Measure Dry Pasta

When cooking pasta, you must measure the dry pasta to ensure you don't cook too little or too much for your sauce. Pasta generally doubles in size and weight when cooked. It is also measured differently depending upon whether it is macaroni pasta or egg noodles. Some recipes merely specify the number of servings of pasta you should cook which means you have to figure out the measurements yourself. Measuring pasta servings depends upon serving size and pasta shape. This article will teach you how to measure dry pasta.

Steps

Measuring Macaroni Pasta

  1. Read the recipe to decide how many servings of pasta are required. You can either read directly from the recipe or pasta sauce bottle, or if you are making pasta sauce from scratch, figure out how many people you will feed with your sauce.
    • A single serving of pasta is generally regarded as 2 oz. (57 g) of cooked pasta for a first course or side dish.[1] A serving can be raised 3 to 4 oz. (85 to 113 g) if it is the only course. Occasionally a serving is approximated as 1/2 cup (114 g) of pasta; however, this depends upon the shape of the pasta.
    • One serving = 2 oz.; two servings = 4 oz.; four servings = 8 oz.; six servings = 12 oz.; eight servings = 16 oz.
  2. Measure spaghetti, fettuccini, spaghettini, capellini, fedelini, or vermicelli using your hand. Place a bunch of spaghetti between your thumb and forefinger. 1 serving of pasta, or 2 oz. (57 g), will be equivalent to a bunch of pasta between your fingers with a diameter of 7/8 inch (24.26 mm).[2] This is the diameter of a United States quarter.
    • Two servings = 1.75 inches; four servings = 3.5 inches; six servings = 5.25 inches; eight servings = 7 inches.
    • Spaghetti, linguine, and other long pastas can be measured using a pasta measure. A pasta measure is a tool that is available at kitchen supply stores, in pasta-making kits, and online.[3] You place the long pasta in various loops to measure a serving of the pasta.
  3. Measure elbow macaroni using measuring cups or a food scale. If using a food scale, place the pasta in the cup attached to the scale and measure 57 g. If using measuring cups, a single 2 oz. (57 g) serving is 1/2 cup of dried pasta.
    • Two servings = 1 cup; four servings = 2 cups; six servings = 3 cups; eight servings = 4 cups.
  4. Measure penne pasta using measuring cups or a food scale. If you are using measuring cups, a single 2 oz. (57 g) serving is 3/4 cup of dried pasta.
    • Two servings = 1 1/2 cups; four servings = 3 cups; six servings = 4 1/2 cups; eight servings = 6 cups.
  5. Measure ribbed lasagna using a food scale or individual pieces. A 2 oz. (57 g) serving of lasagna is approximately 2 pieces of dry lasagna sheets.[4]
    • It is typically best to use about four layers of noodles when making a lasagna. The typical baking dish used to make lasagna is either 8x8 inches or 10x8 inches[5]. With four layers of lasagna noodles, an 8x8 pan of lasagna will typically feed four people, while a 10x8 pan will usually serve six.
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Measuring Egg Noodles

  1. Know what constitutes an egg noodle. Most pasta contains egg, but to be considered an egg noodle, it must contain at least 5.5 percent egg solids.[6]
  2. Measure egg noodles using measuring cups or a food scale. When measuring egg noodles using measuring cups, 2 oz. (56 g) of egg noodles is approximately 1 1/4 cup of egg noodles and also 1 1/4 cup of cooked noodles.
    • Unlike macaroni pastas, egg noodles measured in measuring cups are typically the same both dry and cooked.
  3. Know that extra wide egg noodles might be slightly different. Typically, for extra wide egg noodles, a 2 oz. serving equals 1 1/4 cups of dry egg noodles, which will yield approximately 1 1/2 cups of cooked noodles.

Tips

  • You can buy measuring tools that measure spaghetti, and other long strand pasta in portion sizes. (Typically, 60 grams (2.1 oz.), 80 grams (2.8 oz.), 100 grams ( 3.5 oz.) or 125 grams (4.4 oz.)). One such measuring tool is the Pastamaestro spaghetti measuring tool.[7]

Things You'll Need

  • Dry pasta or egg noodles
  • Measuring cups
  • Food scale (optional)
  • Pasta measuring tool (optional)

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.muellerspasta.com/articles/measuring-muellers-pasta
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA-rFCx2ZaI
  3. ↑ http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/14451/best-way-to-measure-spaghetti-linguini-portions
  4. ↑ http://richscanada.com/3655/1515/productdetail.html
  5. ↑ http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
  6. ↑ http://www.differencebetween.net/object/comparisons-of-food-items/difference-between-egg-noodles-and-pasta/
  7. ↑ http://www.pastamaestro.com/

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