If you are one of the many who are wondering how many calories in a cup of rice, the answer would probably depend on variables such as the size of the cup, the type of rice and the condition of the rice that can either be cooked, uncooked, or the cooking method. In this post, we will be talking about how to count calories for cooked rice. Read on below to know more.
How To Count Calories For Cooked Rice
There are different varieties of rice and each variety has different nutritional profile. For example, short grain rice is has about 339 calories per 100gram while Long grain rice has 356 calories per 100 grams. As for brown and red rice (less processed rice), the amount of calories is lesser as compared to white rice.
In counting calories for your rice, take into consideration the following below:
Cooked rice vs uncooked rice
The caloric weight of the rice is different and changes when rice is cooked compared to the uncooked rice. Also, the method of cooking the rice changes the caloric content per cup because the structure as well as the physical texture also changes. This means that, the steaming and boiling process can add water (water weight) to the grains of rice. When that happens, the rice becomes bigger thus if the one cup of uncooked rice becomes 3 cups of cooked rice.
Another thing to keep in mind that the cooking time also changes the amount of rice in a single time because of the amount of water it will be absorbed.
Size of the cup to measure rice
A standard 1 cup of rice is equivalent to 250 ml. Although you cannot perfectly measure the amount of calories in 1 cup or rice, there will and will always be a slight different in the result. Given that, an average cup of uncooked rice (medium grain white rice) is about 206 grams, while a cup of cooked rice (boiled rice) weighs about 196 grams.
Calories in uncooked rice and cooked rice
One cup of raw rice (medium grain white rice) has about 729 calories. while with one cup of cooked rice (medium grain white rice) has 313 calories.
Use Food scale to count calories for cooked rice
Most of the time, using a cup for measuring the calories of cooked rice can sometime be inaccurate. While you can increase the amount of cooked weight rice in a cup, the result will still differ because it depends on the size of the cup that you are using to measure the calories.
Using a food scale is by far the most efficient and effective way to know how many calories are there in 1 cup of cooked rice.
The differences in the calories count of your cooked rice depends on the following factors:
- the amount of water used for cooking rice
- The grains used for making rice
- Cooking time can vary and can therefore change the volume of the cooked rice.
Brown rice and White rice
There is a big difference to the amount of calories in brown rice and in White rice. With brown rice, there is about 2 grams more fiber content in 1.4 cup of raw brown rice as compared to white rice.
If brown rice is more nutritional, who do most meal plans uses white rice? It is simply because white rice tastes better than brown rice. Though the nutritional content is just slightly different.
An estimate of calories in cooked rice
A brief estimate of the number of calories for cooked rice: for a half cup of cooked rice is equivalent to 106 calories and a cup of cooked rice is equivalent to 212 calories.
The estimate counting of the calories is based on the following:
A cup of raw and white dry rice (jasmine rice: 200g) is equal to 640 calories but when cooked using 1 1/2 cups of water will result to at least 3 cups of cooked rice therefore the total weight is now 515 grams. Hence, with using 1 1/2 cups of water for cooking rice can result in calorie count of: 71 calories with 15 grams of carbohydrates for 1/3 cooked rice while for 1/2 cooked rice is about 106 calories with 22 grams of carbs.
Rice and losing weight
For weight conscious individuals, knowing the amount of calories in a cup of rice is very important to know how much rice to only consume when eating and add calories if there’s a need to do so. . That way, you can achieve the body that you are aiming for while at the same time enjoying eating rice.
Nutrition Facts for a serving size of 1/4 cup Jasmine rice
- Calories 160
- Total Fat: 0%
- Cholesterol: 0%
- Sodium: 0%
- Total Carb per 36 grams : 13%
- Protein: 3 grams
- Potassium: 0%
Nutrition Facts for a serving size of 1/4 cup Organic Whole grain brown rice
- Calories 170
- Total Fat (1.5 g) : 2%
- Cholesterol: 0%
- Sodium: 0%
- Total Carb per 34 grams : 12%
- Protein: 3 grams
- Potassium for 115 mg: 2%
Conclusion
As mentioned, there are several factors to consider when counting calories of cooked rice that depends on the type of cup used, the cooking method (cups of water) and the variety of rice. We hope that this guide has helped you understand how you can count calorie content for cooked weight rice. There will be always be a slight difference to the result and no same amount of calorie is the same.