How to Calculate Recipe Nutrition

1. Write down what goes into the batch

List every ingredient and the amount that enters the food you will eat. Include dressing, oil, toppings and sauces. Note whether each weight is raw, cooked, peeled or drained. “One tin” is not a gram weight until you know which tin and whether its liquid is included.

Choose a matching food-composition record or suitable product-label value. The Australian Food Composition Database supplies Australian food data; MorselMetrics maps those records into its analyser. The source and calculation notes explain the limitations. A precisely calculated total can still be a poor estimate if the ingredient selection is wrong.

Food identity: the variety and form, not just a similar search name.
Edible quantity: grams of the selected food, excluding packaging and discarded parts.
Yield: how many portions the batch actually makes.
Optional finished weight: the measured edible batch after preparation, if you want results per 100 g or for weighed portions.

2. Scale each ingredient and add the results

Here is an uncooked salad calculation using 240 g canned, drained chickpeas, 200 g raw common tomato, 150 g raw unpeeled telegraph cucumber and 10 g olive oil. It illustrates a batch of two portions, not a prescribed meal or a kitchen-tested recipe. Any extra ingredients need their own entries.

The table uses the matching AFCD Release 3 records in MorselMetrics, checked on 10 October 2026. No additional cooking adjustment is applied. For the chickpeas, 240 ÷ 100 = 2.4, so multiply every reported per-100 g value by 2.4.

From source values to the amount in this batch
Ingredient / AFCD ID	Weight	Energy per 100 g	Protein per 100 g	Energy in batch	Protein in batch
Chickpea, canned, drained · F002880	240 g	474 kJ	6.3 g	1,137.6 kJ	15.12 g
Tomato, common, raw · F009193	200 g	73 kJ	0.6 g	146 kJ	1.20 g
Cucumber, telegraph, unpeeled, raw · F003324	150 g	56 kJ	1.2 g	84 kJ	1.80 g
Oil, olive · F006177	10 g	3,695 kJ	0 g	369.5 kJ	0 g
Whole batch	600 g input	—	—	1,737.1 kJ	18.12 g

For protein, the sum is 15.12 + 1.20 + 1.80 + 0 = 18.12 g. Apply the same calculation separately to carbohydrate, fat, fibre and each available vitamin or mineral. Keep each nutrient in its own unit: protein in grams cannot be added to iron in milligrams.

3. Divide by the amount you will actually serve

For two equal portions, divide the batch by two. These are rounded results from the source inputs, not measurements of your salad:

Batch totals and one of two equal portions
Nutrient	Whole batch	Half the batch
Energy	1,737 kJ / 415 kcal	869 kJ / 208 kcal
Protein	18.1 g	9.1 g
Carbohydrate	40.0 g	20.0 g
Fat	15.2 g	7.6 g
Fibre	17.2 g	8.6 g
Iron	5.23 mg	2.62 mg

Calories: food “calories” usually mean kilocalories (kcal). Using the NIST conversion factor, convert kilojoules to kcal by dividing by 4.184: 1,737.1 ÷ 4.184 is about 415 kcal. Divide the unrounded batch result before rounding each serving; two rounded serving values can differ slightly from the rounded batch total.

Unequal portions: if the finished salad weighs 600 g and your portion is 250 g, use 250 ÷ 600 of the batch. That gives about 724 kJ, 173 kcal and 7.55 g protein. This assumes the ingredients are evenly distributed; a scoop with most of the chickpeas will not match the average.

Per 100 g: using that same measured 600 g finished weight, divide the batch by six: about 290 kJ and 3.02 g protein per 100 g. The example’s ingredient weights add to 600 g, but that does not replace weighing the final dish if ingredients or dressing are lost during preparation.

Changing yield is not scaling the recipe.If you change the serving count from two to four while leaving the ingredients alone, each serving becomes half as large. If you want four portions of the original size, double every ingredient as well. The batch then contains twice the nutrients, while each portion stays the same.

4. Keep cooking changes and missing values visible

For a cooked dish, choose food records that match the weights you entered. Do not put cooked rice grams against an uncooked-rice record, or apply another cooking adjustment to a record that already describes the cooked food.

MorselMetrics can apply selected, supported preparation estimates. These use source-backed factors for applicable foods and nutrients; they do not measure your cooking. Uncovered nutrients remain labelled estimates. An optional finished weight changes the per-100 g concentration calculation, not the batch nutrient total. See the preparation methods and limitations before treating a cooked result as complete.

Oil: count the amount retained in the food when known. The analyser does not guess how much frying oil was absorbed.
Discarded liquid: draining can change what remains. Do not subtract losses twice when the selected record or method already describes a drained food.
Unreported nutrients: keep them unknown. If three ingredients report a vitamin and the fourth does not, their sum is a reported subtotal, not a proven complete total.
Missing ingredients: a sauce or stock with no quantified contribution still matters. Mark the result partial rather than assuming the omitted ingredient contributes nothing.

A calculated iron amount, for example, describes food composition; it does not tell you exactly how much you absorb or diagnose iron deficiency. Nor does a home calculation by itself establish a compliant commercial nutrition label.

5. Review the calculation in MorselMetrics

Open Check a recipe. Paste your ingredient list and method, or add ingredients through food search. Include explicit weights and the recipe yield.
Check the matches and amounts. Correct any unsuitable food form, uncertain household measure or unmatched ingredient. Open Preparation & detailed ingredient controls when you need the detailed settings.
Confirm Servings. Enter the number of portions the unchanged batch makes. Do not accept an estimated yield without checking it.
Add a finished weight if measured. Use Finished batch weight (optional) for the edible dish after preparation.
Review Nutrition. Compare the whole recipe with the per-serving view. Open All nutrients for the wider profile or Ingredient detail to inspect a contribution, including data gaps.
Save after review. Keep the recipe name, yield and ingredients together so your next calculation uses the same assumptions. Check the portion again when adding it to a plan.

For the example, the quick audit is: four matched ingredients, 240 g drained chickpeas, 10 g oil, two servings and about 9.1 g protein per serving. A markedly different result is a reason to inspect the food records, weights and serving basis before changing your diet.

Follow the numbers in your own recipe.

Enter your ingredients, confirm the portions and inspect the source-backed results.

Check a recipe

Keep exploring

Read vitamin and mineral totals carefully →Assign the right portion in a meal plan →Scale recipe ingredients for shopping →

Reviewed 10 October 2026. Example food values: FSANZ Australian Food Composition Database Release 3, records identified in the table, checked against MorselMetrics’ public food records. Values are adapted through field mapping, scaling, addition, division and rounding; they are not original FSANZ recipe results. Adapted food data and calculations are available under CC BY-SA 3.0 AU, subject to the AFCD data user licence. FSANZ does not endorse MorselMetrics. Estimates vary with the actual food and preparation.