmati ×3.5, sushi ×2.5, brown ×3.0, wild ×3.5. For reverse: Dry Rice = Cooked Rice ÷ Expansion Ratio. 1 cup dry rice ≈ 185g. 1 serving cooked ≈ ¾ cup (as side dish) or 1.5 cups (as main).
Result: 3 cups cooked rice (about 4 side-dish servings)
1 cup dry white long-grain rice × 3.0 expansion ratio = 3 cups cooked rice. At ¾ cup per serving as a side dish, that's 4 servings. Calories: about 675 total (169 per serving).
The expansion ratio tells you how much the volume increases during cooking. **White long-grain: ×3.0** — the most common variety, reliable tripling. **Jasmine: ×2.8** — slightly stickier, doesn't expand quite as much. **Basmati: ×3.5** — the champion of expansion, grains elongate dramatically. **Sushi/short-grain: ×2.5** — compact and sticky, least expansion. **Brown (any): ×3.0** — similar to white but denser, takes longer. **Wild rice: ×3.5** — high expansion but much higher volume of water needed. **Arborio: ×2.5** — used for risotto, absorbs gradually during stirring.
The standard side-dish serving of cooked rice is **¾ cup (about 175g)**. This is what most nutritional databases use. For rice-heavy meals like stir-fries, curries, and rice bowls, plan for **1.5 cups (about 350g)** per person. For sushi, a typical serving uses about **1 cup of seasoned cooked rice** per roll or bowl. For meal prep, many people use **1 cup cooked rice** per container as a moderate portion.
Volume measurements of rice (cups) are less precise than weight because compacting, grain shape, and moisture content all affect how much fits in a cup. For best accuracy: 1 cup dry rice = 185g (±5g). 1 cup cooked white rice = 175g. 1 cup cooked brown rice = 195g. If you're scaling a recipe for more than 8 servings, weigh your dry rice for the most precise results.
It varies by type: white long-grain makes about 3 cups cooked, jasmine about 2.8 cups, basmati about 3.5 cups, and brown rice about 3 cups. On average, dry rice roughly triples in volume.
As a side dish: ¼ to ⅓ cup dry rice per person (makes ¾ to 1 cup cooked). As a main dish: ½ cup dry per person (makes 1.5 cups cooked). Adjust for appetite and other dishes.
Brown rice expands about the same as white (×3), but absorbs more water and takes longer to cook. The cooked volume is similar, but brown rice is denser and heavier per cup.
Basmati grains are very long and thin, and they elongate dramatically during cooking (up to 3.5× in length). This gives the highest volume expansion. It's why a cup of dry basmati yields more than most other varieties.
About 200-220 calories per cup of cooked white rice and 215-245 per cup of cooked brown rice. Dry rice is about 675 calories per cup because it's concentrated before absorbing water.
Yes, and it's more accurate. 1 cup of dry rice weighs about 185g (6.5 oz). For cooked rice, 1 cup weighs about 175-200g depending on variety. Professional recipes use weight for precision.