Rice vs Quinoa nutrition

Cooked white rice has more carbs and calories. Cooked quinoa has more sugar, fiber and fat.

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Compare Per 100 gPer servingSame calories

Cooked white rice100 g
Cooked quinoa100 g

Calories1.08× more130 kcal120 kcal

Protein1.6× more2.7 g4.4 g

Carbs1.3× more28.2 g21.3 g

Sugar17× more0.05 g0.87 g

Fat6.9× more0.28 g1.9 g

Fiber7.0× more0.4 g2.8 g

Each row is scaled on its own: the larger amount fills the bar. The numbers on the right are the real amounts.

Each food is weighed the same: 100 grams of each. The longer bar has more.

Show all 15 nutrients

Saturated fat2.9× more0.08 g0.23 g

Cholesterolnone in either0 mg0 mg

Salt (sodium)7.0× more1 mg7 mg

Potassium4.9× more35 mg172 mg

Calcium1.7× more10 mg17 mg

Iron1.2× more1.2 mg1.5 mg

Magnesium5.3× more12 mg64 mg

Vitamin Anone in either0 µg0 µg

Vitamin Cnone in either0 mg0 mg

Exact amounts and % Daily Value

Exact amounts per 100 g, with each one's share of the FDA Daily Value — bold marks the larger amount
Nutrient	Cooked white rice	Cooked quinoa	Daily Value
Calories	130 kcal (7%)	120 kcal (6%)	2,000 kcal
Protein	2.7 g (5%)	4.4 g (9%)	50 g
Fat	0.28 g (<1%)	1.9 g (2%)	78 g
Saturated fat	0.08 g (<1%)	0.23 g (1%)	20 g
Carbs	28.2 g (10%)	21.3 g (8%)	275 g
Fiber	0.4 g (1%)	2.8 g (10%)	28 g
Sugar	0.05 g	0.87 g	none set
Cholesterol	0 mg (0%)	0 mg (0%)	300 mg
Salt (sodium)	1 mg (<1%)	7 mg (<1%)	2,300 mg
Potassium	35 mg (<1%)	172 mg (4%)	4,700 mg
Calcium	10 mg (<1%)	17 mg (1%)	1,300 mg
Iron	1.2 mg (7%)	1.5 mg (8%)	18 mg
Magnesium	12 mg (3%)	64 mg (15%)	420 mg
Vitamin A	0 µg (0%)	0 µg (0%)	900 µg
Vitamin C	0 mg (0%)	0 mg (0%)	90 mg

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How the numbers are taken. Amounts are per 100 g of the edible part, from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, public domain), in the state named — raw, boiled, roasted and so on. Percentages use the FDA Daily Values for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; your own needs can be different. This site compares amounts — it does not give diet or medical advice. Sources and limits.

What is being compared

This page compares cooked white rice and cooked quinoa as USDA FoodData Central lists them: “Rice, white, long-grain, regular, enriched, cooked” (FDC 168878) and “Quinoa, cooked” (FDC 168917). All figures start from 100 grams of the edible part. A search for “rice” is taken here as cooked white rice; cooked brown rice, dry white rice, dry brown rice and cooked wild rice are in the comparer above. A search for “quinoa” is taken here as cooked quinoa; dry quinoa is in the comparer above.

Per 100 grams

Per 100 grams, cooked white rice has more calories (130 vs 120 kcal) and carbohydrate (28.2 vs 21.3 g). Cooked quinoa has more protein (4.4 vs 2.7 g, 1.6 times as much), fat (1.9 vs 0.28 g, 6.9 times as much), saturated fat (0.23 vs 0.08 g, 2.9 times as much), fiber (2.8 vs 0.4 g, 7.0 times as much), sugars (0.87 vs 0.05 g, about 17 times as much), sodium (7 vs 1 mg, 7.0 times as much), potassium (172 vs 35 mg, 4.9 times as much), calcium (17 vs 10 mg, 1.7 times as much), iron (1.5 vs 1.2 mg) and magnesium (64 vs 12 mg, 5.3 times as much). They are within 3% of each other for cholesterol, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Read the rest — 4 more sections

Per serving

A serving as USDA measures it is 1 cup of cooked white rice (158 g) and 1 cup of cooked quinoa (185 g). The two servings weigh about the same, so the per-serving picture follows the per-100 g one closely. Switching to servings changes the leader for calories (now cooked quinoa). One serving is 205 kcal of cooked white rice against 222 kcal of cooked quinoa.

For the same calories

To get 100 kcal you would eat 76.9 g of cooked white rice or 83.3 g of cooked quinoa. At that equal energy, cooked white rice carries 2.1 g of protein and cooked quinoa 3.7 g. Fiber per 100 kcal is 0.31 g against 2.3 g. Measured per 100 kcal, every nutrient keeps the same leader as per 100 g.

Where the calories come from

Roughly, 9% of the energy in cooked white rice comes from protein, 2% from fat and 89% from carbohydrate; for cooked quinoa it is 15%, 14% and 71%. These shares use the general 4, 9 and 4 kcal per gram and can differ slightly from USDA's own energy factors.

Against the Daily Value

1 cup of cooked white rice reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in carbohydrate (16%), iron (11%) and protein (9%); 1 cup of cooked quinoa reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in magnesium (28%), fiber (19%) and protein (16%). Daily Values are the FDA label reference amounts for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; they are a yardstick for reading labels, not a target for any one person.

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