Quinoa has earned its reputation as a superfood, but figuring out the actual calories and macros in your bowl can get confusing. Raw and cooked quinoa have very different numbers. This quinoa nutrition calculator converts any serving into exact calories, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and fat, whether you are meal-prepping cooked sides, using dry quinoa in a recipe, or tracking your daily protein.
Simply enter your portion, choose the unit, and tell the calculator whether your quinoa is cooked or dry. The tool instantly shows nutrient totals for your serving plus per-100g reference values. It supports grams, ounces, and cups, with standard cup weights for cooked and dry quinoa, so it works for recipe scaling, carb counting, and plant-based meal planning.
Use the quick-fill presets to start from common measures like one cup of cooked quinoa or 100 g of dry quinoa, then adjust to match your serving. Whether you track calories, want more fiber, or are comparing protein sources, this calculator keeps the math honest.
🍽️ Serving Details
How the Quinoa Nutrition Calculator Works
The calculator uses standard per-100g nutrition values for plain quinoa, taken from mainstream food databases like the USDA FoodData Central. It then scales those values to your serving weight. For cooked quinoa, 100 g contains about 120 kcal, 4.4 g protein, 21.3 g carbohydrates, 2.8 g fiber, and 1.9 g fat. For dry, uncooked quinoa, 100 g contains about 368 kcal, 14.1 g protein, 64.2 g carbohydrates, 7.0 g fiber, and 6.1 g fat. The large difference is mostly water: cooked quinoa has absorbed water and therefore weighs more without adding nutrients per volume.
When you enter an amount, the tool converts it to grams. If you pick ounces, it multiplies by 28.35. If you pick cups, it uses 185 g per cooked cup and 170 g per dry cup. It then divides your serving weight by 100 and multiplies each nutrient by that factor. This is the same calculation a dietitian would do by hand from a nutrition label.
Note: These numbers are averages. White, red, black, and tri-color quinoa differ only slightly in calories and macros, so the calculator is accurate enough for meal planning and macro tracking.
Quinoa Nutrition Reference Table
The table below summarizes the values used by this calculator for a 100 g portion.
| Nutrient | Dry / Raw Quinoa (100 g) | Cooked Quinoa (100 g) |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 368 kcal | 120 kcal |
| Protein | 14.1 g | 4.4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 64.2 g | 21.3 g |
| Fiber | 7.0 g | 2.8 g |
| Fat | 6.1 g | 1.9 g |
Cooked values assume quinoa was cooked in water with no added fat. If you add oil, butter, broth, or seasoning, those extra calories and macros must be added separately.
Worked Examples
Let us walk through two common scenarios to show how the numbers come together.
Example 1: 1 cup cooked quinoa (185 g). Multiply each per-100g cooked value by 1.85 (since 185 ÷ 100 = 1.85). Calories: 120 × 1.85 = 222 kcal. Protein: 4.4 × 1.85 = 8.1 g. Carbohydrates: 21.3 × 1.85 = 39.4 g. Fiber: 2.8 × 1.85 = 5.2 g. Fat: 1.9 × 1.85 = 3.5 g.
Example 2: 170 g dry quinoa. Use the dry column and multiply by 1.7. Calories: 368 × 1.7 = 626 kcal. Protein: 14.1 × 1.7 = 24.0 g. Carbohydrates: 64.2 × 1.7 = 109.1 g. Fiber: 7.0 × 1.7 = 11.9 g. Fat: 6.1 × 1.7 = 10.4 g. Notice how dense dry quinoa is — a dry portion cooks into roughly three times its volume, so the same physical amount cooked would be far lower in calories.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
One of the biggest tracking errors with quinoa is mixing up raw and cooked weights. If you weigh quinoa dry but use cooked nutrition values, you will dramatically underestimate calories. If you weigh it cooked but use dry values, you will overestimate. Always match the state selection to how you actually weighed the quinoa.
Another mistake is assuming cup measurements are interchangeable. A cup of cooked quinoa is about 185 g, but a cup of dry quinoa is about 170 g — and after cooking, that dry cup expands to more than 2.5 cups. Use a digital scale whenever possible for consistent portions.
Be careful: If you rinse quinoa before cooking, you remove the natural saponin coating. Rinsing does not meaningfully change calories or macros, so the calculator still applies. But preparing quinoa in broth or with coconut oil will change the final nutrition profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is quinoa a complete protein? Yes. Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids and is especially notable among plant foods for its relatively high lysine content. One cooked cup provides roughly 8 g of protein, making it a valuable protein source for vegetarian and vegan diets.
Does 100 g of dry quinoa become 100 g of cooked quinoa? No. When cooked, quinoa absorbs about twice its weight in water. Starting with 100 g dry will yield roughly 270–290 g cooked, depending on the water ratio and cooking time. That is why cooked quinoa has lower calorie density per gram.
Can I use this calculator for quinoa flakes, flour, or pasta? No. Quinoa flakes and pasta have different moisture levels, processing methods, and ingredient blends. Always use the nutrition label on the package for those products, or choose a dedicated calculator for that specific food.
Why do nutrition labels on some packages list different values? Values vary by variety, growing region, brand, and measurement method. Some labels round to the nearest gram, which can make small servings look different. The figures here reflect typical USDA reference values and work well for daily tracking.
If you are comparing quinoa with other plant-based staples, a similar portion-based tool like the Cashew nutrition calculator can help you plan a diverse menu with accurate totals.