Skip to content

Portions & scaling

Rice Per Person Calculator

Find out how much uncooked rice to cook, and how much water to add.

Appetite

Standard assumes a normal main course with a side or two.

Answer

300 g of uncooked rice

75 g per adult, measured raw.

The detail

Total to cook300 g
Per adult75 g
Per child50 g

60g is a side portion, 75g a standard main, 100g generous. Uncooked rice roughly triples in weight when cooked.

Reference and detail

Water for rice

For white long grain rice, use twice the volume of water to rice. Brown rice needs a little more water and around twice the cooking time.

Leftover rice

Cool leftover rice quickly, ideally within an hour, keep it in the fridge and reheat it only once until steaming hot. Rice left standing warm is a common cause of food poisoning.

Questions and answers

Questions about rice portion sizes

Should I use the uncooked or cooked weight of rice to work out portions?

Uncooked. Rice roughly triples in weight once cooked, so measuring the raw, dry rice before it goes in the pan is the practical way to portion it, and it's what this calculator gives you.

How do I convert a rice portion into cups rather than grams?

Weigh the rice in grams from the calculator above, then convert it to cups if your recipe or measuring jug uses volume instead.

Cups to Grams Converter

Does the rice variety change the portion size?

Not enough to matter for everyday cooking. Basmati, long grain and jasmine rice all use broadly the same dry weight per person; risotto rice is the exception, since it's usually served in smaller, richer portions.

How much rice do I need if it's a side dish next to a curry with other sides?

Use the standard rather than generous figure, since rice served alongside a sauce, meat and other sides doesn't need to be a full stand-alone portion.