How to Use the Vegetable Cooking Nutrient Loss Calculator
The same vegetable can deliver very different amounts of usable nutrition depending on how it's cooked. This calculator lets you pick a vegetable — spinach, broccoli, carrot, and more — along with a cooking method (raw, steamed, boiled, or stir-fried) and a serving size, then shows how much vitamin C and folate remain after cooking and what percentage was lost.
Vitamin C and folate are water-soluble and heat-sensitive, so boiling — which soaks the vegetable in water for an extended time — causes the biggest losses, while steaming, which keeps the vegetable out of direct water contact, loses comparatively less. Eating raw avoids cooking loss entirely, but some nutrients, like the beta-carotene in carrots, actually become more absorbable after cooking, so the "best" method depends on which nutrient matters most to you. If you're making a soup or broth, keep in mind that nutrients leached into the liquid can still be consumed along with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally, yes. Steaming doesn't submerge the vegetable in water, so water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C and folate leach out less than they do with boiling. Boiling, which soaks the vegetable in water for longer, tends to cause the greatest loss.
For water-soluble vitamins, raw means no cooking loss, so it has an edge there. But some nutrients, like the beta-carotene in carrots, actually become more absorbable after cooking. The best method depends on which nutrient you're after.