Potassium is an important electrolyte that supports muscle contractions, nerve signaling, and healthy blood pressure. This Ground Potassium Calculator helps you estimate the potassium content of common ground meats — beef, turkey, chicken, pork, and lamb — based on portion weight and whether you weighed the meat raw or after cooking.
Just choose the meat type, enter your portion size, and select the unit that matches your scale. The calculator returns the total potassium in milligrams, the percent of the 4,700 mg Daily Value, and a simple breakdown of the math behind it. It even includes a custom mode if you have a specific product or recipe nutrition label.
Use it for meal planning, diet tracking, or simply learning more about the mineral content of the ground meat you cook with.
🥩 Ground Potassium Calculator
Estimate potassium in ground beef, turkey, chicken, pork, or lamb — by weight and cooked/raw basis.
For cooked weights, the tool converts back to raw-equivalent using a typical 75% yield.
How to Use This Tool
Start by selecting the ground meat you are using from the drop-down list. If your recipe uses a product not listed, choose Custom product / custom value and enter the potassium figure from the nutrition label or a trusted food database (usually shown as mg per 100 g). Then type in the portion size.
Choose the unit that matches your food scale: grams, ounces, or pounds. Next, tell the calculator whether that weight is raw or cooked. This matters because meat loses water during cooking, so 100 g of cooked ground meat contains more potassium per gram than 100 g of raw meat. The calculator uses a typical 75% cooked yield to convert cooked weights back to a raw-equivalent weight before applying the potassium value.
- Pick the meat type.
- Enter the amount in grams, ounces, or pounds.
- Select raw or cooked weight basis.
- Click Calculate Potassium to see total potassium, % Daily Value, and step-by-step math.
If you are using leftovers or meal-prep portions, weigh the cooked meat after draining any juices. The calculator will estimate the raw-equivalent weight so the potassium total stays comparable to label values.
How the Calculation Works
The basic formula is simple:
Potassium (mg) = raw-equivalent weight (g) × potassium per 100 g / 100
For raw weights, raw-equivalent weight is just the entered grams. For cooked weights, the tool first divides the cooked grams by 0.75 (a typical yield factor for ground meat) to estimate how many raw grams the cooked portion came from. Then it multiplies by the potassium density of the selected meat.
The percent Daily Value uses 4,700 mg as the reference value for potassium, which is the FDA's Daily Value for adults. Your personal target may be different depending on age, health status, and medical advice.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Cooked ground beef 80/20 — You weigh out 120 g of cooked ground beef 80/20. Select that meat, enter 120, choose grams, and select cooked. Raw-equivalent weight = 120 ÷ 0.75 = 160 g. Potassium = 160 g × 318 mg / 100 g = 509 mg. That is roughly 11% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value.
Example 2: Raw ground turkey 93/7 — A recipe uses 200 g of raw 93/7 ground turkey. With raw selected, no yield adjustment is needed. Potassium = 200 g × 344 mg / 100 g = 688 mg, or about 15% of the Daily Value.
Ground Meat Potassium Reference Table
Values below are approximate raw-basis figures adapted from USDA FoodData Central and rounded to the nearest mg per 100 g. Actual values vary by brand, animal diet, fat content, and processing.
| Ground meat (raw per 100 g) | Potassium (mg) | Approx. % DV in 150 g serving |
|---|---|---|
| Ground beef, 80% lean / 20% fat | 318 | 10% |
| Ground beef, 85% lean / 15% fat | 332 | 11% |
| Ground beef, 90% lean / 10% fat | 327 | 10% |
| Ground turkey, 93% lean / 7% fat | 344 | 11% |
| Ground turkey, 85% lean / 15% fat | 285 | 9% |
| Ground chicken | 522 | 17% |
| Ground pork | 309 | 10% |
| Ground lamb | 259 | 8% |
These numbers are estimates, not a substitute for lab analysis. Always use a nutrition label or an authoritative database when precise intake matters, especially if you are managing kidney disease, taking potassium supplements, or following a clinician-approved diet.
Factors Affecting Accuracy & Common Questions
Several factors can change the true potassium content of your plate. Fat lean ratio is one: leaner cuts generally contain slightly more potassium per 100 g because gram for gram they have more lean tissue and less fat. Cooking method also matters. Pan-browned meat that is drained loses potassium-rich juices; sauces, marinades, or salt substitutes (which often contain potassium chloride) can raise the final potassium content substantially. Brand, animal breed, and diet also create natural variation.
What if I only know the weight in cups? Ground meat density varies with grind and packing, so weight is more reliable. As a rough guide, 1 cup of packed raw ground meat is about 200-225 g and 1 cup of crumbled cooked ground meat is about 140-160 g, but weigh it whenever possible.
Is potassium lost during cooking? A small amount can leach into juices and drippings. The calculator's 75% yield factor is a typical average, not a precise value for every batch. If you include the pan juices in a sauce, potassium retention is higher than if you drain and discard them.
Where can I get official values? The USDA FoodData Central database is the best free source for U.S. food composition data. If you are comparing individual products, check the product label or the manufacturer's website. For potassium-rich plant sources, you can also try the bean potassium calculator to estimate a meat-free alternative.