Pasta dry or cooked?

Lunawatuna
Lunawatuna Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi there,

I tried to log Barista Capellini pasta. I tried 50g which turned out to be 200 calories, but when it was cooked I weighed it again and it was about 220g and then I looked it up in the add food thing and it said 330 cals. Same pasta. Any suggestions?

Thanks : )
Lou

Replies

  • SuperC_85
    SuperC_85 Posts: 393
    Always measure dry (before cooking) water adds weight.
  • Fit_Lean_Priya
    Fit_Lean_Priya Posts: 164 Member
    log as dry
    cooked may differ by water weight
  • fluffyasacat
    fluffyasacat Posts: 242 Member
    Read the nutritional information on the back of the packet rather than looking it up on MFP. Then enter it in the food diary with COOKED or UNCOOKED in the description. You could spare someone else the confusion you're experiencing now.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    dry. use the cals on the packet that say dry weight.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Always weigh pasta dry. It soaks up more and more water the longer it's cooked. I also do 50 grams of whole wheat pasta fairly often. I make it in a non-stick frying pan like this: 4 San Marziano tomatos (chopped), 4 chopped green olives, chopped onion, oregano, basil, pepper, garlic, plus other spices you like. Add a glass of water and start cooking. After it starts simmering a few minutes add the pasta. Continue on a low heat, adding a little water as needed and at the end is almost absorbed. If you want to do this with spagetti you'll have to break it up beforehand. This is a no-oil pasta which I think is pretty tastey. I live in Italy and make pasta almost every day the normal way for my family. :drinker:
  • Lunawatuna
    Lunawatuna Posts: 24 Member
    Hi Guys,

    Thank you all for the support and excellent advice and recipes!

    Best,
    Lou
  • ohmephisto
    ohmephisto Posts: 3 Member
    So on this topic, I have a silly question. I like to make 2-3 servings of pasta at once, but need to measure it out after cooking to get the amount I need. How do I do that accurately now with all of that water making it heavier?
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    Hi there,

    I tried to log Barista Capellini pasta. I tried 50g which turned out to be 200 calories, but when it was cooked I weighed it again and it was about 220g and then I looked it up in the add food thing and it said 330 cals. Same pasta. Any suggestions?

    Thanks : )
    Lou

    Since the only difference is the water, that same 220g is still 200 calories.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    So on this topic, I have a silly question. I like to make 2-3 servings of pasta at once, but need to measure it out after cooking to get the amount I need. How do I do that accurately now with all of that water making it heavier?


    Thats easy,
    Since you know that 50g --> 220g then 150g --> 600g.. then divide by 3
  • Snip8241
    Snip8241 Posts: 767 Member
    Always weigh pasta dry. It soaks up more and more water the longer it's cooked. I also do 50 grams of whole wheat pasta fairly often. I make it in a non-stick frying pan like this: 4 San Marziano tomatos (chopped), 4 chopped green olives, chopped onion, oregano, basil, pepper, garlic, plus other spices you like. Add a glass of water and start cooking. After it starts simmering a few minutes add the pasta. Continue on a low heat, adding a little water as needed and at the end is almost absorbed. If you want to do this with spagetti you'll have to break it up beforehand. This is a no-oil pasta which I think is pretty tastey. I live in Italy and make pasta almost every day the normal way for my family. :drinker:

    Thanks so much! I never thought pasta would cook like this. I am doing this today! :bigsmile:
  • ActuarialChef
    ActuarialChef Posts: 1,413 Member
    So on this topic, I have a silly question. I like to make 2-3 servings of pasta at once, but need to measure it out after cooking to get the amount I need. How do I do that accurately now with all of that water making it heavier?

    After cooking and draining the pasta, weigh the entire cooked amount. Divide by the number of servings of dry pasta you put in the pot, and this number will be the weight of 1 serving of cooked pasta.

    Note that this calculation will need to be done EVERY time you make a pot of pasta, because the ending weight will be different depending how much water was absorbed.


    Example:
    I put 200g (four 50g servings) of dry pasta into boiling water. When it's done cooking, I drain the pasta into a colander and set the (empty) pot on the scale. I tare the scale, then dump the pasta back into the pot.

    Total weight: 800g (this is a made up number)

    Therefore, each serving of pasta now weighs 200g (800g / 4 servings). I weigh out 200g onto my plate, and now what's on my plate matches the 50g dry pasta entry I recorded in MFP.
  • Lunawatuna
    Lunawatuna Posts: 24 Member
    Hi guys, today I took your advice and went by the dry weight on the box and it was different from what I had been using, so thanks.

    (Packet said 100g is 356 cals, so slightly less calorific than I had thought.)

    I took fluffyasacat's advice, too, and added it to the database : )

    Barilla Capellini Pasta Dry 100g - Pasta - 356 Cals
  • stupidloser
    stupidloser Posts: 300 Member
    My pasta package says serving size=56g(dry) and it is x amount of calories. When u cook pasta, you are only adding water. As you know water has zero calories. So, i would go by the nutritional info on the packaging. It weighs more because of the water inside the pasta.

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