People who want to lose weight can eat rice regularly, as it’s pretty low in calories! Actually, its calorie content greatly depends on the cooking method.
How many calories in a cup of boiled rice?
Most types of rice contain about 90-120 calories per 100g of cooked rice. Practically, a cup (160g) of cooked rice has up to 240 calories. Furthermore, 2 cups of rice contain up to 480 calories.
Rice is a super filling food. Mainly due to its high fiber and protein content.
A cup of rice, with veggies or beans, can keep you full for a really long time. Certainly, eating reasonable amounts of rice can help you lose weight.
What type of rice has more calories?
There are many types of rice and rice products:
- white rice has 129 calories per 100g. Practically, a cup (160g) of cooked white rice has about 205 calories.
- yellow rice has 88 calories per 100g, or only 140 calories per cup.
- brown rice has 122 calories per 100g. Moreover, a cup of cooked brown rice has about 195 calories.
- wild rice has 101 calories per 100g, or 165 calories per cup.
- rice crackers contain about 416 calories per 100g.
- cooked rice noodles contain about 108 calories per 100g. Uncooked rice noodles has about 364 calories per 100g.
- rice flakes have about 394 calories per 100g.
As you can see, a cup of cooked rice contains about 200 calories. White, yellow, and brown rices have almost the same calorie content.
Certainly, eating a cup of boiled rice won’t make you fat. On the contrary, rice helps you lose weight because it keeps you full for a long time with low calories. Prefer brown rice, though. It has a superior nutritional value!
Furthermore, you should count calories for cooked rice. 100g of uncooked rice has about 370 calories, while a cup of uncooked rice has about 680 calories. Cooked rice has fewer calories because it contains more water.
Better prefer brown or wild rice, though. They have a superior nutritional value! For instance, they’re richer in minerals like zinc, iron, and potassium, as compared to white rice.
Does the cooking method affect the calorie content of rice?
Above all, if you want to lose weight, you should avoid fried rice. Vegetable oils and butters are the most calorie-dense foods. They’re 100% fat. A tablespoon contains 120 calories!
Certainly, boiled rice contains fewer calories than fried rice. According to the USDA, 100g of fried rice contain 174 calories (1). That’s 35% more calories! Furthermore, a cup (200g) of fried rice has about 345 calories.
If you eat rice regularly, it’s a good idea to invest in a quality rice cooker. You can easily steam veggies as well. You can find an inexpensive rice cooker on Amazon. Prefer a cooker with high capacity.
Eat rice with beans to lose weight
One of the most filling meals ever is rice with beans.
Although, rice is naturally low in sugars, it has a high Glycemic Load. Brown rice has a Glycemic Load of 20. White rice has a Glycemic Load of 45 (2).
A Glycemic Load greater than 20 is considered high. Moreover, a Glycemic Load of 11–19 is considered medium and a Glycemic Load of 10 or less is considered low.
Foods with high Glycemic Load spike blood sugar. You should avoid these foods, if you want to lose weight, or have diabetes.
But, eating rice with beans is good for you:
- First, beans lower the total Glycemic Load of the meal, as they have a Glycemic Load near to 10.
- Secondly, the combination of rice with beans “creates” a quality plant-based protein (3)!
- Additionally, rice and beans are low in calories. Just 100g of rice and beans contain about 150 calories. Furthermore, 1 cup (240g) of rice and beans has only 360 calories.
- Last, but not least, beans have a huge satiating effect. Eating rice with beans will keep you full for a long time.
You could eat rice with mushrooms as well. Mushrooms are great for losing weight.
Calories in quinoa vs rice
Certainly, quinoa is among the healthiest grains you can eat. In fact, quinoa is high in phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Moreover, it has a Glycemic Load of 13.
Moreover, 100g of cooked quinoa have 120 calories (4). Practically, a cup (185g) of cooked quinoa has about 220 calories.
Therefore, quinoa has almost the same calories as rice. So, what to prefer? Rice or quinoa? Eat both!
Calories in rice vs pasta
Another food high in carbs is pasta. 100g of cooked pasta has about 160 calories.
So, rice has fewer calories than pasta. Actually, rice has 23% fewer calories!
You shouldn’t avoid foods high in carbs, such as pasta, bread, rice, quinoa or potatoes. Especially if you’re an active person, an athlete, or you don’t want to lose weight.
Additionally, these foods can keep us full for a long time. Researchers have found that they’ve a pretty high satiation effect (5)!
Can eating rice make you fat?
Practically, you won’t gain weight eating rice, pasta or potatoes if you:
- eat reasonable amounts,
- don’t cook them with fat, such as vegetable oils or butter.
