Rice to Water Ratio Chart: How Much Water per Cup of Rice

The rice to water ratio chart

The full chart, for 10 rice types. The ratio is cups of water per 1 cup of dry rice, the time is a simmer with the lid on, and the yield is how many cups cooked you get from 1 cup dry.

How the calculator works

Two directions, one ratio each. Forward: water is the dry rice times the ratio, and cooked rice is the dry rice times the yield. White long-grain at 2 cups dry is 2 times 1.5, which is 3 cups of water, and 2 times 3, which is 6 cups cooked. Backwards: dry rice is the cooked rice you want divided by the yield, and water is that dry rice times the ratio. Want 6 cups of cooked white long-grain and the answer is 6 divided by 3, which is 2 cups dry, and 2 times 1.5, which is 3 cups of water. The cook time comes straight from the chart — it does not change with the amount, because a bigger pot of rice simmers for the same time as a small one, as long as the ratio is right and the lid stays on.

The worked example, line by line

Setup: white long-grain, ratio 1:1.5, yield 3x, cook time 18 minutes, 2 cups dry.

Line 1 — water per cup. 1 cup dry needs 1.5 cups of water.

Line 2 — water for 2 cups. 2 × 1.5 = 3 cups of water.

Line 3 — cooked yield. 2 × 3 = 6 cups cooked.

Line 4 — time. Simmer with the lid on for 18 minutes, then rest a few minutes before fluffing.

Line 5 — the check. 6 cups cooked divided by 2 cups dry = 3x — the yield on the chart.

Every branch, checked

1 cup brown long-grain: brown rice uses a 1 to 2 ratio, so 1 times 2 = 2 cups of water, and 1 times 3 = 3 cups cooked — but the time is 45 minutes, not 18, because the bran layer slows the water down.

4 cups jasmine: jasmine uses the same 1 to 1.5 ratio as white long-grain, so 4 times 1.5 = 6 cups of water, and 4 times 3 = 12 cups cooked in 15 minutes. Same ratio, bigger pot.

Reverse — 6 cups cooked white long-grain: 6 divided by the 3x yield = 2 cups of dry rice, and 2 times 1.5 = 3 cups of water. The reverse of the default, and it lands back on it.

Reverse — 9 cups cooked wild rice: wild rice yields 4x, so 9 divided by 4 = 2.25 cups of dry rice, and 2.25 times 3 = 6.75 cups of water. Wild rice is the only variety here that quadruples, which is why a small amount of dry wild rice goes a long way.

Sushi rice: 1 cup dry needs 1 times 1.2 = 1.2 cups of water and makes 3 cups cooked — 15 minutes of simmering, then 10 minutes of resting off the heat with the lid on, which finishes the cooking without extra water.

Arborio: 1 cup dry needs 1 times 3.5 = 3.5 cups of water and makes 3 cups cooked in 20 minutes — but the water goes in gradually, a ladle at a time, because risotto is stirred, not simmered with the lid on.

Why the ratios differ

The ratio is mostly about the bran. White rice has the bran milled off, so water gets in easily and 1.5 cups per cup is enough. Brown, black, and red rice keep their bran, so they need 2 cups and more time — 45 minutes for brown, 30 for black and red. Wild rice is a different plant entirely, a grass seed with a hard shell, so it needs 3 cups and 50 minutes, and it quadruples because each grain swells so much. Sushi rice is polished short-grain rice that cooks with less water on purpose — 1.2 cups — because sushi rice should be firm and sticky, not soft, and the 10-minute rest lets the last of the moisture even out. Arborio looks like it needs the most water at 3.5 cups, but most of that water is stirred in gradually and some of it evaporates or stays in the creamy sauce — the ratio counts all the water added, not just the water absorbed. Rinsing matters too: rinsed rice needs slightly less water than unrinsed, because unrinsed rice carries extra surface starch that thickens the cooking water.

Rounding convention, stated plainly: water is shown to two decimals — so 2.25 cups of dry wild rice needs 6.75 cups of water, and a third of a cup is written as 0.33 cups, not as a fraction. Cooked rice is the dry rice times the yield, rounded to two decimals. Cook times are the standard stovetop times from the chart and do not change with the amount.

Output · formula · meaning

Who uses this

• The weeknight cook: makes 2 cups of white long-grain and learns it needs 3 cups of water and makes 6 cups cooked in 18 minutes — dinner for four, measured once.
• The meal prepper: cooks 4 cups of jasmine and learns it needs 6 cups of water and makes 12 cups cooked — a week of lunches from one pot.
• The brown-rice switcher: moves from white to brown and learns the ratio is 1 to 2, not 1 to 1.5, and the time is 45 minutes, not 18 — the two numbers that stop brown rice coming out crunchy.
• The dinner-party planner: needs 9 cups of cooked wild rice and works backwards — 2.25 cups dry and 6.75 cups of water — instead of guessing and cooking twice as much as needed.

Accuracy & limitations

The ratios on this page are the standard published stovetop ratios for each variety — 1 to 1.5 for white long-grain, jasmine, and basmati; 1 to 1.2 for sushi; 1 to 2 for brown, parboiled, black, and red; 1 to 3 for wild; 1 to 3.5 for arborio — and the arithmetic is exact for the numbers you enter: water is dry rice times the ratio, cooked rice is dry rice times the yield, and the reverse divides by the yield first. But the ratios are starting points, not guarantees. Altitude, pot lid, and soaking shift results — at high altitude water boils cooler and rice needs more time and sometimes more water; a tight lid keeps steam in and a loose lid lets it out; soaked rice has already absorbed water before it hits the pot. Rice cookers and pressure cookers use different ratios again — a rice cooker usually needs less water than the stovetop, because almost nothing evaporates. Arborio is the special case: its 3.5 cups of water is added gradually while stirring, so the number counts all the water added, not the water absorbed at once. Yields are approximate too — a cup of cooked rice is a volume, and how firmly you pack it changes the count. No studies or statistics are cited on this page, because none are needed: every figure is arithmetic on the chart’s ratios and the numbers you enter.