How to calculate recipe yield

Yield is one of the most overlooked factors in menu costing. When you buy a whole chicken, peel onions, or cook down a sauce, you lose mass. If you cost a recipe based on raw purchase weight rather than usable weight, you are understating your cost per portion — sometimes by 20% or more.

There are two types of yield to track: trim yield on raw ingredients, and output yield on prep recipes.

Type 1: trim yield on raw ingredients

Trim yield measures how much of a purchased ingredient is actually usable after prep. Anything discarded — bones, peels, fat trim, unusable stalks — is loss.

The formula: trim yield % = usable weight divided by purchased weight x 100

Example: you buy 1 kg of whole onions for $1.80. After peeling and trimming, you have 750 g usable. Trim yield = 750 divided by 1,000 x 100 = 75%.

To find the true cost per usable gram: $1.80 divided by 750 g = $0.0024/g. If you had divided by 1,000 g (ignoring yield), you would get $0.0018/g — understating cost by 25%.

Common trim yield benchmarks

These are starting points. Measure your own yields with actual product from your suppliers, as quality and trim style vary.

Type 2: output yield on prep recipes

When you cook a sauce, marinate a protein, or make a dough, the prep recipe produces a specific output quantity. Output yield measures how much you get out of a batch.

The formula: cost per unit of output = total input cost divided by output quantity

Example: a house mayo batch costs $1.82 in ingredients and produces 280 g of mayo. Cost per gram = $1.82 divided by 280 = $0.0065/g. If a menu item uses 30 g of mayo, it carries $0.195 in mayo cost.

Why prep recipe yield matters

Sauces, dressings, marinated proteins, and doughs are used across multiple menu items. Getting the cost per unit of output right means every dish using that prep recipe is costed accurately.

If you guess at the output yield — or forget to account for evaporation during cooking — every dish using that prep recipe carries an understated cost.

Cooking loss vs. trim loss

Proteins lose significant weight when cooked. A 200 g raw chicken breast may weigh only 165 g after grilling — an 18% cooking loss. If your recipe specifies 150 g of cooked chicken per portion, the actual raw input needed is 150 divided by 0.82 = 183 g raw.

Always specify whether recipe quantities are pre- or post-cooking, and apply the appropriate yield factor when calculating cost.

Tracking yield in practice

Measure yield when you first recipe-cost a dish, then recheck it periodically. If you switch suppliers or change prep methods, yield may shift. A consistent 5% lower yield on your main protein across 200 portions per week can meaningfully change your food cost.

In Dishboard, you can set a yield percentage on each ingredient. The system automatically adjusts cost per usage unit to reflect the actual usable quantity.

Frequently asked questions