How much chicken and rice is 500 calories?

Eating healthy and staying within a calorie budget can be challenging. Many people find it helpful to build meals around relatively low-calorie foods that are still filling, like chicken and rice. So how much chicken and rice would add up to 500 calories? Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts and do the math.

Calories in Chicken

The calories in chicken can vary depending on the cut and whether it is cooked with or without the skin:

Chicken Type	Calories per 100g
Chicken breast, skinless, cooked	165
Chicken thigh, skinless, cooked	190
Chicken breast with skin, cooked	239
Chicken thigh with skin, cooked	221

Skinless chicken breast has the lowest calories, while chicken cooked with the skin on has about 50 more calories per 100g.

Calories in Rice

For rice, here are the typical calories for 100g cooked:

Rice Type	Calories per 100g
White rice	130
Brown rice	112
Wild rice	101

White rice has the most calories per serving, while wild rice has the least.

Calculating 500 Calories of Chicken and Rice

Now let’s calculate how much we would need of each to reach 500 calories. We’ll use the lowest calorie options – skinless chicken breast and wild rice.

100g of skinless chicken breast has 165 calories. 100g of wild rice has 101 calories. If we do a 60/40 ratio of chicken to rice:

• 300g chicken breast = 495 calories
• 200g wild rice = 202 calories

Together that’s 697 calories, which is over 500 but still a healthy, balanced meal.

To get closer to 500 calories on the dot, we could do:

• 250g chicken breast = 412 calories
• 150g wild rice = 151 calories

Which comes out to 563 calories total.

Conclusion

In summary, 250g of cooked, skinless chicken breast and 150g of cooked wild rice will provide about 500 calories. This meal contains lean protein, fiber, and nutrients without too many calories. Chicken and rice is a versatile combination that can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. Just be mindful of your portions and preparation methods to control the calories.