One level US cup of uncooked white rice weighs about 180 grams; the little cup that ships with a rice cooker weighs about 150. Half a US cup is roughly 90 g and a quarter cup about 45 g — the same three numbers this site's portion guides build on. Jasmine, basmati, and brown rice sit within about 20 g of that 180 g mark in either direction; your scoop style and how the grains settle move the number more than the variety does.
How Many Grams in a Cup of Rice? By Variety and by CupIf you search "how many grams in a cup of rice" you are probably holding the wrong tool for the question. Every cooking-science answer says the same thing: volume is a shape, weight is a fact. A cup is a vessel that cares who is holding it — scoop straight down or pour gently and the same rice can differ by 20 to 30 grams. That is why professional recipe writers weigh, and why this site was founded on the dry-gram numbers: 90 g per adult main, 45 g per side.
The 180-gram answer, unpacked
A US legal cup holds 240 ml. A level cup of uncooked long-grain white rice weighs about 180 g, and most charts quote anywhere from 175 to 190 grams because of how the cup was filled. Half a cup therefore weighs about 90 g freehand — the exact portion this site uses for one adult main dish — and a quarter cup about 45 g, the side-dish scoop.
The wobble is mechanical, not botanical. Scoop the cup hard into the bag and the grains pack, pushing a cup toward 190 g. Spoon rice gently into the same cup and air pockets keep it near 175 g. A 15-gram swing changes a dinner for four by 60 grams of uncooked rice — a third of a serving — with nobody measuring "wrong."
Grain by grain: grams per cup
Variety matters a little, and the direction surprises people: long slender grains like basmati fill a cup lighter, while short round grains like sushi or arborio pack heavier. The numbers below come from this site's pound page, which lists each variety's cups-per-pound; converting weight to volume is one division:
grams per cup = 453.6 ÷ (cups per pound)
| Rice variety | Cups per pound | ≈ grams per US cup |
|---|---|---|
| Long-grain white | 2.4 – 2.5 | ≈ 180 – 190 |
| Jasmine | 2.4 – 2.6 | ≈ 175 – 190 |
| Basmati | 2.5 – 2.7 | ≈ 170 – 180 |
| Short-grain white | 2.3 – 2.4 | ≈ 190 – 195 |
| Sushi rice | 2.3 – 2.5 | ≈ 180 – 195 |
| Brown rice | 2.4 – 2.6 | ≈ 175 – 190 |
| Arborio | 2.3 – 2.4 | ≈ 190 – 195 |
Worked example: basmati at 2.6 cups per pound → 453.6 ÷ 2.6 = 174 g per cup. Long-grain white at 2.4 cups per pound → 453.6 ÷ 2.4 = 189 g per cup. Round to the nearest ten grams and "about 180" is the honest summary for every variety on the list.
The 150-gram cup strapped to every rice cooker
Almost every rice cooker ships with a small plastic cup that holds about 180 ml — roughly three-quarters of a US cup. Fill it level with dry white rice and it weighs about 150 g, not 180. The water lines printed inside the pot are calibrated to that small cup, so the combination only works if you keep the two measuring systems apart.
If a recipe says "1 cup of rice" and you pour the cooker's cup thinking it is equal, you are silently short by about 30 g — roughly a sixth of a serving per scoop. Weighing in grams sidesteps the dispute entirely: 90 g of rice is 90 g whether it comes from a US cup, a cooker cup, or the bottom of the bag.
Backwards math: when your recipe speaks grams
Many recipes — especially European and baking-style ones — give rice in grams. Working the other direction is the same division flipped: cups = grams ÷ 180.
| Rice, uncooked | ≈ US cups |
|---|---|
| 50 g | scant 1/4 cup |
| 90 g | 1/2 cup (one adult main) |
| 180 g | 1 cup |
| 250 g | 1 1/2 cups |
| 500 g | ≈ 2 3/4 cups |
| 1 kg | ≈ 5 1/2 cups |
That last row is the shopper's favorite: a 1 kg bag of rice is about 5 1/2 US measuring cups — or 6 1/2 to 7 of the cooker's small cups — and cooks to roughly 16–17 cups by volume once it puffs.
Quick answers that keep the numbers honest
How many grams in a cup of uncooked rice? About 180 g for a level US cup of white rice (175–190 across varieties); about 150 g for the small rice-cooker cup. Half a cup ≈ 90 g, a quarter cup ≈ 45 g. Every number on this page divides out of 453.6 grams per pound using this site's published cups-per-pound table.
How many cups of rice in 1 kg? About 5 1/2 US cups — 1000 g ÷ 180 g per cup gives 5.56. With the cooker's 150 g cup it is about 6.7. Cooked, that dry kilo expands to roughly 16–17 cups.
How many grams in a cup of cooked rice? Following this site's portion chain — 90 g dry cooks to about 300 g on the plate — one US cup of dry rice (180 g) lands as roughly 600 g cooked, about three cups by volume.
Why do gram-based recipes feel more accurate than cups? Because a cup of rice can swing 15–30 g depending on how it is filled. Weight removes the cup entirely: 90 g is the same lunch in two different kitchens.
Cups are the tool you carry; grams are the tool that corrects it. Weigh one cup of your own rice once, note the number in a corner of the bag, and every conversion on this page — 90 g per person, 180 g per cup, 5 1/2 cups per kilo — becomes a line in your head instead of a search. Then read the portion guide for who gets how much, the pound-to-cup table for shopping, and the water ratio page for the pot.