Estimating Your Portion Sizes

Estimating portion sizes is arguably the most important, yet difficult aspect of approximating your daily caloric intake. To make our nutrition search as quick as possible, all our foods are standardized to a portion size specific to that food type illustrated on this page. Getting familiar with these portion sizes will make searching our database and counting calories a piece of cake (no pun intended).

Using Your Hands:

Fruits & Veggies


1 cup of broccoli – 36 calories
Vegetables: 1 cup cooked or raw

1 cup of cherries – 87 calories
Small or chopped fruits: 1 cup

One medium apple – 65 calories
Whole fruits: size of baseball

Pasta, Rice & Meats


1 cup of pasta – 221 calories
Pasta: 1 cup cooked

1 cup of rice – 195 calories
Rice or Grains: 1 cup cooked
3 oz. chicken breast – 197 calories
Meats: 3 ounces or 3 slices

Chips, Nuts & Beans


1 oz. of chips – 150 calories
Chips or Snacks: 1 oz, ~ 10 chips

1 oz. of almonds – 111 calories
Nuts or Seeds: 1 ounce or handful

1 cup of beans – 266 calories
Beans: 1 cup or handful

Drinks & Liquids


5 oz. of wine – 125 calories
Wine: 5 oz, red or white

1 cup of juice – 112 calories
Drinks or liquids: 8 oz. or 1 cup

One Serving on Small Plates:

Fruits, Veggies & Nuts


1 cup of cherries, ~ 10 – 87 calories
Fruits: 1 cup

1 cup of salad – 33 calories
Mixed Vegetables: 1 cup

1 oz. of almonds – 111 calories
Nuts or Seeds: 1 oz. or handful

Pasta, Rice & Meats


1 cup of pasta – 221 calories
All Pastas: 1 cup cooked

1 cup of rice – 195 calories
Rice & Grains: 1 cup cooked

3 oz. Chicken Breast – 197 calories
Meats: 3 oz, size of card deck

Juice, Wine & Soup


1 cup of juice – 112 calories
Drinks or Liquids: 1 cup, 8 oz.

1 glass of red wine – 125 calories
All Wines: 5 oz. or 1 glass

1 cup of chicken soup – 115 calories
All soups: 1 cup or 8 oz.

Sauces & Salad Dressing


2 Tablespoons of Ranch – 170 calories
All Dressings: 2 tablespoons

1/4 cup tomato sauce – 111 calories
All Sauces or Gravy: 1/4 cup

Other Foods

Food

1 Serving equals

Eggs

1 medium egg

Bread

1 medium slice

Pizza

1 slice about size of hand

Pre-packaged foods

1 serving as listed on package

Butter

1 tablespoon

Olive oil

1 tablespoon

Liquor

1 shot, 1.5 oz

Beer

1 can, 12 oz

Cake

1 slice, about 75 grams

Ice cream

1 scoop, 1/2 a cup

Cheeses

1 slice, about 1 ounce

Varying Portion Sizes:

Meats


3 oz. of steak – 388 calories
Search Query: “Steak”

9 ounces of steak – 1,164 calories
Search Query: “Steak*3″

1 or 2 cups of vegetables


1 cup of zucchini – 29 calories
Search Query: “Zucchini”

2 cups of Zuchini – 58 calories
Search Query: “Zucchini*2″

1, 2, or 3 cups of pasta


1 cup of spaghetti – 221 calories
Search Query: “spaghetti”

2 cups of spaghetti – 442 calories
Search Query: “spaghetti*2″

3 cups of spaghetti – 664 calories
Search Query: “spaghetti*3″

1, 2 or 3 Servings of Potato Chips


1 oz. of chips, ~10 – 150 calories
Search Query: “potato chips”


2 oz. of chips, ~20 – 300 calories
Search Query: “potato chips*2″


3 oz. of chips, ~30 – 450 calories
Search Query: “potato chips*3″

Mixed Dishes:

Varying Sizes of Steak with Pasta and Vegetables


3 oz. steak, 1 cup pasta, 1 cup Zucchini – 638 calories
Search Query: “Steak, pasta, zucchini”

6 oz. Steak, 1 cup pasta, 1 cup Zucchini – 1,026 calories
Search Query: “Steak*2, pasta, zucchini”

9 oz. steak, 1 cup pasta, 1 cup zucchini – 1,414 calories
Search Query: “Steak*3, pasta, zucchini”

Search Examples

In order to make your calorie estimates accurate, you must be able to estimate your portion sizes. The first step to doing this is by understanding exactly how large one portion of each type of food is, and what it looks like.

1. Look at your plate and try to figure out how many servings of each type of food there are.
2. Multiply each food by the number of servings, and separate each different food by commas.
3. If you don’t multiply a food by anything, the default is one.

What did you eat?
“2 cups of Pasta with tomato sauce, 6 ounces of chicken breast and a glass of red wine“
How to search it in PhotoCalorie:
“Pasta*2, tomato sauce, chicken breast*2, red wine.”

What did you eat?
“6 ounces of salmon, with 1 cup of rice and 1 cup zucchini“
How to search it in PhotoCalorie:
“Grilled salmon*2, rice, zucchini.”
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  1. D. Godfrey
    July 14th, 2011 at 14:56 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    If I eat 1/2 a serving (1/2 cup of grain say) – how do I get the app to figure that? Will it recognize 1/2 serving?
    Thanks

  2. Larry
    July 15th, 2011 at 11:07 | #2
    Reply | Quote

    You just need to multiply by the number of servings. For example if you type “rice*0.5″, it will give the nutrition for 1/2 cup of rice. Hope that helps!

  3. Wendy
    June 3rd, 2012 at 11:31 | #3
    Reply | Quote

    What about chocolate? What’s the standard serving size of (specifically) dark chocolate with at least 75% cocoa mass?

  4. Susan Shaw, MS, RD
    April 17th, 2013 at 20:32 | #4
    Reply | Quote

    These are very nice visuals and helpful for seeing portion sizes and equivalent calories.

    However, according to the Dietary Guidelines and ChooseMyPlate.org (the new Food Guide Pyramid), 1 cup of rice or 1 cup of pasta is actual TWO servings. Here is the link for the grain group: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/grains-counts.html#