How Much Does 200g of Raw Chicken Weigh When Cooked?

December 19, 2025 •

4 min read

The weight of meat changes significantly during cooking, primarily due to moisture loss. A common culinary and nutritional question is exactly how much does 200g of raw chicken weigh when cooked, with the answer depending on variables like cooking method and temperature. Understanding this weight difference is crucial for accurate calorie and macronutrient tracking, especially for meal prep and dietary planning.

Quick Summary

A 200g portion of raw chicken typically reduces to 140–160g after cooking. This weight loss, usually 20-30%, is caused by moisture evaporation. The calorie and protein content remain constant, but the nutrient density increases as water is removed. Factors like cooking method and temperature affect the final weight.

Key Points

Average Weight Loss: Expect 200g of raw chicken to weigh 140-160g cooked, a reduction of 20-30% due to moisture loss.
Nutrient Concentration: The total protein and calorie content of the chicken remains unchanged after cooking, but becomes more concentrated per gram of cooked weight.
Consistency is Key: For accurate nutrition tracking, consistently measure your chicken either raw (for best precision) or cooked, and use the corresponding nutritional data.
Method Matters: Cooking methods like poaching and sous-vide result in less weight loss than dry-heat methods like grilling or baking.
Moisture Retention: Brining, cooking at lower temperatures, and resting the meat after cooking can help minimize moisture loss.
Variables: The final cooked weight is affected by factors including cooking temperature, duration, and whether the meat is naturally or commercially plumped with water.

Understanding the Cooking Process and Weight Change

When you apply heat to chicken, its cellular structure changes, and moisture is driven out as steam. This moisture is primarily water, which has no caloric value. The process of protein denaturation and coagulation also squeezes out water from the muscle fibers, leading to a noticeable reduction in both size and weight. This means that while the weight decreases, the overall nutritional content, including protein and calories, remains constant for the entire piece of chicken. A perfectly cooked and juicy breast will lose less weight than a very dry, overcooked one.

The 20-30% Rule of Thumb

For most cooking methods, a general guideline is that chicken will lose between 20% and 30% of its raw weight. For a 200g piece of raw chicken, this translates to:

20% weight loss: 200g * 0.80 = 160g cooked weight
30% weight loss: 200g * 0.70 = 140g cooked weight

This means your 200g of raw chicken will most likely end up weighing somewhere in the 140g to 160g range. This is a crucial detail for anyone tracking their intake, as logging based on the cooked weight and using raw nutrition information would lead to overestimation.

Factors Influencing the Final Weight

Several variables can cause the final cooked weight to fluctuate outside of the typical 20-30% range:

Cooking Method: Dry heat methods like grilling or baking generally result in more moisture loss than moist heat methods like poaching or slow-cooking.
Cooking Temperature: Higher temperatures can cause more rapid and significant moisture loss compared to lower, slower cooking.
Type of Cut: Leaner cuts, like skinless boneless chicken breast, can lose a higher percentage of weight because they have less fat content compared to fattier cuts like thighs.
Added Ingredients: If you marinate or brine the chicken, it can absorb water and salt, potentially reducing the net weight loss during cooking. Conversely, some chicken is injected with water and phosphates during processing, which will be released during cooking and increase the weight loss.

Comparison of Cooking Methods and Weight Loss


Cooking Method	Estimated Weight Loss (%)	Example (200g Raw)	Rationale
Grilling	25-35%	130-150g	High, direct heat evaporates moisture rapidly, often resulting in higher shrinkage.
Baking/Roasting	20-30%	140-160g	More moderate heat allows for controlled moisture release, depending on temperature.
Pan-Frying	20-30%	140-160g	Can vary based on pan coverage and temperature. Higher heat often results in greater shrinkage.
Poaching/Boiling	10-20%	160-180g	The chicken is cooked submerged in liquid, which greatly reduces moisture evaporation.
Sous-Vide	10-15%	170-180g	Vacuum-sealed, low-temperature cooking in a water bath retains the most moisture.

How to Minimize Weight Loss and Maximize Juiciness

To keep your chicken as moist and heavy as possible after cooking, try these techniques:

Brine the Chicken: Soaking chicken in a salt and sugar solution helps the muscle fibers retain more moisture during cooking.
Cook at Lower Temperatures: Slower, lower heat prevents the muscle fibers from contracting too tightly and squeezing out water.
Use Moist-Heat Methods: Poaching or steaming will keep the chicken's moisture content higher compared to dry-heat methods.
Use a Meat Thermometer: Cooking to the minimum safe internal temperature (165°F or 74°C) prevents overcooking, which is the leading cause of dryness and high weight loss.
Let it Rest: After cooking, let the chicken rest for a few minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and settle back into the meat before you cut into it.

The Importance of Consistent Tracking

Whether you weigh your food raw or cooked is a matter of consistency, not correctness. As long as you consistently use the nutrition information that corresponds to the state you are weighing in, your tracking will be accurate. However, many nutrition databases and food labels are based on the raw weight. For ultimate precision, and to avoid discrepancies from varying cooking methods, weighing raw is often considered the most reliable approach. For pre-cooked bulk meal prep, however, weighing the cooked portions is more practical, provided you use cooked-specific entries in your tracking app.

Conclusion

So, if you start with 200g of raw chicken, expect to end up with a cooked portion weighing between 140g and 160g. This weight loss is primarily due to the evaporation of water, not a loss of macronutrients like protein. By understanding the science behind this shrinkage and how different cooking methods impact moisture retention, you can prepare juicier chicken and ensure your nutritional tracking is as accurate as possible. Consistency is key, whether you track raw or cooked, to achieve your dietary goals effectively.

For more in-depth information on cooking methods and food science, resources like the USDA's nutrient database can be a valuable tool. [link: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/]

Frequently Asked Questions

No, 200g of raw chicken has a different nutritional profile than 200g of cooked chicken. While the total calories and protein in the original piece of raw chicken do not change, the cooking process removes water, making the nutrients more concentrated. Therefore, 200g of cooked chicken will have more calories and protein than 200g of raw chicken.

Chicken loses weight when cooked primarily because heat causes moisture (mostly water) to evaporate from the meat. This process, along with the contraction of muscle fibers, expels water and some rendered fat, leading to a reduction in overall weight and size.

Weighing chicken in its raw state is generally considered the most accurate method for meal tracking. Raw weight is more consistent and is the basis for most nutritional information found on packaging and databases.

As a simple conversion factor, you can multiply the raw weight by 0.75 to get an approximate cooked weight, accounting for a 25% average weight loss. So, for 200g of raw chicken, the cooked weight would be around 150g (200g * 0.75).

To prevent excessive shrinkage, cook chicken at a lower temperature and avoid overcooking it. Brining the chicken beforehand also helps the meat retain more moisture. Moist-heat cooking methods like poaching or using a sous-vide device are also effective at minimizing weight loss.

No, the weight loss does not mean the chicken is less nutritious. The nutrients are simply more concentrated in the cooked meat since the water has been removed. Some vitamins and minerals can be lost, especially if they are leached into cooking liquid that is discarded, but the overall macronutrient profile remains largely the same.

Yes, different cuts of chicken lose different amounts of weight during cooking. Leaner cuts like boneless, skinless chicken breast typically lose a higher percentage of weight than fattier cuts like thighs, which have more fat to render.