Bridging the gap between grocery shopping and kitchen prep too often requires excessive guesswork. How many mushrooms do you need for the 1 cup sliced your recipe calls for? How many cloves are in a tablespoon of minced garlic? Many recipes leave it up to the reader to decode these mysteries, leading to befuddlement at the supermarket and frustration at home.
To clear things up, we tested a variety of common items to determine their yield after being chopped, pureed or otherwise prepared to be used in a recipe.
Our testing revealed many useful rules of thumb. A single medium onion produces 1 cup of chopped onion. To make 1 cup of whipped cream, you’ll need to start with ½ cup of heavy cream. And for every cup of pureed pumpkin, you will need roughly a pound of raw squash.
Of course, some foods are easier to measure at the store than others. It’s simple to know how much you are buying with packaged foods, such as heavy cream and cheeses. But the variability of produce can make this more challenging. To help, we’ve offered weights and visual cues where appropriate and suggest that when in doubt, use the scale.
INGREDIENT | RAW AMOUNT | PREPPED AMOUNT |
---|---|---|
Apple | 1 med. apple (6 oz.) | 1 c. ½-inch cubes or 1¼ c. ¼-inch slices |
Butternut Squash/Pumpkin/Sweet Potato | 1½-2 lbs. cleaned | 2 c. cooked puree |
Cremini Mushrooms | 6 med mushrooms (2¾ oz.) | 1 c. sliced |
Flat-Leaf Parsley | 4-oz. bunch | 1½ c. leaves or ⅔ c. chopped |
Fresh Ginger | 3-in. piece (3 oz.) | 2 tbsp. finely grated |
Garlic | 8 med. cloves (1 oz.) | 2 tbsp. minced |
Heavy Cream | 1 c. (8 oz.) | 2 c. whipped |
Jalapeño | 1 med jalapeño (1 oz.) seeded | 3 tbsp finely chopped |
Onion | 1 med. onion (8 oz.) | 1 c. chopped or 2 c. sliced |
Popcorn | ¼c. kernels | 10 c. popped |
Potatoes | 2-2½ lbs. | 4 c. mashed |
Rustic Country Bread | 1-lb loaf | 12 c. (1-inch cubes) |
Scallions | 4-oz. bunch | ½ c. thinly sliced whites + 1⅓ c. thinly sliced greens |
Semifirm Cheese (e.g., Cheddar or Gruyère) | 3 oz. | 1 c. shredded (large holes of box grater) |
Spinach | 10 oz. | 2 c. cooked and drained |