How much pasta per person
Italian portions, by dry weight. Adjust for appetite; nobody has ever complained about a little too much.
Per person
115 g
4.1 oz
For 4
460 g
16.2 oz, 0.46 kg
Cooked weight, about
1012 g
Semolina pasta from a box. Doubles in weight when cooked.
The rules of thumb
A box of dried pasta is 500 g in Italy and 1 lb (454 g) in the United States. An Italian box feeds five or six as a first course and four as a main. An American box feeds four to five.
Spaghetti is the one shape you can measure by eye. A bundle the diameter of a US quarter, about 24 mm, weighs close to 100 g. A spaghetti measure with holes is marked the same way.
Water: at least a litre per 100 g of pasta, with 10 g of salt per litre. Less water and the pasta sticks; less salt and it tastes flat, because pasta only takes salt while it cooks.
Fresh pasta cooks in a fraction of the time of dried, and stuffed pasta is done a minute after it floats. Pastina is cooked in the broth it is served in and never drained.
Calories follow the dough, not the shape. Plain semolina pasta is 371 kcal per 100 g dried, so a first course of 85 g carries about 315 kcal and a main of 115 g about 427. The sauce usually adds more than the pasta does. Egg, whole wheat, and corn doughs read differently: see nutrition by dough.