How Many Calories in a Cup of Rice

How Many Calories Are in a Cup of Rice?

A cup of cooked white rice has about 205 calories, and a cup of cooked brown rice has about 215. The two are remarkably close — brown rice is more nutritious, not lower in calories. Both are overwhelmingly carbohydrate, providing about 45 grams of carbs per cup with only trace fat.

The most common point of confusion is whether “a cup of rice” means cooked or uncooked. It almost always refers to cooked rice. Dry rice absorbs water and roughly triples in volume during cooking, which is why a cup of uncooked rice (about 685 calories) is more than three times a cooked cup.

Calories in a Cup of Rice by Type (Cooked)

Rice (1 cup cooked)	Calories	Carbs (g)	Protein (g)	Fiber (g)
White rice	~205	45	4.3	0.6
Brown rice	~215	45	5.0	3.5
Jasmine rice	~205	45	4.0	0.7
Basmati rice	~210	46	4.4	0.7
Wild rice	~166	35	6.5	3.0
Long-grain white	~205	45	4.2	0.6

Wild rice is the lowest-calorie cup because its grains are less starch-dense and pack more protein and fiber. Among the common white varieties — jasmine, basmati, long-grain — the calorie counts are all within about 10 of each other.

Cooked vs Uncooked: A Cup Is Not a Cup

This distinction trips up a lot of meal planners. A cup of dry white rice contains about 685 calories and yields roughly three cooked cups. So if a recipe says “1 cup rice” and you measure it dry, you are making about 615 calories’ worth of rice across the finished dish, not 205. When tracking your own portion, measure the rice after cooking, or weigh the dry rice and divide the total calories by how many servings you make.

Macros and Nutrition in a Cup of Rice

A cup of white rice is mostly starch with a little protein, while brown rice adds significant fiber, magnesium and B vitamins by keeping its bran and germ. That extra fiber in brown rice slows digestion and helps with fullness, giving it a gentler effect on blood sugar even though the calorie count is nearly the same. Many white rices are enriched with iron and B vitamins to replace some nutrients lost in milling.

Is a Cup of Rice the Right Portion?

For most people, a single cooked cup — about 205 calories — is a sensible serving as part of a balanced plate with protein and vegetables. The common pitfall is portion creep: restaurant and takeout servings often deliver two to three cups, easily adding 400 to 600 calories. Measuring your rice, mixing in vegetables to bulk up the plate, and choosing higher-fiber brown or wild rice are simple ways to keep a cup of rice working in your favor.