How Much Does A Carrot Weigh? [This Experiment Answers All Your Questions]

Carrots are a great source of nutrients, especially Vitamin A, that you need to keep your eyesight (especially night vision) strong. 

More than that, this versatile plant food gets chopped or diced into a variety of dishes and beverages. Smoothies, soups, stews, casseroles, desserts, cakes, you name it, and you'll find a carrot or two lurking in there.

I love recreating recipes that have carrots in them. The ones that clearly specify a medium size carrot or the baby version in particular.

Sometimes, a particular recipe can stump you with its ingredients list. With instructions something along the lines of – grate 100g of carrots. 

Maybe you’re keen on making that tasty Moroccan carrot salad recipe you got from mom. You notice it requires 2 cups of diced carrots. All you can find are two small, sorry-looking carrots in the refrigerator. 

This gets you thinking —

How much does a carrot actually weigh? 

The answer isn’t quite simple. The weight of a carrot, like many vegetables, depends on its length and size.

Why Do You Need To Measure Carrots?

There are many other scenarios where you need to know the exact number of carrots you need to buy. 

You may be tracking your calories in a bid to eat healthily. You’ll need to know how much that chopped carrot weighs. The online food counters will require this input to provide you with the correct values. 

Meal prep or big batch cooking (especially baking) will again require accurate ingredient measurements.

So,

Do All Carrots Weight The Same?

You do have general estimates that apply to a standard-sized carrot – large, medium, small, or baby.

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), most carrots (unless you’re growing monster carrots) weigh anything from 48g to 72g (1.6oz to 2.4oz). 

Small carrots are obviously on the lower end of the scale. Medium-sized carrots fall somewhere in between at 61g (2.15oz).

Here is a table giving you the basic measurements as specified on the USDA site.

What Is The Best Way To Weigh Carrots?

You have one way to find the carrot’s body weight. The other, and better way, is to focus on the length and width of the carrot. A small carrot will be around 4 to 5.5 inches in length and weigh around 50g or even less. 

A thinner carrot will weigh less than a thicker one, and so on. 

The best way for this would actually require a kitchen scale to measure out the cup equivalents in grams or pounds.

Let’s look at some approximate measurements of carrots including numbers for sliced, grated, and julienned.

I also conducted a little experiment with carrots I specifically bought for this purpose.

How Much Does A Large Carrot Weigh? 

As I mentioned earlier, carrots come in different sizes. A large carrot , 7-inches or longer, can weigh anything from 72-85g (2.4-3oz) or more. Five large carrots weigh a total of 412g (14.5oz).

This is not a hard and fast rule. If you sit and weigh the large carrots you have at home, you will notice small variations in both height and weight.

How About the Weight of Medium Carrots?

Next, I took 5 medium carrots and weighed them. This came to around 349g (6.1oz).

Whereas a single medium-sized carrot weighed between 66-71g (1.6oz).

How Much Do Small Carrots Weigh?

As you can see, four small carrots weighed around 174g (6.1oz).

Whereas each carrot individually tipped the scale between 42-52g (1.5-1.8oz).

What About Baby Carrots?

Before we get to the weighty aspects of these orange babies, you should know that most carrots sold are simply pretending to be tiny. More often than not, they are misshapen carrots that are given a cosmetic makeover to look better and prettier for you to buy! 

Although you will find actual ones (that have been picked before they reach their proper size) in farmer's markets and grocery stores if you look hard enough.

A true-born baby carrot would weigh around 5-13g and stand 2-3 inches tall.

You make like: To find out How Long Does Fresh Carrot Cake Last? [+ Storage Tips]

Continuing with the weighing experiments, I found something similar across carrots of different sizes. 

My “baby carrot” weighs around 15-25g (0.5-.8z) with three of them totaling 40g.

And while we are at it, how about playing a different measuring game over carrots?

If your head is spinning with all the math, here is an easier way to figure out the quantities you need. 

A cup of chopped carrots will require one large and a small one. Two medium carrots (chopped) would make a cup.

Unless you’re baking a cake or muffin, a few grams here and there don’t make a lot of difference for juicing, sauteing, roasting, or other ways of cooking savory foods. 

Plus having leftovers is always handy! 

But what about those cup measurements we see in all those cooking, raw food, and baking recipes?

Related: Check out our recipe and details on How To Make Carrot Cake Frosting Without Cream Cheese (A Complete Guide)

How Much Does A Cup Of Carrots Weigh?

This is a far “dicer” question as the measurement will be everywhere depending on how it is cut or prepared.

For example, you’ll need more diced carrots to fill a cup compared to grated carrots. 

For keeping things uniform, I am sticking to the standard American measuring cup of 8oz (240g). 

A cup of diced carrots will be around (122g). You need (128g) chopped and (110g) grated to fill a cup.

Here is another table to bookmark for baking with carrots. Remember, these are approximate values to give you an idea of the carrots you need to grate or chop. 

As you can see a cup of shredded carrots equals around three fourths cup of diced or chopped carrots, whereas mashed is almost twice the quantity.

Are There Other Ways to Weigh Carrots That You Should Be Aware Of?

Yes. Suppose you want to make a carrot pie or a carrot cake, you’ll obviously have to know how many grated or mashed carrots you require.

Check out: If you can make your carrot smoothie in a food processor with our article guide.

Let’s look at some of these common measurements we usually use.

The following table reveals how many carrots you’ll need in its chopped or grated avatar. The purpose behind these estimates is to provide you with a handy cooking guide. The actual measurements will differ slightly based on the cups you use or the cuts you make.

If you look at the table or try this testing at home, you’ll notice something. Sliced and mashed vegetables take more space in a cup when compared to cut or grated vegetables. You’ll likely need to chop up 1-2 more carrots.

And finally, 

How Many Carrots Make A Pound Bag? 

One pound generally equals 16 oz or 450 g. Just to recap, when we are talking carrots, the following equal a pound bag of carrots: 

• 7-8 medium carrots

• 5-6 large carrots 

• 8-10 baby carrots and 

• 25-40 baby carrots

When it comes to cup values, you can fill up 2½ cups total with one pound of carrots.

Final Thoughts

A carrot varies in weight depending on its size and the way you cut it.

The guide provides you with some rough estimates to help you understand how to weigh carrots in your recipes. For baking, we strongly recommend that you use a kitchen scale to get the quantities just right.

Hopefully, with this guide, you’ll be able to do a decent swap of raw carrots to cup measures or chopped pieces for the whole vegetable.

How do you weigh your veggies? Let us know in the comments below.