Pasta portion calculator
Pasta needs room to move or it sticks and the water cools too far when the pasta goes in. The Italian convention is one litre of water and ten grams of salt per hundred grams of pasta. That salt figure surprises people — it is a tablespoon per litre — but most of it stays in the water, and it is the only chance to season the pasta itself rather than just the sauce.
A main-course portion is about 100 g of dry pasta per person, or 75 g as a starter. Four people need 400 g dry, which cooks to roughly 960 g, and wants four litres of water with 40 g of salt.
How to portion pasta
Dry pasta absorbs water and roughly doubles to two and a half times in weight, which is why 100 g looks like a mean portion in the packet and is a generous one on the plate. Fresh pasta is different — it already contains water, so a portion is about 125 g. Filled pasta is different again, at around 150 g, because a good part of the weight is filling. Portioning fresh pasta by the dry-pasta figure is the most common way to end up hungry.
Questions
About 100 g dry for a main, 75 g for a starter, 125 g if you are hungry.