A worked example
A tofu, rice and broccoli stir-fry with 1,414 kcal in the pan, weighing 1,100 g once cooked and split four ways, is 353 kcal and 18 g of protein a serving, or 129 kcal per 100 g.
How the calculation works
For each ingredient, its weight times its calories per 100 g, divided by 100, is what it adds to the pot. Add those up for the dish. Divide by the number of servings for calories per serving, or by the finished weight (and multiply by 100) for calories per 100 g.
Protein, carbs and fat work the same way. If one ingredient is missing a macro, that macro’s total is left out rather than shown short, because a total that quietly skips the oil looks complete and isn’t.
The fat you cook with
Oil is where recipe totals usually go wrong, because it goes in by the glug and nobody writes the glug down. A tablespoon of any oil is around 120 kcal, so two of them in a pan of vegetables can outweigh the vegetables. Pour it into a spoon, or weigh the bottle before and after.
| Fat | A tablespoon | kcal in it | kcal per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 13.5 g | 119 | 884 |
| Rapeseed oil | 14.0 g | 124 | 884 |
| Sunflower oil | 13.6 g | 120 | 884 |
| Butter | 14.2 g | 102 | 717 |
| Ghee | 12.8 g | 112 | 876 |
| Coconut oil | 13.6 g | 121 | 892 |
Why weigh the finished dish
Cooking moves water around. Rice and pasta soak it up, meat and vegetables lose it, so 100 g of the cooked dish isn’t 100 g of the raw mix. Weigh the pot empty once, then weigh it full after cooking and subtract. If you’ll eat it by the plate rather than by the gram, servings is enough and you can skip the scale.
Questions people ask
Do I count the oil?
Yes, whatever stays in the food. A tablespoon of oil is about 120 kcal, which is often more than the vegetables it cooked. If you pour fat off or leave sauce in the pan, the real total is a bit lower.
Should I enter ingredients raw or cooked?
Raw, the way they went into the pot, with the figures for the raw food. The finished weight takes care of the water.
What if an ingredient has no label?
Loose vegetables, meat from the counter and the like: national food tables publish measured figures for free. Fineli and USDA FoodData Central both have an English search, and the example recipe above takes its numbers from them.
Can I save the recipe?
Copy the link: it keeps every ingredient, so opening it later brings the recipe back. Ampsu saves recipes properly and logs a portion in two taps.