Calories and protein in a cup of arroz rojo, with and without oil
Also called Mexican red rice, arroz a la mexicana.
The short answer
1 cup, about 180 g, normal oil
240 kcal
4 g protein
Fat 5.5 g · carbs 44 g · fibre 1.5 g · Vegan
Portion: cooked rice. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
Toasting the rice in oil before the tomato goes in is the step that adds most of the fat.
With and without oil
The same 1 cup, changing only the oil the rice is toasted in. Normal is about 5 g in this portion. A little halves the recipe’s fat and a lot doubles it, so in a portion of the same weight a lot comes out a little under double. These are the four levels the app asks about, with the same numbers.
| Oil | Added | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 0 g | 210 kcal | 4.5 g |
| A little | 2.5 g | 230 kcal | 4 g |
| Normal | 5 g | 240 kcal | 4 g |
| A lot | 10 g | 280 kcal | 4 g |
What moves the number
- Riceabout 190 kcal
- Oil (the oil the rice is toasted in)about 45 kcal
- Tomatoabout 5 kcal
The recipe behind these numbers
Raw ingredient weights in one 1 cup, scaled from the batch recipe in the Homekcal app’s dish table, with normal oil. Water, salt and spices add almost no energy but are listed so the recipe is complete. If your version has more of something, the numbers move with it.
| Ingredient | Weight | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| RiceUSDA: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched | 51 g | 190 | 3.5 g |
| TomatoUSDA: Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average | 34 g | 5 | 0.5 g |
| OnionUSDA: Onions, raw | 10 g | 5 | 0 g |
| GarlicUSDA: Garlic, raw | 1.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| SaltUSDA: Salt, table | 1 g | 0 | 0 g |
| WaterUSDA: Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 94 g | 0 | 0 g |
| OilUSDA: Oil, canolaThe oil the rice is toasted in | 5 g | 45 | 0 g |
What we could not match
Stand ins and assumptions in this recipe that a person still has to check.
- Cooked yield is an estimate of a typical home pot (water evaporated); a weighed batch would replace it.
- Stock is calculated as water with salt; a meat or bone stock adds a little protein and fat.
How this was worked out
This is the same dish the Homekcal app logs, from the same table. Each raw ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its per-100 g values in USDA FoodData Central, the batch is added up and divided by the cooked weight it makes. Calories are rounded to the nearest 10 and grams to the nearest gram, because a standard recipe is not your recipe. These are calculated values, not weighed or lab tested meals, and home versions vary a lot.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2026. fdc.nal.usda.gov. Public domain (CC0).
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