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Salmon: raw to cooked weight
Raw and cooked, both ways
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An estimate from USDA data. Cooking time, heat and the piece itself move the result.
Salmon: every method
| Method | Yield | 100 g raw | 150 g raw | 200 g raw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic, farmed, baked or grilled | 92.4% | 92 g | 139 g | 185 g |
| Atlantic, wild, baked or grilled | 78% | 78 g | 117 g | 156 g |
| Sockeye, baked or grilled | 84% | 84 g | 126 g | 168 g |
| Pink, baked or grilled | 83.4% | 83 g | 125 g | 167 g |
| Chinook, baked or grilled | 77.5% | 77 g | 116 g | 155 g |
| Coho, wild, poached or steamed | 79% | 79 g | 119 g | 158 g |
| Method | Raw, per 100 g | Cooked, per 100 g | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic, farmed, baked or grilled | 208 kcal · 20.4 g protein | 206 kcal · 22.1 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 175167, FDC 175168 |
| Atlantic, wild, baked or grilled | 142 kcal · 19.8 g protein | 182 kcal · 25.4 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 173686, FDC 171998 |
| Sockeye, baked or grilled | 131 kcal · 22.3 g protein | 156 kcal · 26.5 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 173691, FDC 173692 |
| Pink, baked or grilled | 127 kcal · 20.5 g protein | 153 kcal · 24.6 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 175138, FDC 172001 |
| Chinook, baked or grilled | 179 kcal · 19.9 g protein | 231 kcal · 25.7 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 173688, FDC 171999 |
| Coho, wild, poached or steamed | 146 kcal · 21.6 g protein | 184 kcal · 27.4 g protein | derived from protein · FDC 175136, FDC 175137 |
USDA's farmed Atlantic salmon entries imply that a baked or grilled fillet keeps 92.4% of its raw weight, so 150 g cooked came from about 162 g raw. The wild species pairs say a fillet keeps less, between 77.5% and 84%. The gap has a reason, and it matters for how you log salmon.
Why the farmed figure is high
USDA never weighed salmon before and after cooking for its yields table, which covers meat and poultry only. So every salmon yield here is derived from a pair of USDA entries: protein per 100 g raw divided by protein per 100 g cooked, since fish keeps its protein when cooked.
That works when both entries describe the same fish. For farmed Atlantic salmon they don't quite: the cooked samples were leaner, with 12.35 g of fat per 100 g against 13.42 g raw, and their water share barely moved, 64.75 g cooked against 64.89 g raw. Cooking normally drives the water share down, so the pair points to different fish rather than a fillet that lost only 8% of its weight. Weigh your own fillet once, raw and cooked, and you will know your figure.
The other pairs: sockeye 84%, pink 83.4%, wild coho 79% when poached, wild Atlantic 78% and chinook 77.5%.
A worked example
You bake farmed salmon and weigh 150 g on your plate. The converter works back to 162 g raw. The raw entry gives 338 kcal and 33 g of protein; the cooked entry, for 150 g, gives 309 kcal. When you weigh after cooking, the cooked entry is the one to trust, because it doesn't depend on the yield at all.
Should I weigh salmon raw or cooked?
Raw, if you can. A fillet from the pack has one weight and one entry, and no yield is involved. Weigh it cooked when you only have the cooked piece, and pair that weight with a cooked entry for the same species: farmed salmon has about half as much energy again per 100 g as wild coho or sockeye.
Which pair should I pick?
The one for the fish you bought, because the species changes the calories more than the cooking does: raw farmed Atlantic salmon has 208 kcal per 100 g, raw sockeye 131 kcal. If the label says farmed Atlantic salmon, use that pair; if it names a Pacific species such as sockeye or pink, use that one.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: Atlantic, farmed, raw, 175167 and cooked, dry heat, 175168; Atlantic, wild, raw, 173686 and cooked, 171998; sockeye raw, 173691 and cooked, 173692; pink raw, 175138 and cooked, 172001; chinook raw, 173688 and cooked, 171999; coho, wild, raw, 175136 and cooked, moist heat, 175137.
- The USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry (2014) has no fish, which is why these yields are derived.
Other fish, from cod to trout, are in the raw to cooked weight converter. Serving salmon with rice? The rice page converts the other half of the plate.