Rice Converter

Rice expands when cooked. The ratio depends on the type of rice.

Dry to cooked ratios (by volume):

• Long grain white rice: 1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked
• Basmati rice: 1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked
• Jasmine rice: 1 cup dry = 3 cups cooked
• Short grain white rice: 1 cup dry = 2.5 cups cooked
• Brown rice: 1 cup dry = 2.5 cups cooked
• Wild rice: 1 cup dry = 3.5 cups cooked

Everything the calculator uses, in one table:

Weight conversions:

• 1 cup cooked white rice = 175 g (6.2 oz)
• 1 serving as a main = 0.5 cups dry = about 90 g dry
• 1 serving as a side = 0.33 cups dry = about 60 g dry

Short grain is the odd one in that table and it is worth knowing why: the grains are fatter and pack tighter, so a cup holds noticeably more rice by weight than long grain does, yet swells less. Wild rice goes the other way, being long, thin and light in the cup while expanding the most of anything here. It is also not really rice at all, but the seed of an aquatic grass, which is why it behaves so differently in the pot.

Why do the ratios differ so much by type? It comes down to the bran. White rice is polished smooth, so it drinks up water fast and roughly triples. Brown rice keeps its fibrous outer layer, which resists water, so it needs more liquid and a longer simmer to soften, and it expands a bit less for the same dry cup. Jasmine and basmati want a touch less water than plain white because you’re after separate, dry grains rather than a soft fluff.

The classic kitchen shortcut, the finger trick, works because absorption scales with surface area, not pot size: rinse the rice, level it, add water until it reaches the first knuckle above the grain, and the ratio comes out about right no matter how much you’re cooking. Rinsing matters more than people think, since it washes off loose surface starch that otherwise turns the batch gummy. And don’t read too much into “servings,” because a cup of dry rice feeds three as a side dish but barely two when it’s the main event.