Pasta Per Person Calculator
Find out how much dried pasta to cook for the number of people you are feeding.
Answer
400 g of dried pasta
The detail
75g is light, 100g is a standard main course, 125g is generous. Dried pasta roughly doubles in weight once cooked.
Reference and detail
Dried and fresh pasta
Dried pasta roughly doubles in weight as it cooks. Fresh pasta needs about half again as much by weight as dried, because it already contains water.
Measuring without scales
A rough guide for long pasta is a bundle about the diameter of a one pound coin per person.
Questions and answers
Questions about pasta portion sizes
Should I measure pasta before or after cooking?
Before, weigh it dry. Dried pasta roughly doubles in weight once cooked, so a cooked-weight figure is much less useful for shopping and measuring out portions than the dry weight the calculator gives you.
Is fresh pasta the same portion size as dried?
No, fresh pasta is heavier for the same amount of food because it already contains the water that dried pasta absorbs during cooking. The figures on this calculator are for dried pasta; increase the amount somewhat for fresh.
How much pasta do I need if it's a starter rather than a main course?
Considerably less than a main portion. Closer to half. Use the calculator's lighter setting rather than a full main-course portion when pasta is only the first of several courses.
Does the pasta shape change how much I should cook per person?
Not by weight. Different shapes vary in how they look and pack in a pan or bowl, but the standard gram-per-person figures work by weight regardless of whether it's spaghetti, penne or fusilli.