Quinoa (uncooked): Cups to Grams

1 US cup of quinoa (uncooked) weighs about 170 grams.

Three quarters of a US cup of quinoa (uncooked) is about 127.5 grams (12 tablespoons).

2/3 of a US cup of quinoa (uncooked) is about 113.3 grams.

Half a US cup of quinoa (uncooked) is about 85 grams — half of the 170 g in a full cup.

A third of a US cup of quinoa (uncooked) is about 56.7 grams.

A quarter US cup of quinoa (uncooked) is about 42.5 grams (4 tablespoons).

1 tablespoon of quinoa (uncooked) is about 10.6 grams (a cup is 16 tablespoons).

1 1/4 US cups of quinoa (uncooked) weigh about 212.5 grams.

1 1/2 US cups of quinoa (uncooked) weigh about 255 grams — one full cup (170 g) plus half a cup (85 g).

2 US cups of quinoa (uncooked) weigh about 340 grams.

100 grams of quinoa (uncooked) is about 0.59 cups.

250 grams of quinoa (uncooked) is about 1.47 cups (at 170 g per cup).

500 grams of quinoa (uncooked) is about 2.94 cups.

About 85 grams — half of USDA's 170 g cup. King Arthur's chart, which weighs a cup of whole quinoa at 177 g, makes it 88.5 g, and US brand labels (1/4 cup = 45–47 g) put half a cup at 90–94 g. Anything from about 84 to 95 g is a correctly measured half cup of dry quinoa; the spread is how firmly the cup was filled and how big the seeds are, not an error. Cooked, half a cup is about 92.5 g.

Both are real measurements of a level US cup. USDA's FoodData Central entry for uncooked quinoa measures 170 g (the figure this page uses), while King Arthur Baking's ingredient chart lists 177 g. That is a 4% gap — smaller than the difference between two brands, since Bob's Red Mill's label works out to 188 g a cup and Ancient Harvest's to 180 g. Use 170 g for a recipe written against a nutrition database and 177 g for one from a US baking site; for a pot of quinoa, either is fine, because the 2:1 water ratio absorbs the difference.

About 56.7 grams of dry quinoa (59 g by King Arthur's chart). A third of a cup is a common single main-course portion — it cooks to roughly 173 g, or about 1 cup, of cooked quinoa. If you are measuring quinoa flakes rather than seeds, a third of a cup is 40 g (Ancient Harvest's label serving).

About 297.5 grams of dry quinoa — one cup (170 g) plus three-quarters (127.5 g). Cook it with 3 1/2 cups of water and it becomes roughly 910 g of cooked quinoa, about 5 cups, which is 5–6 side servings.

About 115 grams. Dry quinoa is 170 g per 236.6 mL US cup, which is 71.9 g per 100 mL, so a 160 mL cup holds 115 g, a 180 mL rice-cooker cup 129.3 g, a 200 mL cup 143.7 g and a 250 mL metric cup 179.6 g. Cook a 160 mL cup of quinoa with 320 mL of water and you get about 352 g cooked.

It depends on the glass, so measure its capacity once with water. A standard 200 mL drinking glass holds 143.7 g of dry quinoa, so half a glass is 71.9 g; a 250 mL glass holds 179.6 g, so half is 89.8 g. Compare a half US cup at 85 g. Any of these is a good single serving once cooked — 70–90 g of dry quinoa makes 214–275 g on the plate.

Labels print 42–47 g for a quarter cup of dry quinoa: Bob's Red Mill 47 g, Ancient Harvest 45 g, with Trader Joe's and Kirkland packs listed at 42–44 g. This page's USDA figure gives 42.5 g. They all describe the same quarter cup — labels are allowed to round, and a dipped cup packs a little tighter than a spooned one — so for weighing, use 42.5 g and for calorie counting use the number on your own bag.

Yes, to within a label rounding. Ancient Harvest prints the same 45 g quarter cup for its red quinoa as for its white, and Bob's Red Mill prints 47 g for both its tri-color and its white, so all of them sit at 170–188 g per cup. Red and black seeds are the same size as white ones; they differ in a slightly firmer bite and a longer cook time, not in weight, so use this page's chart for any color.

About 185 grams (USDA measures a cooked cup at 185 g; King Arthur's chart says 184 g), so half a cup of cooked quinoa is about 92.5 g and a quarter cup 46.3 g. That cooked cup started as roughly 60 g of dry quinoa, a little more than a third of a cup. Cooked quinoa weighs more per cup than cooked white rice (158 g) because it holds more water — about 72% of its cooked weight.

About 520 grams of cooked quinoa, which is roughly 3 cups. The Whole Grains Council's chart is 1 cup quinoa plus 2 cups liquid makes 3 cups cooked in 12–15 minutes; Bob's Red Mill quotes the same 2:1 ratio and gets 3 1/2–4 fluffier cups in an Instant Pot. By weight the factor is about 3.06× (USDA), so the "quinoa quadruples" claim is a myth. The dry-to-cooked converter runs this both ways for rice, oats and pasta too.

Not as a weight in the cup. Half a US cup of dry quinoa is 85 g on the scale, and half a cup of cooked quinoa about 92.5 g. The 48 comes from labelling: the Whole Grains Council defines one whole-grain serving as 16 g of whole-grain ingredient and recommends at least three a day, so 48 g is a full day's target. Because dry quinoa is 100% whole grain, 85 g of it is more than five such servings, and half a cup cooked (about 30 g of grain before the water) is nearly two.

About 626 kcal in a cup of dry quinoa (USDA: 368 kcal per 100 g), with 24 g of protein and 11.9 g of fiber — that dry cup cooks into about 3 cups, so a cup of cooked quinoa is 222 kcal, 8.1 g protein and 5.2 g fiber. Half a cup dry is 313 kcal; half a cup cooked 111 kcal. Brand labels agree with the dry figure (Bob's Red Mill and Ancient Harvest both print 170 kcal per quarter cup).

Before. Rinsed quinoa carries surface water and starts absorbing more within minutes, so a drained cup no longer weighs 170 g and its water ratio is thrown off. Measure or weigh dry, then rinse in a fine sieve if the bag says to. Bob's Red Mill and Ancient Harvest both state their quinoa is pre-rinsed to remove the bitter saponin coating, though the Whole Grains Council still suggests a quick rinse for any residue — it only affects taste, not weight, as long as you weigh first.

Quinoa flour is about 110 g per cup on King Arthur's chart, and Bob's Red Mill's label (1/4 cup = 28 g) works out to 112 g — lighter than all-purpose flour's 120 g, so swap it by weight. Quinoa flakes are lighter still: Ancient Harvest's label gives 1/3 cup = 40 g, or 120 g per cup, much like rolled oats (90 g). Neither is in this page's calculator, which is for whole dry seeds only.

270 g dry — 185 g of long-grain white rice plus 85 g of quinoa. Cooked together with about 3 cups of water it makes roughly 778 g, enough for 4–6 servings. The recipe weight calculator adds any list of ingredients like this in one go.