# Raw vs Cooked Weight: Which Number to Log and How to Convert It _Cooking moves water, not calories. USDA numbers for 12 foods show which weight to log, how big a mismatch gets, and how to convert one to the other._ **The short answer** **Weigh food in the same state as the entry you log.** Raw or dry entries need the weight before cooking; cooked entries need it after. Raw vs cooked weight differs because cooking moves water, not calories, so mismatched states can put rice off nearly threefold and chicken off by about a quarter. - **73%** - Raw weight chicken breast keeps once roasted - **2.8×** - How much heavier white rice gets when boiled - **+181%** - Error from logging cooked rice on a dry entry - **20%** - Legal calorie overrun on a label Your food scale is accurate to the gram, yet its number can still be wrong for your log, and the reason is water. Chicken breast loses moisture in the oven, while rice and pasta absorb water in the pot. The calories barely move, so 100 grams of rice can mean 130 calories or 365, depending on whether it's cooked or dry. This guide uses the raw and cooked values that [USDA FoodData Central](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/) publishes for twelve everyday foods. It shows how large each mismatch gets and why fatty meat breaks the usual rule. It also explains converting one weight into the other, so your log stays trustworthy without double weighing. ## Why Cooking Changes the Weight but Not the Calories Raw chicken breast is roughly three quarters water, and heat drives part of that moisture out as steam and juice. Protein, fat and carbohydrate remain, so the same calories concentrate into fewer grams. Grains and legumes work the opposite way: dry rice is only about 12% water, yet it absorbs nearly twice its own weight while simmering, diluting every gram. The USDA calls this change a cooking yield, and its [cooking yield tables](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/methods-and-application-of-food-composition-laboratory/mafcl-site-pages/cooking-yields) define it as cooked weight divided by raw weight, times 100. **Myth**Cooked chicken has more calories than raw chicken. **Fact**The same breast holds about the same calories either way; each cooked gram is denser. ## Raw and Cooked Values for 12 Common Foods Each raw entry below sits beside its cooked partner from the USDA SR Legacy dataset. The last column estimates cooked weight from the change in protein or energy. | Food | Raw kcal | Cooked kcal | 100 g raw becomes | Direction | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Chicken breast, roasted | 120 | 165 | 73 g | Shrinks | | Pork tenderloin, roasted | 109 | 143 | 80 g | Shrinks | | Ground beef 85/15, patty | 215 | 232 | 76 g | Shrinks, drips | | Ground beef 85/15, crumbles | 215 | 256 | 67 g | Shrinks, drips | | Salmon, farmed, dry heat | 208 | 206 | 92 g | Shrinks slightly | | Egg, hard-boiled | 143 | 155 | 100 g | Steady | | Potato, baked | 77 | 93 | 83 g | Shrinks | | Broccoli, boiled | 34 | 35 | 97 g | Steady | | White rice, long-grain | 365 | 130 | 281 g | Swells | | Pasta, enriched | 371 | 158 | 235 g | Swells | | Lentils, boiled | 352 | 116 | 303 g | Swells | | Black beans, boiled | 341 | 132 | 258 g | Swells | > Figure: Figure 1. Cooked weight of 100 g raw or dry food, from USDA entries. Pan, heat and time will shift your own results. ## How Far Off a Mismatched Entry Can Be A mismatch happens when the scale reads one state and the entry describes the other. Its size depends on how much water moved, which is why grains and legumes cause the largest errors. Logging error when the weight and the entry don't match Lentils, cooked weight on a dry entry**+203%** White rice, cooked weight on a dry entry**+181%** Pasta, cooked weight on a dry entry**+135%** Chicken breast, raw weight on a cooked entry**+38%** Chicken breast, cooked weight on a raw entry**−27%** Beef crumbles, cooked weight on a raw entry**−16%** Plus means the log overcounts; minus means it undercounts. Direction matters too, because cooked rice on a dry entry makes your day look worse than it was, which is annoying but harmless. Cooked chicken on a raw entry hides roughly a quarter of the calories, enough to quietly erase a modest deficit. ## When Fat Leaves the Pan, the Calories Change Too The rule that calories stay put has one real exception: when fat melts out of meat and you pour it away, those calories leave with it. USDA portion data illustrates the effect: a quarter pound of raw 85/15 ground beef weighs 113 grams and logs about 244 calories. Once pan-broiled, it becomes an 83-gram patty worth about 193, so roughly a fifth of the energy ended up in the drippings. Lean cuts like chicken breast lose very little fat, so raw entries stay accurate. For drained beef, bacon or sausage, a cooked, drained entry is the better fit, unless the drippings become sauce. ## How to Convert Between Raw and Cooked Weight **The formula** Raw weight equals cooked weight divided by the yield, and cooked weight equals raw weight multiplied by it. Express the yield as a decimal (73% becomes 0.73). Dividing 150 grams of cooked chicken breast by 0.73 gives about 205 grams raw, or 246 calories. The cooked entry gives 248, so both routes agree once states match. Similarly, 200 grams of cooked rice divided by 2.81 is 71 grams dry, about 259 calories. Published yields are averages, though, so raw weighing remains more accurate. ## Logging a Batch Cooked for the Whole Week Batch cooking is where fixed ratios break down, because your rice may absorb more water than USDA's did, so measure your own batch once instead. - **Weigh the empty container.** Record the pot or storage tub weight before adding food. - **Total the raw ingredients.** Every ingredient, oil included, gives the true calorie count. - **Weigh the finished batch.** Subtract the container weight. - **Work out calories per 100 g.** Divide total calories by cooked grams, multiply by 100, then weigh each serving. For example, 900 grams of raw chicken breast carries 1,080 calories. If the roasted batch weighs 657 grams, that's 164 calories per 100 grams, and a 120-gram portion logs as 197. **Save it once** In WeightPlot, add the batch as a custom food with a 100 g serving and its calories per 100 g. ## Bones, Frozen Food and Labels **Bones.** Meat entries usually exclude bone, so either choose a bone-in entry or weigh the bones afterward and subtract them. A 440-gram leg with 60 grams of bone leaves 380 grams. **Frozen food.** Weigh food frozen only when the entry describes the frozen product. Frozen fish and shrimp often carry an ice glaze that adds weight without calories, so thaw and pat dry first. **Labels.** Under the [FDA labeling rule](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-A/section-101.9), nutrition is declared for food "as packaged or purchased." A pasta box therefore describes dry pasta, though some products add a prepared value. ## Which Errors Are Worth Fixing Even labels have slack, since federal rules treat a food as misbranded only when calories run [more than 20 percent](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/101.9) above the declared value. That allowance becomes a practical yardstick for prioritizing logging errors. | Priority | Foods | Typical mismatch | What to do | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Fix first | Rice, pasta, lentils, beans | 135–203% | Always match dry or cooked | | Fix | Chicken, pork, beef, fish | 8–38% | Pick one state and keep it | | Relax | Eggs, most vegetables | Under 20% | Any sensible entry works | For meat, consistency beats precision: weighing chicken raw every time keeps any error consistent, so [your weight trend](/hub/scale-and-progress/) still reveals whether your [calorie target](/hub/calories-and-counting/) is working. **Keep it sustainable** If weighing meals feels stressful or obsessive, estimating is fine, and a registered dietitian can help. ## Common Questions ### Should chicken be weighed raw or cooked? Either works if the entry matches, although raw is more consistent because cooking losses vary with heat and time. ### Is rice weighed dry or cooked for calorie counting? Dry weight is most accurate, since packages list dry values, and cooked rice weighs about 2.8 times as much, so mismatches overcount by roughly 180%. ### How much does 100 g of raw chicken weigh after cooking? About 73 grams for roasted skinless breast, though hotter cooking lowers it. ### Does draining ground beef lower the calories? Yes. A quarter pound of raw 85/15 beef holds about 244 calories but cooks to a patty of about 193. ### Are nutrition labels based on raw or cooked food? FDA rules require labels to describe food as packaged, so pasta and meat labels describe the uncooked product. ## The Bottom Line Raw vs cooked weight comes down to one habit: match the state on the scale to the state in the entry. Cooking moves water rather than calories, except for fat poured off meat. Grains and legumes deserve the most care, because a mismatch can triple a portion, while meat mainly needs one consistent choice. For batches, measure your own cooked weight once and reuse it. Subtract bones and ice glaze, and remember labels describe food as packaged. Keep the method simple enough to repeat daily; a steady log that's slightly off still tells you more than a perfect one you abandon. **Key takeaways** - **Match states.** Raw weight goes with a raw entry, cooked with cooked. - Rice gains about 2.8 times its dry weight; chicken breast keeps about 73%. **Sources** - USDA Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy raw and cooked entries. [fdc.nal.usda.gov](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/) - USDA ARS. Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry, Release 2 (2014). [ars.usda.gov](https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-bhnrc/beltsville-human-nutrition-research-center/methods-and-application-of-food-composition-laboratory/mafcl-site-pages/cooking-yields) - 21 CFR 101.9(b)(9) and (g)(5), Nutrition labeling of food. [ecfr.gov](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-A/section-101.9)