Rice cooked and uncooked calories?

JKardeno
JKardeno Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Sorry if this is a stupid question which has been asked 1000 times, but this is really confusing me.
Is there any difference between uncooked and cooked rice? I didn't think so but after doing some reasearch,
I'm confused. I read this:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_in_100g_of_rice and the calories
seem to be much higher raw. Could anybody explain this to me? Once again, sorry if it's a stupid question.
Haha
«13

Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Sorry if this is a stupid question which has been asked 1000 times, but this is really confusing me.
    Is there any difference between uncooked and cooked rice? I didn't think so but after doing some reasearch,
    I'm confused. I read this:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_in_100g_of_rice and the calories
    seem to be much higher raw. Could anybody explain this to me? Once again, sorry if it's a stupid question.
    Haha

    Once the rice has been cooked, it absorbs the cooking liquid...
  • JKardeno
    JKardeno Posts: 24 Member
    Uncooked rice is dried, and takes up very little space per serving, which is 1/4 Cup of Dry rice. Once this rice is cooked with 1/2-3/4 Cup of water that the rice grains absorb, it swells and softens to One full cup of cooked, edible rice. The caloric value doesn't change, the volume of the rice does (if you cook with butter or oil, yes this changes the calories but cooking rice only takes water).

    I understand that, but usually on the back of the packet of rice I use it would say something like '100g uncooked rice - 356 calories' and '100g cooked rice - 130 calories' If I'm not adding anything why would the calories change?

    Oops, double post. Still learning how to use this thing. :S
  • PunyPete
    PunyPete Posts: 14 Member
    50g of uncooked rice makes about 170-200g cooked rice. It near quadruples in amount, so if you had 100g of uncooked rice at 356 calories, that would make around 340-400g cooked rice. If you took 100g cooked rice, then it's only a third-quarter of the original uncooked amount.

    Hopefully that makes sense, I got a little lost as I was typing it
  • 1shauna1
    1shauna1 Posts: 993 Member
    Good advice. I don't know why they include the calories for uncooked; not as if you'd ever eat it that way!
  • JKardeno
    JKardeno Posts: 24 Member
    Oh wow, I get it now. Thank you. I weighed out 100g uncooked and it was around 170g cooked. How would I log it then?
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    The only thing you add to rice to cook it is water which is calorie free. What they're referring to is that the actual quantity will end up being different before cooking vs. after cooking because of how dried rice is smaller and lighter due to the absence of water.
  • boroko
    boroko Posts: 358 Member
    Oh wow, I get it now. Thank you. I weighed out 100g uncooked and it was around 170g cooked. How would I log it then?

    It depends how you cooked it - if you just boiled in water or steamed it then the calorific value of the rice hasn't changed just the volume and weight has because it's absorbed water. If you know you cooked 100g of rice then this is the most accurate value to use, however if say you have some leftover cooked rice that you then want use you would need to weigh it and use the cooked calorie value.
  • jordantylergillespie
    jordantylergillespie Posts: 18 Member
    Oh wow, I get it now. Thank you. I weighed out 100g uncooked and it was around 170g cooked. How would I log it then?

    I always log the uncooked amount + anything I add. That way i don't have to weigh it after it's cooked and get some looser amount for the caloric value. This is true of brown/white rice, quinoa and lots of other grains/pastas that change how much they weigh when cooked in liquid.

    When in doubt get all the dry measurements and log that way.
  • sussbucket
    sussbucket Posts: 1 Member
    100gr of cooked rice is less rice when dry then 100gr of uncooked rice. Usually 100gr of uncooked rice weighs around 200 - 250gr when cooked (makes sense cos it absorbed the water) hence the extra calories which come from the volume rather then the weight. The same goes for pasta.
  • hollyecheshier
    hollyecheshier Posts: 1
    This is a good question. I was wondering about this also... the reason I came across your post LOL! Anyway, I've decided (mostly because we cook a lot and I can't just cook for myself) to add the colories of my dirty rice (the whole box) and the colories of my hamburger meat (all of it) together and it's 1390 for the whole dish. When I get finished cooking it, I'm going to re-weigh it all together and get the total ounces. Lets just say its 70 ounces. (about what my spaghetti weighed the other day) Then I'm going to divide and see how many calories per ounce. (19.85 calories/ounce) When I get ready to eat, my family can eat what they want and I can weigh mine out by however much I allow myself to eat for that meal. Just thought I would share. :)
  • 2d2f
    2d2f Posts: 1
    Thanks for the explanation. Great topic !
  • Sophie_UK
    Sophie_UK Posts: 31 Member
    I weigh everything dry, so I'm very glad they put it on the back of the packet!
  • acousticillage
    acousticillage Posts: 1 Member
    Well I am fairly new to My Fitness Pal. But I selected "Tesco easy cook brown rice (dry) at 100g and then selected Tesco easy cook brown rice (cooked) and the dry came out at 355 and the cooked came out at 353 calories

    So either this is wrong info, or else it means that if you boil 75g of dry rice which turns out to be over 100g of cooked rice you are still looking at 350 ish calories of food?
  • christelle13
    christelle13 Posts: 1 Member
    I'm struggling to work out what 150g and 100g of brown easy cook (tesco) rice is too?

    I put 150g o cooked in and it comes out with over 500cals but then if you do the 75g = 195 cooked, it's less that 300? odd.
  • Karabobarra
    Karabobarra Posts: 782 Member
    I only cook my rice in water and when I am trying to log it on MyFitnessPal I search for "cooked brown rice" or brown rice cooked that way I know that when it says a half a cup its a half a cup cooked brown rice.
  • LeslieTSUK
    LeslieTSUK Posts: 215 Member
    ok simple way of doing this is:

    Measure weight of a pan or microwave dish while empty on scales, make note of it.

    Put in desired amount of uncooked rice plus liquid.

    If you like it lovely and soft then put in a good pint of water, for those who like it more aldente then use less water.

    once you get it way you want it, drain off the liquid from the rice

    get scales again, measure pan/bowl.

    new figure minus 1st figure = weight of cooked rice.

    then go by the value of the cooked quanity on packet.

    So if say on packet it says 100cal per 75g serving cooked, and you have 350g of cooked rice.

    can do this on google spreadsheets or excell etc save using calculator.

    =sum(100/75)*350

    for calculators: 100/75 = answer then answer times by 350

    It worth getting into habit of that then if any foods in MFP database show up a value that doesnt look quite right, you wil spot it straight away.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    I only cook my rice in water and when I am trying to log it on MyFitnessPal I search for "cooked brown rice" or brown rice cooked that way I know that when it says a half a cup its a half a cup cooked brown rice.

    The problem there is how long it's cooked for then becomes a factor. It gets puffier and heavier because it absorbs more water the longer it cooks. Foods like this should only be measured dry.

Categories