1/4 cup of white rice weighs about 49.5 g. That is the short answer, measured spooned and levelled and taken from King Arthur Baking — and the rest of this guide explains exactly how that number was worked out, where it can go wrong, and how to use it in real recipes.
1/4 cup of white rice in grams
| Amount | Grams (approx.) |
|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 24.8 g |
| 1/4 cup | 49.5 g ← this page |
| 1/3 cup | 66 g |
| 1/2 cup | 99 g |
| 2/3 cup | 132 g |
| 3/4 cup | 148.5 g |
| 1 cup | 198 g |
| 1 1/2 cups | 297 g |
| 2 cups | 396 g |
All figures are approximate. One US cup of white rice weighs 198 g spooned and levelled (King Arthur Baking), and every fraction above is calculated from that figure. When the result matters — a cake, a loaf, a sauce you cannot remake — verify with a kitchen scale.
When 1/4 cup of white rice matters most
1/4 cup of white rice turns up most often in scaled-down recipes, single-serving bakes, and recipes written for two people instead of four. It is also the amount you reach for when you are halving a recipe that originally called for half a cup, or quartering one that called for a full cup. Pilaf, stir-fries, rice pudding and side dishes. In those situations the amount is small but the stakes are not: a halved recipe has less margin for error, so a heavy-handed 1/4 cup can throw the whole balance off. Weighing the 49.5 g instead of eyeballing it is the simplest insurance you can buy for a small batch.
Worked examples
Example 1: halving a recipe that calls for 1/2 cup
A recipe written for a full batch asks for 1/2 cup of white rice. You want half as much, which is 1/4 cup. On the scale that is 49.5 g. Weigh it once, and the rest of the recipe halves cleanly — no mental arithmetic with measuring cups, and no second batch of a dry ingredient you cannot take back once it is in the bowl.
Example 2: measuring white rice for stir-fries
Stir-fries often needs a modest amount of white rice, and 1/4 cup is a typical quantity. Weighing 49.5 g straight into the pan or bowl avoids dirtying a measuring cup and keeps the amount exact. If you are cooking by feel, remember that white rice is long-grain white rice, uncooked. so the weight, not the volume, is what the recipe writer was counting on.
Example 3: baking with a recipe from another country
Many recipes from the US list white rice in cups while the rest of your kitchen works in grams. Converting 1/4 cup to 49.5 g lets you follow the recipe without converting every other ingredient back to cups. Keep the conversion table below bookmarked: the same 198 g-per-cup figure gives you every fraction from 1/8 cup to two cups.
How 1/4 cup of white rice is measured
The figure of 49.5 g is based on white rice measured spooned and levelled, following King Arthur Baking. One full cup weighs 198 g under that method, and 1/4 cup is simply that figure multiplied by 0.25. That is why the headline number is labelled approximate: it is a calculation from a published full-cup density, not a measurement of the exact spoonful in your kitchen.
If your white rice was measured differently, the weight changes. A scooped cup packs more in; a sifted cup holds less; a packed cup of a sticky ingredient holds far more than a spooned one. The method matters as much as the number, which is why every conversion on this site states its method alongside its source. When a recipe matters — a celebration cake, a loaf of bread you have been planning, a sauce you cannot remake — weigh the white rice on a kitchen scale and let the scale settle the argument. 49.5 g is a good target; the scale tells you when you have actually hit it.
King Arthur Baking is the source for the full-cup figure, and this site uses that value consistently across every white rice page, so the quarter-cup, half-cup and full-cup figures all agree with each other. If you have seen a different number elsewhere, it almost certainly comes from a different method or a different source's rounding — not from a different ingredient.
Practical guidance for white rice
Pilaf, stir-fries, rice pudding and side dishes. Long-grain white rice, uncooked. That character is why the weight matters more than the volume: white rice does not settle into a cup the same way twice, so two level cups can weigh noticeably different amounts.
Storage changes the number too. Airtight container, cool and dry, up to 2 years. An ingredient that has absorbed moisture, or one that has settled and compacted in its container, weighs more per cup than the same ingredient freshly opened. Keep it sealed and give it a stir before measuring.
The most common failure with white rice is treating a level cup as a precise amount. It is not — it is an approximation that depends on how you filled it. Weighing 49.5 g for 1/4 cup is the only way to know you have the same amount the recipe author used.
Common mistakes with 1/4 cup of white rice
Rounding the figure too aggressively. 49.5 g is already a rounded figure; rounding it again to 50 g is fine for most cooking, but for delicate baking keep the full figure.
Scooping the cup straight from the bag or jar. This packs white rice down and can add 15–20% extra weight. Spoon it in loosely and level it off, or better, weigh it.
Using a liquid measuring jug for a dry ingredient (or the reverse). Dry cups and liquid jugs are not interchangeable, and the meniscus on a jug makes small dry amounts hard to read.
If you do not have a scale
Use a 1/4 cup measure if you have one. Fill it using the spooned and levelled method: spoon white rice in, do not press it down, and level the top with the back of a knife.
Four level tablespoons are roughly 1/4 cup of a cup — about 49.5 g of white rice. Tablespoons are easier to level accurately than a small cup, so this is a decent fallback.
If you only have a 1-cup measure, fill it to the 1/4 cup line and level it. Read it at eye level on a flat surface; reading from above makes the line look lower than it is.
Remember that any of these fallbacks is approximate. A kitchen scale is inexpensive, and it turns every conversion on this site — including this 49.5 g figure — from a good guess into a measurement you can trust.
Frequently asked questions
Is 49.5 g exact for 1/4 cup of white rice?
No. 49.5 g is an approximate figure calculated from King Arthur Baking's full-cup value of 198 g. white rice does not have a single fixed density: Packing, brand and humidity all shift the true density a little, and different sources round their figures differently. A kitchen scale gives you the true weight of what you actually added, which is why weighing beats converting.
Can I use 1/4 cup of white rice in place of a full cup in a recipe?
Only if you are scaling the whole recipe down. 1/4 cup is a quarter of a cup, so replacing a full cup with 1/4 cup quarters the amount of white rice and will change the recipe's structure, moisture or sweetness. If you want a smaller batch, scale every ingredient by the same factor.
Does the weight of 1/4 cup of white rice change if it is cold or warm?
Barely, for most purposes. Temperature changes the density of white rice only slightly, and 49.5 g stays a good working figure. The bigger variables are how it was measured and how it was stored — humidity and packing change the weight far more than temperature does.
How much is 1/4 cup of white rice in ounces?
1/4 cup of white rice is about 1.7 oz by weight (since one ounce is 28.35 g). Ounces on a recipe usually mean weight, so this is the figure to use on a scale that reads in ounces.
How many grams is 1/4 cup of white rice?
1/4 cup of white rice is about 49.5 g, measured spooned and levelled and based on King Arthur Baking's figure of 198 g per cup. The figure is approximate — white rice varies with brand, grind and humidity — so verify with a kitchen scale when the recipe matters.