Logging

Raw or cooked? How to weigh rice, pasta and meat

It is one of the most common beginner questions: weigh food before cooking or after? Short answer – both are correct, as long as you pick the matching entry. Problems start when the two get mixed up.

Updated 29 October 2026 · 6 min read

In short

Cooking does not change the energy in food – it changes the water, and so the calories per 100 g.
Rice and pasta absorb water (×2.3 to ×3.8); meat loses it (about ×0.75).
The costliest mistake: logging cooked rice as dry – up to 500 kcal off per portion.
Weighing raw is most precise; for ready food choose the 'cooked' entry.

Why calories per 100 g change

When you cook rice, the energy in it stays the same – but water is added. 100 g of dry rice becomes roughly 280 g cooked, which is why cooked rice has less than a third of the calories per 100 g. Meat works the other way round: it loses water when roasted, its weight drops and calories per 100 g rise.

Databases therefore list two entries for the same food – raw (dry) and cooked (roasted). Both are correct. They just have to match what you actually weighed.

Raw vs cooked table

Values come from the USDA FoodData Central database. The last column shows how much the weight changes during cooking – an average that depends on the amount of water and cooking time.

kcal per 100 g before and after cooking (USDA)
Food	Raw	Cooked	Weight
White rice	365	130	× 2.8
Pasta	371	158	× 2.3
Quinoa	368	120	× 3.1
Couscous	376	112	× 3.4
Buckwheat (roasted)	346	92	× 3.8
Lentils	352	116	× 3.0
Chicken breast (roasted)	120	165	× 0.73
Ground beef 85/15 (pan-browned)	215	256	× 0.84
Pork tenderloin (roasted)	109	143	× 0.76

Example: 75 g of dry rice has about 274 kcal and weighs roughly 210 g once cooked. You eat the same 274 kcal whether you log '75 g dry' or '210 g cooked'.

The two most expensive mistakes

1. Cooked weight with a dry entry

If you weigh 210 g of cooked rice and log it as dry, your diary shows about 767 kcal instead of 274 – almost 500 kcal too much. Pasta is similar. The numbers look scary and distort the whole day.

2. Roasted weight with a raw entry

With meat it is the opposite. 150 g of raw chicken breast (about 180 kcal) weighs roughly 110 g after roasting. Log that as 110 g raw and you miss about 50 kcal per portion – quietly, every day.

Ground meat has one more nuance: if you drain the fat that renders out, the 'pan-browned' value fits better. If it stays in the sauce and you eat it, the raw weight is more accurate.

How to do it in practice

Cooking for yourself: weigh the dry or raw ingredients before cooking and log them. This is the most precise.
Cooking for several people: add up the ingredients, weigh the whole finished dish and log your portion in grams. Our guide to home-cooked meals walks you through it.
Eating ready food: choose an entry marked 'cooked' or 'roasted' and weigh what is on your plate.
No scale: estimate the portion by bowl or palm and choose the entry for the state on your plate – 'cooked'.
Database check: rice or pasta at about 350 kcal/100 g is a dry entry; 110–160 kcal/100 g is cooked.

Frequently asked questions

Should I weigh rice dry or cooked?

Both are correct if you choose the matching entry. Dry rice has about 365 kcal/100 g, cooked about 130 kcal/100 g. Weighing it dry before cooking is most precise.

How much does rice weigh after cooking?

White rice weighs about 2.8 times more cooked than dry – 75 g dry becomes roughly 210 g cooked. It depends on water and cooking time.

Should I weigh meat raw or cooked?

Raw is most precise. Meat loses water when cooked, so 150 g of raw chicken breast weighs about 110 g roasted. If you weigh it cooked, use a 'cooked' entry.

Sources

This guide is general information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have or have had an eating disorder, or need a therapeutic diet, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian.