---
title: "Rice Water Ratio Calculator: Cups and Grams | Weekend Wok"
description: "How much water for your rice? Jasmine, basmati, sushi, brown and more, on the hob, in a rice cooker or boiled: water, times and yield in cups and grams."
url: https://weekendwok.me/rice-water-ratio-calculator/
---

Rice to water

# Rice water ratio calculator

Choose your rice, the way you cook it and how much you have. The ticket gives the water, the times and the cooked yield, in cups and grams. Treat it as a starting point and check the packet.

## Cooked rice: keep it safe

- Uncooked rice can carry spores of *Bacillus cereus*, a bacterium whose spores survive cooking. The longer cooked rice sits at room temperature, the more likely the bacteria or their toxins make it unsafe to eat.
- Serve rice soon after cooking. For leftovers, cool them as quickly as possible, ideally within one hour (spread the rice out on a wide tray), then put them in the fridge.
- Keep cooked rice in the fridge for no more than one day, whether you reheat it or eat it cold.
- Reheat rice only once, until it is steaming hot all the way through.

From the UK Food Standards Agency's [Home food fact checker](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-food-fact-checker/home-food-fact-checker), where the NHS's rice advice now points.

## How to use it

Pick your rice, how you will cook it and how much dry rice you have, in US cups, rice-cooker cups or grams. The ticket shows the water to add, the simmer and rest times, the ratio and roughly how much cooked rice you will end up with.

Our starting points assume you rinse the rice and use a pan with a tight lid. Rinsing washes off loose surface starch, so the grains need a little less water. That is why several of our numbers are lower than the USA Rice chart in the table below, which is written for American rice that is not rinsed.

Rice-cooker cups hold 180 ml, not 240 ml. If the bowl has water lines, they are made for that cup and beat any calculator. Boil and drain cooks rice like pasta in plenty of water: forgiving, especially for brown rice, but no good for sticky rice.

## Starting points by rice

| Rice | Our start (rinsed) | USA Rice chart (unrinsed) | Simmer | Rest | Boil and drain | 1 cup dry |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jasmine | 1 : 1¼ | 1 : 2 | 15–18 min | 10 min | 10–12 min | 185 g |
| Basmati | 1 : 1½ | 1 : 2 | 15–18 min | 10 min | 10–12 min | 185 g |
| Long-grain white | 1 : 1¾ | 1 : 2 | 15–18 min | 5–10 min | 12–14 min | 185 g |
| Medium or short grain | 1 : 1¼ | 1 : 1½ | 15–18 min | 10 min | not advised | 195 g |
| Sushi rice | 1 : 1.1 | 1 : 1¼ | 15–18 min | 10–15 min | not advised | 200 g |
| Brown rice | 1 : 2¼ | 1 : 2¼ | 40–45 min | 10 min | 25–30 min | 185 g |

Cooked yield: USA Rice's rule of thumb is about three cups of cooked rice from each cup of dry rice. The gram figures use USDA FoodData Central cup weights for dry and cooked rice.

## Sources

- Food Standards Agency, [Home food fact checker](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-food-fact-checker/home-food-fact-checker) (rice): *Bacillus cereus* spores, cooling ideally within one hour, no more than one day in the fridge, reheating once until steaming hot.
- USA Rice, [How to Cook Rice](https://www.usarice.com/thinkrice/how-to/how-to-cook-rice): the rice cooking chart for unrinsed U.S. rice (liquid per part rice and simmer times), the yield of about 3 cups cooked per cup of dry rice, and the note that rinsing or cooking in excess water washes away some enrichment.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, [FoodData Central](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/) (SR Legacy) cup weights: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched (FDC 168877), 1 cup = 185 g; cooked (FDC 168878), 1 cup = 158 g. Rice, white, medium-grain, raw, enriched (FDC 168879), 1 cup = 195 g; cooked (FDC 168880), 1 cup = 186 g. Rice, white, short-grain, raw (FDC 168931), 1 cup = 200 g; cooked (FDC 168882), 1 cup = 186 g. Rice, brown, long-grain, raw (FDC 169703), 1 cup = 185 g; cooked (FDC 169704), 1 cup = 202 g. Jasmine and basmati use the long-grain weights.

## Questions

**Why is my rice mushy, or crunchy?**

Mushy rice had too much water or was stirred while it cooked. Crunchy rice had too little water, or lost its steam when the lid came off. Next time, change the water by a tablespoon or two per cup of rice, and keep the lid on through the rest.

**Do I need to rinse rice?**

Our ratios assume you do: rinsed jasmine, basmati and sushi rice cook up less gluey. USA Rice says American-grown rice does not need rinsing. If you skip it, use a little more water, closer to the packet.

**How much cooked rice will I get?**

About three times the volume of dry rice: USA Rice's rule of thumb is 3 cups cooked from each cup of dry rice. By weight it is a bit more than double, because a cup of cooked rice weighs less than a cup of dry grains.

**Can I use leftover rice for fried rice?**

Yes, and it fries up less sticky than fresh rice. Cool it quickly, ideally within an hour, keep it in the fridge for no more than a day, and fry it until it is steaming hot all the way through. Reheat it only that once.