Dried Bean Yield Calculator: Dry to Cooked Weight, Protein and Cost vs Canned

Home › Calculators › Beans: Soak, Swell and Yield

Opens on the book's Freezer Month. Change any number to your own and press Calculate.

Start from fills the boxes below

Beans

Dried weight g

Or your own water %, dried optional

and cooked optional

Dried or canned? (optional; your store's prices)

Bag price

Bag size

Unit

Can price e.g. a 15.5 oz can

One can, drained g: drain one and weigh it

Choose the beans and the dried weight, then press Calculate.

The formula

Swell factor = (1 − water % dried) ÷ (1 − water % cooked), from FDC
Cooked = dried × swell factor; water taken up = cooked − dried
Protein stays: dried grams × protein per 100 g ÷ 100
Cost per kg cooked = bag price ÷ (bag weight × swell factor). Cans one bag replaces = cooked from the bag ÷ one can drained

The book's worked example, Chapter 3. The chili's 500 g of dried black beans at 11.02 % water (FDC 173734) cook to 65.74 % (FDC 173735): × 2.6, about 1,299 g. The curry's 500 g of chickpeas make about 1,160 g, the burritos' 300 g of pinto beans about 718 g.

Check it. Weigh one batch of your beans dried and cooked, drained. Your factor replaces FDC's average from then on.

Honest limits. Yields are about: FDC figures are averages, and the USDA's Food Buying Guide gives lower yields for some beans; weigh a batch. Kidney beans: raw red kidney beans carry a toxin (phytohaemagglutinin); the FDA's Bad Bug Book says boil them hard for at least 10 minutes (its consumer advice: 30), and never cook dried kidney beans in a slow cooker. Cooked beans cool fast and go in the fridge or freezer: see the cooling clock. Prices are illustrative US prices from November 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.

These calculators go with Vegan Meal Prep Math (Craft & Studio, Book 4), where every number on this page is worked by hand.