Vegetable Stir Fry over Rice Cost Calculator
Mixed vegetables in stir-fry sauce served over jasmine rice. Asian-inspired vegetarian entrée food cost. Prefilled with US average ingredient costs. Edit any quantity or price to match what you actually pay, and the math updates as you type.
How much does it cost to make Vegetable Stir Fry over Rice?
A plate of vegetable stir fry over rice costs a restaurant about $1.80 in ingredients at typical US prices, a 13.8% food cost at a $13 menu price. Vegetables are 62% of that, and the mix the kitchen chooses puts the plate anywhere from $1.24 to $2.62.
Where the money goes
| Mixed stir-fry vegetables | 62.2% · $1.12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Stir-fry sauce + garlic + ginger | 19.4% · $0.35 | |
| Jasmine rice (cooked) | 10.0% · $0.18 | |
| Sesame oil + scallion + sesame seeds | 8.3% · $0.15 |
What 50 of them return at different prices
| Your price | Food cost % | Over ingredients, each | Over ingredients, 50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $9.75 | 18.5% | $7.95 | $397.50 |
| $13.00 US average | 13.8% | $11.20 | $560.00 |
| $16.25 | 11.1% | $14.45 | $722.50 |
Ingredients only. Labor, packaging, fuel, and stall or platform fees come out of these figures.
The vegetables are the biggest line: 8 ounces at 14 cents an ounce are $1.12, 62.2% of the $1.80 plate. The stir-fry sauce with garlic and ginger is 35 cents (19.4%), 6 ounces of cooked jasmine rice 18 cents (10.0%), and the sesame oil, scallion, and sesame seeds 15 cents (8.3%). At a $13 menu price that is a 13.8% food cost, under half the 28-32% most restaurants aim for. Each extra ounce of vegetables adds about one point of food cost; two more ounces of rice add 6 cents.
The menu says "mixed vegetables," so the kitchen decides what goes in the mix, and that choice is where the cost moves. Priced per edible ounce with USDA's preparation yields, the 2023 retail averages put broccoli heads at about 24 cents ($3.02 a pound, with 78% of a head counted as edible), red bell pepper at 13 cents, celery at 11, and green cabbage, carrots, and onion at about 7. Make all 8 ounces broccoli and the plate costs $2.62, a 20.1% food cost at $13; a base of cabbage, onion, and carrot brings it down to $1.24 (9.6%). The 14 cents used here fits a broccoli-and-pepper mix bulked out with cabbage, carrot, and onion. A frozen IQF stir-fry blend skips the trim and the knife work but costs more than that mix. A 24 lb case at WebstaurantStore is $68.99, about 18 cents an ounce as packed, which puts the plate at $2.12 (16.3%); the blend is still cheaper than fresh broccoli alone. Frozen vegetables tend to release water in the wok, so cooks fry them in smaller batches to keep them from steaming.
Everything except the vegetables is small, which leaves room to sell protein on top. Jasmine rice is about 3 cents a cooked ounce: a 50 lb bag is $56.99 at WebstaurantStore, $1.14 a pound, and a cup of rice cooked with a cup and a half of water comes out at roughly 2.4 times its dry weight. As an add-on, four ounces of firm tofu cost about 56 to 83 cents at Walmart prices (Azumaya firm, 16 oz for $2.22; Nasoya organic extra firm, 14 oz for $2.92), so a $3 tofu add-on turns the $13 plate into a $16 one at a 14.7-16.5% food cost. A home cook pays about the same for the vegetables, since the USDA figures are retail prices, but has to buy whole bottles of stir-fry sauce and sesame oil first, so the first few plates cost well over $1.80.