Cooked rice is the one food where "a cup" means different weights depending on how the cup was filled and who filled it. This page locks one number so the rest of the site and your kitchen agree: 1 level US cup of cooked white rice = 200 g (the packed-average figure most kitchen charts land on). Everything below derives from that one anchor.
The one anchored number
| Something | Number | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 US cup cooked white rice | 200 g | packed-average (the common kitchen-chart figure; loose fill reads ~10-20 g less) |
| 1 US cup uncooked white rice | 180 g | site-wide dry figure, 240 ml cup |
| Dry white rice cooks to | about ×2.8 by weight | 180 g dry → ~500 g cooked |
| Cooked yield in cups | about 3 cups cooked, loose-packed (about 2 1/2 cups packed) | a pot only makes this much |
That anchor makes the full chain self-consistent:
- 1/4 cup dry (45 g) → about 3/4 cup cooked → about 125 g
- 1/3 cup dry (60 g) → about 1 cup cooked → about 167 g
- 1/2 cup dry (90 g) → about 1 1/2 cups cooked → about 250 g
- 1 cup dry (180 g) → about 3 cups cooked (loose) / 2 1/2 cups (packed) → about 500 g
Every row is the same math: cooked grams = dry grams × 2.8, then ÷ 200 per packed cup. The volume column stays honest about packing: the same pot that fills 3 loose cups only fills 2 1/2 packed ones — and both weigh about the same, ~500 g.
Why other sites give 175, 185, or 220 — it's how the cup is filled
We pulled the current top results for this query. They do not agree, and the split is not an error:
| Rank | Site | 1 cup cooked = | How they filled it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gramspercup.com | 175 g | explicitly "cooked and fluffed" (loose) |
| 3 | purehealthmode.com | ~200 g | average; white 190-200, brown 200-220 |
| 9 | scaleforgrams.com | 185-200 g | level 185, tapped/rounded 200 |
| 7 | gramstocups.io | 185 g dry (uncooked anchor), cooked ~200 g | dry-cup anchor |
The spread is packing + cup size, not correctness:
- Loose (fluffed) vs packed (tapped): same cup, 10-20 g apart. gramspercup's 175 is the loose end; a tapped cup reads ~200. Two numbers worth keeping: ~165-175 g for a loose, fluffed cup; about 200 g for a packed cup. Neither is "wrong" — they are different fills of the same cup.
- US customary 236.6 ml vs US legal 240 ml: a few grams per cup.
- Short-grain packs tighter: sushi/sticky runs 200-210; brown runs the heaviest near 210.
That is the layer the top ten do not say out loud: nobody agrees because nobody names their fill. This page does — level-packed 200 g — so any two people using this page get the same number. If you fill loosely, expect closer to 165-175 g per cup; that is the honest range, and both numbers belong on the page.
Scaling a recipe that calls for cooked rice
Start from dry, work in cooked grams.
- Need 1 cup cooked (200 g)? Start with about 1/3 cup dry (60 g → ~167 g cooked).
- Need 2 cups cooked (400 g)? Start with about 2/3 cup dry (120 g → ~335 g cooked).
- Need 3 cups cooked (600 g)? Start with about 1 cup dry (180 g → ~500 g cooked); a full 3 loose cups runs closer to 500-540 g — if the recipe truly needs 600 g, start with a heaped cup.
Rule of thirds on volume, ×2.8 on grams. Pick whichever unit your kitchen measures in.
Type and leftover edges
- Brown rice: dry ×2.5 by weight (bran holds water differently); a cooked cup still ≈ 200-210 g.
- Short-grain/sushi: packs tighter, 200-210 g per cup.
- Leftovers: a fridge-stored cup loses a little surface moisture, still ~200 g for meal-plan math.
FAQ
Is a cup of cooked rice the same as a cup of dry rice? No. 1 US cup dry ≈ 180 g; 1 US cup cooked ≈ 200 g. Same cup, different weight, because cooked rice is hydrated.
How many grams is a 250 ml metric cup of cooked rice? About 210 g (250/240 × 200). The metric cup is used in Australia and Canada (the UK calls its 250 ml cup a metric cup too, but the term is not standard there).
How much does cooked rice expand from dry? About 3× by volume for white (loose-packed), about ×2.8 by weight (180 g dry → ~500 g cooked); brown is closer to 2.5× by weight.
Which fill should I use? Level, not heaped, not tapped-shut. Level-packed 200 g is the anchor this page and the rest of the site use.
The takeaway
One level US cup of cooked white rice = 200 g — the packed-average. The dry cup is 180 g, the cooked cup is 200 g, and 1 cup dry makes about 3 loose cups (about 2 1/2 packed cups) of cooked rice, roughly 500 g. Other sites say 175 or 185 or 220; the difference is how the cup was filled. Say "level-packed 200 g, 1 cup dry ≈ 500 g cooked" and the number stops moving.