How Many Calories in Rice

How many calories in rice? Depending on the type of rice and how it is cooked one cup has somewhere between about 160 and 220 calories in rice. Most of us know that rice is considered a starch and is often compared to bread and potatoes. Which of these starches is the most nutritious?About a year ago I met my son (a grown man) on vacation. So what was the book that he picked up while on vacation? It was a book about rice. Like so many people around the world, he loves rice. For many it is a staple food. There are so many recipes that add healthy vegetables to rice. So, what is the quality of those calories? If one looks just at rice, potatoes, and bread they all are starchy, and so all have a lot of calories. Just like brown rice or wild rice is a bit more nutritious as can be seen in the chart below, so too whole wheat bread is better than white bread and whole potatoes are better for you than overly processed mashed potatoes. All three are good for you in moderation so perhaps what you should be asking is which am I most likely to eat in moderation and what am I most likely to eat with each of these starches?

This is a picture of  my super before writing this page. It is interesting that the peas has about as much calories as the rice. (blackeyed peas 185 calories per cup.)  Perhaps you should think of rice as another starchy vegetable.  Rice like the other grains are good in moderation..

	Brown Rice Cooked	White Enriched Rice Raw	White Enriched Rice Cooked	Instant White Rice Cooked	Wild Rice Cooked
measure	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup	1 cup
weight (g)	195	185	158	165	164
water (%)	73	12	68	76	74
calories (kcal)	216 [2.25] *	675 [6.75]	205 [2.00]	162 [1.50]	166 [1.75]
Protein (g)	5	13	4	3	7
Total fat (g)	2	1	Tr	Tr	1
saturated fat (g)	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1
monounsaturated fat (g)	0.6	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.1
polyunsaturated fat (g)	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.3
Cholesterol (mg)	0	0	0	0	0
Carbohydrate (g)	45	148	45	35	35
Total dietary fiber (g)	3.5	2.4	0.6	1	3
Calcium (mg)	20	52	16	13	5
Iron (mg)	0.8	8	1.9	1	1
Potassium (mg)	84	213	55	7	166
Sodium (mg)	10	9	2	5	5
Vitamin A (IU)	0	0	0	0	0
Vitamin A (RE)	0	0	0	0	0
Thiamin (mg)	0.19	1.07	0.26	0.12	0.09
Riboflavin (mg)	0.05	0.09	0.02	0.08	0.14
Niacin (mg)	3	7.8	2.3	1.5	2.1
Accorbic acid (mg)	0	0	0	0	0
Vitamin E (mg)	0.06	0.2	0.06	0.02	0.39

* value in brackets is calorie cash (average calories to the nearest 25....one penny is one calorie)
Calories in Rice List (pdf)