Food & cooking · Meal prep
Rice and pasta per person calculator.
Type the number of people and get the dry weight to measure out, from the Health Canada reference amount or the cooked serving you choose.
Inputs
Dry amount to cook
Enter your numbers.
How much dry rice per person?
Health Canada sets a reference amount for food labelling: 45 g dry (140 g cooked) for rice, couscous and similar grains, and 85 g dry (215 g cooked) for pasta. A reference amount is what a label uses to define one serving. It is not a nutrition recommendation, and your appetite or the rest of the meal may call for more or less. Choose the second option to plan from a cooked serving you set yourself.
Worked example. For 4 people at the Health Canada reference amount, pasta needs 4 x 85 g, which is 340 g dry. For 6 people at 200 g of cooked long-grain white rice each, the USDA estimate of 2.8 g cooked per gram dry means 71.4 g dry per person, or 428.5 g dry for the group.
Frequently asked questions
How much dry rice per person?
Health Canada uses 45 g dry (about 140 g cooked) as the labelling reference amount for rice. That is a label reference, not a recommended serving, so adjust to your appetite.
How much dry pasta per person?
Health Canada uses 85 g dry (about 215 g cooked) as the labelling reference amount for pasta.
How much rice for 4 people?
At the Health Canada reference amount, 4 x 45 g is 180 g of dry rice. At 200 g cooked each it is about 286 g dry long-grain white rice.
Why does the cooked weight here differ from 140 g?
The cooked figure is a USDA water-content estimate (long-grain white rice about 2.8 times), while Health Canada rounds to a labelling amount of 140 g, which is about 3.1 times.
Is this a portion recommendation?
No. It is arithmetic from the reference amount or from the cooked serving you enter. For dietary advice talk to a registered dietitian.
Sources
Retrieved
- Health Canada: Nutrition labelling, table of reference amounts for food (published 2024-10-18)
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018 CSV download): water content of the dry and cooked entries
Method: Health Canada reference amounts (45 g dry for grains such as rice or barley including couscous, 85 g dry for pasta and noodles) times the number of people. Cooked-to-dry ratio from USDA FoodData Central water contents. Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
Scope
A planning tool. Reference amounts are for labelling and are not recommended portions. Always cook meat and poultry to the safe internal temperature on a food thermometer, whatever the weight says. General cooking information, not medical or dietetic advice.