Recipe yield calculator
Weigh your batch before it cooks. Weigh it again after. Enter both numbers below and you get the finished yield percent, the measured loss or gain, how many portions the batch actually holds, and what each finished pound or portion costs. The math runs in your browser as you type, and nothing gets uploaded.
If you want to change ingredient quantities before cooking, use the recipe scaling calculator instead. This page measures what a batch produced after cooking, a different job. For planning amounts for a group, the serving size calculator is the right tool.
- Yield
- Change
- Net starting weight
- Net finished weight
- Whole portions
- Grams per portion
- Remainder
- Cost
Your finished weight is above the starting weight. That can be real, not a typo. USDA lists water absorption alongside moisture and fat loss as a source of weight change during preparation, so a batch that takes on liquid finishes heavier (USDA ARS).
How the math works
Yield is the cooked weight as a share of the raw weight. In USDA research, cooking yields were calculated from raw and final cooked weights (USDA ARS), and that same division runs here.
Weight moves during cooking for a few reasons. USDA's food-preparation research lists moisture loss such as evaporation or drip, water absorption, and fat gains and losses. So a soup that takes on stock can finish heavier than it started, and the calculator treats that as a valid result with a note rather than an error.
The USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry reports how meat and poultry weights change from moisture and fat losses during cooking, with percentages for cooking yield, moisture change, and fat change for specific cuts under specific cooking protocols.
Your number will differ from any table, though. Cooked meat and poultry yields vary with the type, age, fat content, and weight of the animal, plus the cooking method, time, and temperature (USDA Food Buying Guide). Which is the whole point of weighing your own batch.
Portion counts round down. The Food Buying Guide rounds servings per purchase unit down to help ensure enough food is purchased for the stated servings, and the same logic protects you here. The remainder shows on its own line instead of hiding inside an optimistic count.
Unit conversion uses the NIST values for the avoirdupois ounce and pound from SP 811, Appendix B.8. Those constants sit in the page code with the citation beside them, and every result is computed from your inputs at runtime.
A worked example
Say a braise goes into the oven at and comes out at . You want portions and the batch cost to make.
The calculator returns a yield, a , whole portions with left over, a finished-pound cost of , and a portion cost of . Type the same weights into the form and you'll see the same numbers, because this paragraph is filled in by the same functions the form calls.
Yield in five example batches
Each row is computed live by the calculator's own code. The weights are example inputs, not measured data for these foods. The soup row finishes heavier than it started because stock was added, the water-absorption case USDA describes.
| Batch | In (g) | Out (g) | Yield | Change |
|---|
Where these numbers come from
I'm Michael Lip. I build and maintain IngredientCalculator's conversion, scaling, nutrition, and recipe-costing tools, and this page follows the same rule as the rest of the site.
Terminology comes from a cited primary source, the arithmetic is deterministic code, and the formula sits beside the output so you can check it. I test the boundary cases before shipping, zero weights, negatives, and a finished weight above the starting one, so the tool refuses bad input instead of returning nonsense.
No first-hand kitchen measurements are claimed here. Weigh your own batch and let the code do the division.
Yield terminology follows USDA. The Food Buying Guide gives Child Nutrition Program operators guidance for purchasing the right amount of food and purchasing it most economically, and its yield data shows the cooked ready-to-serve meat you get from one pound as purchased.
USDA also uses cooking yields in food formulations and recipes to convert nutrient values for uncooked foods into values for cooked foods, so your measured yield percent pairs well with the meal prep cost guide.
- USDA Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs, retrieved August 30, 2026
- Food Buying Guide meat yield resource, retrieved August 30, 2026
- USDA ARS Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry, retrieved August 30, 2026
- USDA ARS publication on measuring cooking yields, retrieved August 30, 2026
- NIST SP 811 Appendix B.8 conversion factors, retrieved August 30, 2026
Common questions
Why can finished weight beat starting weight?
Because water moves both ways. USDA's preparation research lists moisture loss, water absorption, and fat gains and losses as the sources of weight change, so rice, soups, and braises that take on liquid can finish heavier than they started. The calculator flags this case with a note instead of treating it as an error.
Is there a normal yield percent for meat?
No single number covers it. USDA notes cooked meat and poultry yields vary with the type, age, fat content, and weight of the animal, and with the cooking method, time, and temperature. Its cooking-yields table publishes percentages for specific cuts under specific protocols, which is why measuring your own batch beats borrowing a table value.
Why the portion count rounds down
For the same reason the USDA Food Buying Guide rounds servings per purchase unit down, to help ensure enough food is there for the servings you planned. The remainder gets its own line so you can decide what to do with it.