How the rice ratio works
Rice cooks with a set rice-to-water ratio: water = rice × ratio. White rice commonly uses 1:2, so 1 cup of rice needs about 2 cups of water. Brown rice needs more (about 1:2.5), and basmati a little less (about 1:1.5).
Worked example: 1.5 cups of brown rice at 1:2.5 needs 1.5 × 2.5 = 3.75 cups of water. Jasmine sits near 1:1.5, sushi rice around 1:1.2, and wild rice can take 1:3 because its tough outer bran needs far longer to soften.
Ratios are by volume rather than weight, so measure the rice and the water with the same cup.
Keep the cups to mL calculator nearby for the rest of the same job.
How to use this calculator
Enter the rice in cups and your water ratio (2 for white, 2.5 for brown, 1.5 for basmati). Rinse rice first and let it rest after cooking. For how much it expands, see the cooked rice calculator.
Method shifts the number as much as the grain does. A tight-lidded pan on a low simmer loses almost no steam and works at the ratios above, while a wide open pot can need an extra quarter cup of water. Rice cookers and pressure cookers go the other way and usually want a little less than the stove-top figure.
Rinsing until the water runs clear and then resting the cooked rice off the heat for ten minutes with the lid on does more for the texture than fine-tuning the ratio ever will.
The same numbers feed straight into the cups to grams calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the rice to water ratio?
- White rice is usually 1:2 — one cup of rice to two cups of water. Brown rice uses about 1:2.5.
- How much water for 1 cup of rice?
- About 2 cups for white rice, 2.5 for brown, and 1.5 for basmati.
- Does the rice type change the ratio?
- Yes. Brown and wild rice absorb more water; basmati and jasmine need a little less.
- Should I rinse rice first?
- Rinsing removes surface starch and helps prevent clumping, especially for white and basmati rice.
- Does the ratio change when I cook a bigger batch?
- Slightly. Scale rice and water together for small increases, but large pots lose proportionally less steam, so above about three cups of rice you can drop roughly a quarter cup of water for each extra cup.