Yield percentage captures how much usable food remains after trimming, peeling, or cooking loss — essential for buying the right amount.
Where
| Usable weight | Edible weight after prep |
| Starting weight | Raw weight you began with |
Worked example
If 800 g of usable meat comes from a 1000 g raw cut, the yield is 800 ÷ 1000 × 100 = 80%.
FAQ
Does recipe yield account for cooking loss like moisture evaporation? A basic yield formula based on raw ingredient weight doesn’t automatically account for moisture loss during cooking, which is why professional kitchens often calculate a separate cooking yield percentage for actual usable finished weight.
Why does yield percentage matter for costing a recipe? If a portion of ingredients is lost to trimming, cooking shrinkage, or waste, the effective cost per usable serving is higher than the raw ingredient cost alone suggests, so yield percentage corrects for that gap.
Figure portions with the Recipe Yield calculator in the cooking calculators.