Couscous has 376 kcal per 100 g dry. It absorbs roughly twice its weight in water, so 100 g dry yields about 250 g cooked. Despite its grain-like appearance, couscous is technically tiny pasta made from semolina. Log the cooked weight – the small granules make visual estimation unreliable.
How should I track Couscous, dry?
Couscous, dry is a good source of fiber. The key to tracking Couscous, dry is knowing whether you are logging dry or cooked weight. Grains absorb 2–3 times their weight in water during cooking, so 80 g of dry rice becomes about 200 g cooked. Mixing up dry and cooked values can throw your calorie count off by 200–300%. A meta-analysis (Reynolds et al., Lancet 2019) linked higher whole grain intake to reduced mortality — but only accurate tracking captures the real intake. Weigh on a kitchen scale before cooking and use the matching nutrition values.