How many calories are in brown rice?
Brown rice has 240 calories per 1 cup cooked (195 g) — that's 123 calories per 100 g, roughly 12% of a 2,000-calorie day. Most of those calories come from carbohydrate.
USDA FoodData Central · long-grain, cooked · FDC 169704
Calories by portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup cooked (195 g) | 240 | 5.3 g | 49.9 g | 2 g |
| 100 g | 123 | 2.7 g | 25.6 g | 1 g |
| 1 oz (28 g) | 35 | 0.8 g | 7.3 g | 0.3 g |
Where the calories come from
Protein 9% Carbs 84% Fat 7%
Calories computed from USDA per-100 g data (FDC 169704, SR Legacy). long-grain, cooked. The macro split uses general Atwater factors (protein and carbs ≈ 4 cal/g, fat ≈ 9 cal/g) and is approximate.
Brown rice is a calorie-moderate, whole-grain staple — and the number people get wrong is almost always because they read the dry weight by mistake. A cooked cup (195 g) carries about 240 calories, and per 100 g it’s just 123 calories. That’s a sensible amount of energy for a starchy base, and nearly all of it comes from one place: carbohydrate. With only ~1 g of fat and ~5.3 g of protein per cup, roughly 85% of the calories are carbs — brown rice is an energy food, not a protein or fat source, and reading the calorie line that way keeps your expectations honest.
Why the cooked number is so much lower than dry
The single biggest source of confusion with rice calories is dry versus cooked, and it trips people up constantly. Dry brown rice runs around 360–370 calories per 100 g — almost triple the cooked figure. Nothing is added or lost in cooking; the rice simply soaks up two to three times its weight in water and swells. Those calories spread across far more mass, which is how 100 g of cooked rice lands at 123 calories while the same weight of dry rice is so much higher. So when a label, app, or chart shows a big rice calorie number, the first question is always which state is this? The figures on this page are for cooked rice, the way it actually reaches your plate.
Brown vs. white, and how a cup fits a day
Against white rice, brown is not the lower-calorie choice people sometimes assume — the two are nearly a wash, both landing near 120–130 calories per 100 g cooked. What brown rice keeps that white loses in milling is the bran and germ: more fiber, magnesium, and B vitamins. The choice between them is a fiber-and-nutrient decision, not a calorie one. In practical terms, a cup of brown rice at ~240 calories is a substantial but reasonable portion — a half-cup (~120 calories) alongside protein and vegetables stretches further and behaves more gently on blood sugar than a heaping bowl. Brown rice isn’t a food to fear on calories; it’s just dense enough that portion is the thing worth watching.
For the white-rice comparison on the same lane, see calories in white rice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in a cup of cooked brown rice?
About 240 calories in a 1-cup cooked serving (195 g), based on 123 calories per 100 g (USDA FDC 169704). Those calories come overwhelmingly from carbohydrate — about 49.9 g per cup — with only ~1 g of fat and ~5.3 g of protein.
How many calories are in brown rice per 100 g?
123 calories per 100 g for cooked, long-grain brown rice (USDA FDC 169704). That's the cooked figure, the way you actually eat it; dry rice is far denser because it hasn't yet absorbed water.
Why is cooked brown rice so much lower in calories than dry?
Water. Dry brown rice runs around 360–370 calories per 100 g, but it roughly triples in weight as it cooks and soaks up water. The calories don't increase — they spread across about three times the mass, landing cooked rice near 123 calories per 100 g. Always check whether a figure is for dry or cooked rice.
Does brown rice have more calories than white rice?
Barely. The two are nearly identical on calories — both land close to 120–130 calories per 100 g cooked. The real difference is fiber and micronutrients, where brown rice keeps the bran and germ that white rice loses in milling, not the calorie count.
Where do brown rice's calories come from?
Almost entirely starch. A cooked cup carries about 49.9 g of total carbohydrate (USDA FDC 169704), and with only ~1 g of fat and ~5.3 g of protein, roughly 85% of the calories are carbohydrate. Brown rice is a whole-grain energy food, not a protein or fat source.
When was this data last verified?
2026-06-18, against USDA FoodData Central FDC 169704 (Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked; SR Legacy). We re-verify reference pages periodically.
Whole-food values are USDA reference data, not a Labelgrade (that score is for branded packaged products). See our methodology and the TDEE calculator to turn this into a daily target.