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Couscous dry to cooked weight: 100 g = 333 g
Dry couscous swells to about 333.4% of its weight: 60 g dry becomes 200 g cooked, and 100 g about 333 g. It is pre-cooked semolina, so it only has to soak up hot water.
Raw and cooked, both ways
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An estimate from USDA data. Cooking time, heat and the piece itself move the result.
Couscous: every method
| Method | Yield | 100 g raw | 150 g raw | 200 g raw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooked in water | 333.4% | 333 g | 500 g | 667 g |
| Method | Raw, per 100 g | Cooked, per 100 g | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooked in water | 376 kcal · 12.8 g protein | 112 kcal · 3.8 g protein | derived from dry matter · FDC 169699, FDC 169700 |
Where the weight comes from
Dry couscous holds 8.6 g of water per 100 g, and USDA's cooked couscous 72.6 g. Nothing but water goes in, so the converter keeps the dry part constant: (100 − 8.56) ÷ (100 − 72.57) = 3.33. The packet's water ratio decides your own figure: couscous made with less water is lighter, and butter or oil stirred in adds energy the entry doesn't have.
A worked example
Pour hot water over 75 g of dry couscous and expect about 250 g. The dry entry gives 282 kcal and 9.6 g of protein; the cooked entry, for 250 g, gives 280 kcal and 9.5 g. Weigh your bowl and use the cooked entry, or weigh the dry grains and use the dry one.
From the bowl back to dry
A 200 g bowl of couscous holds about 60 g of dry couscous: 200 ÷ 3.334 = 60. The cooked entry gives the bowl 224 kcal and the dry entry gives its 60 g 226 kcal, within 1% of each other.
Couscous or bulgur?
Couscous is steamed semolina; bulgur is parboiled cracked wheat. In USDA's pairs couscous keeps 333.4% and bulgur 409.2%, so the two are not interchangeable in a log, even when they look alike on the plate.
Is whole-wheat couscous different?
USDA's pair is for plain couscous only. For whole-wheat couscous, weigh it dry and use the dry values printed on its packet. Pearl couscous, the larger balls sometimes sold as Israeli couscous, is a toasted pasta boiled in water and not this pair either: weigh it dry and log its packet's figures.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: couscous, dry, 169699 and cooked, 169700.
- The yield is derived from the pair's water content; the USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry covers meat and poultry only.
See also quinoa and bulgur, or open the raw to cooked weight converter.