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Raw vs Cooked Chicken Calculator
See how much weight (and calorie density) chicken genuinely loses when it's cooked
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A free raw vs cooked chicken calculator for UK cooks. Enter the raw weight of your chicken in grams, choose Baked/Roasted or Grilled/Broiled, and see the real weight range it cooks down to, based on the USDA's own cooking-yield data, not a rough guess.
How Much Weight Does Chicken Lose When Cooked?
Chicken loses a genuine, measurable amount of weight as it cooks, mostly from water evaporating out of the meat, with a smaller amount from fat rendering out. How much depends on the cooking method: baked or roasted chicken typically keeps 72-76% of its raw weight (a 24-28% loss), while grilled or broiled chicken typically keeps a little less, 68-72% (a 28-32% loss), since the more direct, intense heat drives off slightly more moisture.
These are the real ranges this calculator uses, based on the USDA's own Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry (Release 2), not a single falsely precise number, since the real yield varies a little with the exact cut, size and cooking time.
How This Calculator Works
Enter the raw weight of your chicken in grams, choose Baked/Roasted or Grilled/Broiled, and this calculator applies the real USDA yield range for that method to give you a genuine cooked-weight range. For 200g of raw chicken baked or roasted, for example, you'll end up with roughly 144-152g once it's cooked.
This is a weight calculator, not the main food database. For the actual calories, protein, carbs and fat in a specific cooked chicken portion, use our Chicken Calorie Calculator instead, which pulls real nutrition data scaled to your exact portion.
Why Cooked Chicken Has More Calories and Protein Per 100g
Cooking concentrates chicken, it doesn't change what's actually in it. The real protein and fat in a piece of chicken barely change as it cooks, but a meaningful share of its water weight does leave. Since that same amount of protein and fat is now packed into less meat, the calories and protein per 100g both go up once it's cooked, even though the total calories and total protein in that piece of chicken stay close to what the raw meat always had.
This is exactly why a raw chicken breast and a cooked chicken breast show different calorie and protein figures per 100g on a nutrition label or in a food database, like the UK's own CoFID (McCance & Widdowson's Composition of Foods), even though it's genuinely the same piece of meat. For the real figure on a specific cooked portion, see our Chicken Calorie Calculator and Protein Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does chicken shrink when cooked?
On average, chicken shrinks by roughly a quarter to a third of its raw weight: 24-28% for baked or roasted chicken, 28-32% for grilled or broiled chicken, mostly from water loss. Enter your own raw weight and cooking method above for an exact range rather than a single rough average.
Does chicken lose weight when you cook it?
Yes. Every real cooking method loses some weight, mainly as water evaporates and a small amount of fat renders out, so a piece of chicken always weighs less once it's cooked than it did raw.
How much does a 1kg raw chicken breast weigh after cooking?
Baked or roasted, a 1kg (1,000g) raw chicken breast typically weighs around 720-760g once cooked. Grilled or broiled, it typically comes out a little lower, around 680-720g, since grilling and broiling tend to drive off a bit more moisture.
Does cooking chicken increase its calories and protein per 100g?
Yes. The total calories and protein in the chicken barely change, but since it weighs less after cooking, that same amount of protein and fat is now packed into less meat, so the calories and protein per 100g both go up.
Does the cooking method change how much weight chicken loses?
Yes, genuinely, not just slightly. Baked or roasted chicken typically keeps 72-76% of its raw weight, while grilled or broiled chicken typically keeps a bit less, 68-72%, because the more direct, intense heat of grilling and broiling drives off slightly more moisture.