Raw to cooked weight calculator
Meat shrinks, rice swells. Convert between raw and cooked weight for common meal prep foods so what you weigh matches what you log.
Yield factor ×0.75 (roasted / baked). Loses about 25% of its weight.
The nutrition belongs to the 500 g raw amount. Cooking moves water, not calories.
Why the same food weighs different amounts
Raw chicken breast is about three-quarters water. As the muscle proteins heat past about 60 °C they tighten and squeeze water out; it drips into the pan or evaporates. The solid part (protein, fat) stays put, so the same 100 g of raw nutrition ends up in about 75 g of cooked meat. Protein per cooked gram goes up.
100 g from 100 g raw
Raw to cooked conversion chart
| Food | Method | Factor | 100 g raw → | 1 lb raw → |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | roasted / baked | ×0.75 | 75 g | 12.0 oz |
| Chicken thigh, boneless | roasted | ×0.72 | 72 g | 11.5 oz |
| Ground beef 90/10 | pan-browned, drained | ×0.72 | 72 g | 11.5 oz |
| Ground turkey 93/7 | pan-browned | ×0.75 | 75 g | 12.0 oz |
| Salmon fillet | baked | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Cod fillet | baked | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Pork tenderloin | roasted | ×0.75 | 75 g | 12.0 oz |
| Shrimp, peeled | sautéed | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Firm tofu | baked | ×0.85 | 85 g | 13.6 oz |
| White rice (dry) | boiled / rice cooker | ×2.9 | 290 g | 46.4 oz |
| Brown rice (dry) | boiled | ×2.6 | 260 g | 41.6 oz |
| Quinoa (dry) | simmered | ×2.7 | 270 g | 43.2 oz |
| Pasta (dry) | boiled al dente | ×2.25 | 225 g | 36.0 oz |
| Rolled oats | soaked overnight | ×2.4 | 240 g | 38.4 oz |
| Lentils (dry) | simmered | ×2.5 | 250 g | 40.0 oz |
| Potatoes | roasted | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Sweet potatoes | roasted | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Diced tomatoes, canned | simmered | ×0.9 | 90 g | 14.4 oz |
| Broccoli | roasted | ×0.85 | 85 g | 13.6 oz |
| Bell peppers | roasted | ×0.8 | 80 g | 12.8 oz |
| Spinach | wilted | ×0.3 | 30 g | 4.8 oz |
| Green beans | steamed | ×0.9 | 90 g | 14.4 oz |
| Zucchini | roasted | ×0.75 | 75 g | 12.0 oz |
| Carrots | roasted | ×0.85 | 85 g | 13.6 oz |
| Onions | sautéed | ×0.7 | 70 g | 11.2 oz |
| Cauliflower | roasted | ×0.85 | 85 g | 13.6 oz |
Averages from typical home cooking; USDA's Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry reports similar ranges. Exact yields vary with cut, heat and time: weigh your own batch once and you'll know your number.
Getting your own yield factor
Weigh the raw batch, cook it, weigh it again, and divide cooked by raw. Do it once for the way you usually cook chicken or rice and write the number on the lid of your container stack. From then on you can weigh portions cooked and still log accurately: portion raw weight = cooked portion ÷ your factor.
This is the same math the container calculator relies on when you split a finished pot, and it's how the planner shows cooked grams per compartment.
Questions people ask
How much does chicken breast weigh after cooking?
Chicken breast typically weighs about 70–80% of its raw weight after roasting or baking, because it loses water. 100 g raw becomes roughly 75 g cooked; 1 lb (454 g) raw becomes about 12 oz (340 g). Longer cooking and higher heat lose more.
How much does rice weigh after cooking?
White rice absorbs water and ends up about 2.5 to 3 times its dry weight; 2.9× is a good average for rice cooked by the absorption method. 100 g dry white rice gives about 290 g cooked. Brown rice is closer to 2.5–2.7×.
Should I weigh meat raw or cooked for macros?
Raw, when possible. Nutrition labels and most database entries describe raw weight, and raw weight does not change with cooking time. If you can only weigh cooked food, convert it back with the factor for that food and cooking method.
How do I convert cooked weight back to raw?
Divide the cooked weight by the yield factor. For chicken breast (0.75), 150 g cooked ÷ 0.75 = 200 g raw. For white rice (2.9), 200 g cooked ÷ 2.9 = 69 g dry.
Does ground beef lose fat when cooked?
Yes. Browned and drained 90/10 ground beef keeps about 70–75% of its raw weight. Some of the lost weight is fat, so logging the raw weight with the raw nutrition entry slightly overestimates fat; that’s a small, conservative error.