Instant rice calories come to 205 for 1 cup cooked (165 g) and 124 per 100 g of prepared rice. The figure to notice is the dry cup: measured straight from the box, 1 cup (95 g) is 361 calories. Carbohydrate supplies 89% of the energy, so the scoop size matters far more than anything else.
205kcal
1 cup, prepared · 165 g, prepared, enriched
7%protein
3.6 gProtein
44 gCarbs
0.8 gFat
How to burn off 205 kcal
—Walking, brisk
—Jogging
—Cycling, moderate
—Swimming
Skip the math. BodyPal counts these calories from your steps and workouts automatically.
Nutrition facts
Prepared, enriched · per 165 g
Calories
205 kcal
Protein
3.6 g
Carbohydrate
44 g
Fat
0.8 g
Saturated fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
7 mg
Potassium
15 mg
Iron
2.9 mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
🛡️
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Instant rice: calories, protein and sodium by serving
Percent of daily value uses the FDA reference of 2,000 kcal a day.
Serving
kcal
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Sodium
% DV kcal
1 cup cooked (165 g)
205
3.6 g
44.2 g
0.8 g
7 mg
10%
1 cup dry (95 g)
361
7.4 g
78.2 g
0.9 g
10 mg
18%
100 g
124
2.2 g
26.8 g
0.5 g
4 mg
6%
3 × 1 cup cooked (165 g)
614
10.8 g
20 mg
5 × 1 cup cooked (165 g)
1,023
18 g
33 mg
A dry cup is 361 calories, not 205
The number that trips people up is the cup. A cup of cooked instant rice weighs 165 g and comes to 205 calories. A cup of dry grains from the box weighs 95 g and lands at 361 calories, because the water has not gone in yet. If you measure before cooking, log the dry figure; if you scoop from the pot, log the cooked one.
Second helpings add up quietly. Two cooked cups reach 409 calories, three cups come to 614, and a five-cup batch (825 g) totals 1,023. That pot is the kind that feeds a whole table, and splitting it evenly matters more than which box you bought.
For kitchen-scale logging, the anchor is 124 calories per 100 g of prepared rice. One cooked cup equals 10% of a 2000-calorie daily value, while the dry cup is 18%. Weighing once or twice teaches you what your usual scoop really is.
Carbs supply 89% of the calories
Instant rice is almost pure starch. Carbohydrate provides 89% of its calories, protein 7% and fat 4%. A cooked cup holds 44.2 g of carbs against 3.6 g of protein and 0.8 g of fat.
Protein is the weak spot. That 3.6 g covers 7% of the 50 g daily value, and even three cooked cups only add up to 10.8 g. Fiber is thin as well: 1 g per cooked cup and 0.6 g per 100 g, measured against a 28 g daily value. Neither number will carry a meal on its own.
On the plus side, sugars read 0, saturated fat reads 0 and cholesterol is 0. What you get is plain starch with almost nothing attached. That makes the rest of the plate the deciding factor in how filling and balanced the meal turns out to be.
Sodium stays near zero until you season it
Plain instant rice carries 7 mg of sodium per cooked cup, which works out to 0% of the 2300 mg daily value. Per 100 g it is 4 mg, and even the five-cup batch only reaches 33 mg. The rice itself is not where the salt comes from.
The salt arrives in the pot. Salted cooking water, butter, bouillon, soy sauce or a seasoning packet can move this row far more than the grain ever will. If you watch sodium, cook the rice in plain water and season the finished dish instead, where you can taste how much you are adding.
Flavored side-dish mixes are a different product from the plain enriched rice on this page, so their labels need their own read. Potassium is minimal here too, at 9 mg per 100 g against a 4700 mg daily value, so instant rice contributes little to that row either way.
Treat it as the base, not the meal
A cooked cup brings 205 calories and only 3.6 g of protein, so instant rice works best underneath something else. Beans, eggs, chicken, tofu or fish fill the protein gap, and a generous serving of vegetables adds the fiber the rice barely has.
Portion is the lever. A single 165 g cup next to a protein and vegetables keeps the starch in proportion; two cups at 409 calories turn rice into the main event. Boxes from Uncle Ben's, Market Pantry and Kroger all cook in minutes, which is the appeal, but the speed also makes it easy to make more than you planned.
If you are unsure how big your scoop was, BodyPal can log instant rice from a photo of your plate. Pair that with an occasional check on the scale and your rice entries will stay close to what you actually ate.
How does instant rice compare?
Here is how instant rice stacks up against white rice, cooked white rice and sushi rice, per 100 g and per usual serving.
Verdict: Instant rice is the lightest of the four at 124 calories per 100 g versus 130 for the others, and its 165 g cup matches the 205 calories of a 158 g cup of cooked white rice. For tighter calorie control pick instant or cooked white rice at 205 per cup; white rice and sushi rice served by the 186 g cup reach 242.
Most popular instant rice brands in the United States
Ranked by popularity in the BodyPal database
# Productkcal / 100 g
1Uncle Ben's White Enriched Long Grain Instant Rice1/2 cup dry · 39 g385 kcal
2Rapid Rice On The Side Instant Rice1/2 cup · 45 g378 kcal
4Market Pantry White Enriched Long Grain Instant Rice45 g356 kcal
5Kroger Jasmine Instant Rice1/2 cup · 45 g356 kcal
Box labels count the rice dry, so they read 356 to 385 calories per 100 g, while the main numbers above are for rice after it has absorbed water. Source: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Instant rice FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of instant rice?
A cup of prepared instant rice (165 g) is 205 calories. Measured dry, a cup is 95 g and 361 calories.
Is instant rice good for weight loss?
A prepared cup is 205 calories with 0.8 g fat and 44.2 g carbs, so the portion size decides how it fits a daily calorie target. Per 100 g it is 124 calories.
Instant rice vs white rice: which has more calories?
Prepared instant rice has 124 calories per 100 g and regular cooked white rice 130, so the difference is about 6 calories per 100 g.
How much protein is in instant rice?
Prepared instant rice has 2.18 g protein per 100 g, which is 3.6 g in a 165 g cup. Dry instant rice has 7.82 g per 100 g.
How many calories are in a cup of dry instant rice?
One cup of dry instant rice (95 g) has 361 calories. It also carries 78.2 g of carbs and 7.4 g of protein. Log this figure only if you measure the rice before cooking.
How many calories are in 100 g of instant rice?
100 g of prepared instant rice has 124 calories. That weight holds 26.8 g of carbs, 2.2 g of protein and 0.5 g of fat, which makes it easy to log by weight.
How many carbs are in a cup of instant rice?
A cooked cup of instant rice (165 g) has 44.2 g of carbs. Carbohydrate supplies 89% of its calories, with 1 g of fiber and 0 g of sugars per cup.
How much sodium is in instant rice?
Plain instant rice has 7 mg of sodium per cooked cup, which is 0% of the daily value. Per 100 g it is 4 mg; seasonings and salted water are what raise it.
How many calories are in two cups of instant rice?
Two cooked cups of instant rice (330 g) have 409 calories. They provide 7.2 g of protein and 13 mg of sodium, so a larger portion adds energy but little else.
