Stop Guessing Your Rice Portions
Cooking rice is notorious for the "expansion illusion." You pour a tiny amount of dry grains into a pot, and 20 minutes later, you have enough food to feed a small army. Our Uncooked to Cooked Rice Calculator eliminates the guesswork.
The Golden Ratios for Rice
Rice expands significantly because it absorbs the water or broth you cook it in. However, different varieties of rice absorb water differently:
- White Rice (Long Grain): Triples in size. 1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked.
- Jasmine & Basmati: Triples in size. 1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked.
- Brown Rice & Wild Rice: Expands slightly more due to longer cooking times and robust bran layers. 1 cup dry = 3.5 cups cooked.
- Sushi (Short Grain) Rice: Denser and stickier. 1 cup dry = 2.5 to 3 cups cooked.
Cooking for a Crowd
If you are hosting a dinner party and serving rice as a side dish, the standard culinary rule is to plan for 1/2 cup of cooked rice per person. If rice is the main course (like in a stir-fry or rice bowl), you should double that to 1 full cup of cooked rice per person.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the type of rice. 1 cup of dry white rice or jasmine rice yields about 3 cups of cooked rice. 1 cup of dry brown or wild rice yields about 3.5 cups of cooked rice.
A standard side-dish serving is 1/2 cup of cooked rice per person. To get this, you generally need about 3 tablespoons (or roughly 1/6 of a cup) of dry white rice per person.
Yes, brown rice and wild rice generally yield slightly more volume (about 3.5x multiplier) compared to standard white rice (3x multiplier).