One cup of uncooked brown rice is 190 grams, so converting cups of uncooked brown rice to grams means multiplying by 190. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Uncooked brown rice comes in at 0.80308 g per mL, or 80.31% of water, which is why a cup of it is 190 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of uncooked brown rice is 190 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 171 g and 228 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 20% spread is larger than most of the adjustments recipes fuss over, and it disappears entirely the moment the ingredient is weighed instead.
Grams are the unit this conversion is really for. A domestic scale resolves to a gram, which is 0.526% of a cup of uncooked brown rice, so weighing gets an accuracy no measuring cup can reach. A 500 g pack of it is 2.632 cups, and a 1 kg pack 5.263.
The condition this weight assumes: The bran layer left on the grain makes it slightly heavier per cup than white rice of the same variety.
The formula
cups- The amount of uncooked brown rice you are converting, in cups
190- Grams per cup for uncooked brown rice, from its density of 0.80308 g/mL
grams- The equivalent quantity in grams
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 190, the grams-per-cup figure for uncooked brown rice.
- The result appears in grams, with a second reading in oz beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
1/3 cup of uncooked brown rice in grams
A recipe calling for 1/3 cup of uncooked brown rice needs 63.3333 grams on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.333333 × 190 = 63.333333, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 31.6667 grams.
3/4 cup of uncooked brown rice in grams
Take 3/4 cup of uncooked brown rice: 0.75 × 190 gives 142.5 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 285 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 cup of uncooked brown rice in grams
Take 3 cup of uncooked brown rice: 3 × 190 gives 570 grams. Doubling the batch takes it to 1140 grams, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 1 cup of uncooked brown rice?
One cup of uncooked brown rice is 190 grams. Half that quantity is 95 grams and double it is 380 grams, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of uncooked brown rice not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Uncooked brown rice has a density of 0.80308 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 190 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 46.6 g per cup, and it is the reason a single volume-to-weight factor cannot be applied to every ingredient.
Does how I measure it change the weight?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. Handling changes the weight of a cup of uncooked brown rice by roughly 20% — about 19 g either side of 190 g — because the bran layer left on the grain makes it slightly heavier per cup than white rice of the same variety. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of uncooked brown rice the same as an ounce?
No. A fluid ounce is a volume — one eighth of a US cup, 29.57 mL — and an ounce is a weight. One fluid ounce of uncooked brown rice weighs 0.8378 oz, so the two readings differ by 16.2%. They coincide only for something with the density of water, and then only roughly.
Is this a US cup or a metric cup?
US customary: 236.59 mL, which is the cup every US recipe means. A metric cup is 250 mL, so the same cup of uncooked brown rice would weigh 200.77 g instead of 190 g — 10.8 g more, or 5.67%. Australian and some European recipes use the metric cup, and the difference is large enough to matter in baking.
Do I need a scale for this, or will measuring cups do?
A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 20% for uncooked brown rice — roughly 38 g on a 190 g cup — while a domestic scale is accurate to a gram or two. For anything where the ratio of ingredients drives the outcome, bread and pastry above all, weigh it.
How many cups of uncooked brown rice is 500 g?
500 g of uncooked brown rice is 2.6316 cups — 0.00526316 cups to one gram, so 500 × 0.00526316 = 2.6316. Going that way is a division by 190, or a multiplication by 0.00526316 if you prefer.
Uncooked brown rice in cups and grams
| Cups | Grams | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 23.75 g | 23.75 |
| 1/4 cup | 47.5 g | 47.5 |
| 1/3 cup | 63.3333 g | 63.33333333 |
| 1/2 cup | 95 g | 95 |
| 2/3 cup | 126.667 g | 126.6666667 |
| 3/4 cup | 142.5 g | 142.5 |
| 1 cup | 190 g | 190 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 285 g | 285 |
| 2 cup | 380 g | 380 |
| 3 cup | 570 g | 570 |
| 4 cup | 760 g | 760 |
Based on 190 g per cup of uncooked brown rice. One cup of uncooked brown rice is 190 grams.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 190 g | 6.7 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 142.5 g | 5.03 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 126.7 g | 4.47 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 95 g | 3.35 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 63.33 g | 2.23 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 47.5 g | 1.68 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 11.88 g | 0.419 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 3.958 g | 0.14 oz | 4.929 mL |
US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Density (g/mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncooked quinoa | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Dry couscous | 170 g | 5.997 oz | 0.7185 |
| Uncooked white rice | 185 g | 6.526 oz | 0.7819 |
| Uncooked brown rice (this page) | 190 g | 6.702 oz | 0.8031 |
| Dried lentils | 192 g | 6.773 oz | 0.8115 |
| Granulated sugar | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Arborio rice | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.