dry pasta measurement vs cooked pasta - barilla plus? help!

You generally measure pasta before you cook it. I just weigh it dry on my food scale.

So if you are cooking for your family, try making your portion in a smaller pot. After you cook it, you can measure it if you want to see how much dry pasta = cooked pasta. Once you've done that a few times, you'll have a good estimate of how to translate dry to cooked measurements.

i'm interested to see what people have to say on this as well. I've pretty much cut pasta off my menu because it has alot of calories.

I have posted a few topics about this as well lol and what ive been told is that pasta doubles when you cook it. So for example 1/2 cup dry comes out to 1 cup cooked.

A lot of pasta packets with the nutritional value will say something like 75g dry makes up 150g cooked. (This is an example and not an accurate measurement.) So if your weighing out cooked pasta, look on the pack to see how much dried would make that much.

Uncooked is the figure they give you on the box. Your weight will vary depending on how long you cook it (water absorption) and the type of pasta. Experiment a little and cook your serving separately a few times and you will know how much your pasta will net cooked.

You generally measure pasta before you cook it. I just weigh it dry on my food scale.

So if you are cooking for your family, try making your portion in a smaller pot. After you cook it, you can measure it if you want to see how much dry pasta = cooked pasta. Once you've done that a few times, you'll have a good estimate of how to translate dry to cooked measurements.

I'm going to try this next time cause I have always wondered myself.

Here is what I found on the internet:

Calories in 1 Cup Cooked Pasta/Calories
Pasta, Cannelloni /170
Pasta, Gnocchi /175
Pasta, Lasagne /180
Pasta, Macaroni /170
Pasta, Spaghetti /170
Pasta, Spaghetti, whole wheat /165
Pasta, Tagliatelle /185
Pasta, Vermicelli/ 170

I got a call back from Barilla' customer service. They said that 3/4 cup of dry pasta equals 2 ounces. They also said that 3/4 cup dry would cook up to 1 1/8 cups. I called asking specifically about whole grain rotinni but, can't imagine there's a lot of difference in the pasta varieties. Pasta nutritional info is pretty poor on the box regardless of the manufacturer. You can google dry to cooked conversions for some help too.

OK, the first thing to realise is that there is a difference between volume and weight. Unfortunately, in the US the system of measurements that is used makes it really so much harder to wrap one's head around it. I think it must make you guys (I'm originally European and have grown up with g and ml) really really good at arithmetic on the average. But it can be an obstacle to understanding.

One problem is that there are oz for weight and (fl) oz for volume. 1 oz = 28 g and 1 fl oz = 28 ml(*). As 1 ml of water weights approximately 1 g (very very close, depending on pressure and temperature), the two are equivalent for fluids like water.

However, pasta (dry or cooked) are very different from water!

A cup is a volume measure, and the same as 8 fl oz. So half a cup of water would be 4 fl oz which weigh 4 oz. But half a cup of dry pasta would be a LOT less.

Some say a portion of dry pasta is half a cup, but again that depends a lot on the shape of the pasta. Try measuring half a cup of dry spaghetti, especially the original extra-long ones! It's more precise to go by weight anyway, because whatever the shape, the same weight of the same type of pasta (same brand/variety) always would have the same number of calories whether you look at spaghetti, farfalle, rotini, fusili, penne, whatever.

So let's say a portion (a reasonable-sized one, though a lot less than I used to eat to be honest :blushing: ) is 56g (that is, 2 oz). That is, dry. Once you cook it, it'll *approximately* double in weight and volume, but that again depends on the shape and on how much water your specific type of noodle absorbes in the cooking process.

That's where the "1 cup cooked" comes from -- that's some middle-of-the-road value. To be honest, it's too imprecise for me, so I weigh my pasta. It'll be probably approximately 4 oz in weight (if it doubles from 2 oz). NOT 8 oz like a cup of water!

And I weigh dry, and again cooked when I use leftovers, using an approximate factor of 2 (1 portion = 2 oz dry = approx. 4 oz cooked).

(*) Or 30 ml for US fluid oz! There's also imperial fl oz, which are again different, but let's forget about the difference here.

If after you cooked it you ate a serving of one cup (roughlty the size of your fist) that should be approximately one serving size - and if memory serves, that's about 210 calories for Barilla Plus.

OK, MFP PEOPLE!! HELP HAS ARRIVED. I got so frustrated with pasta measurements that, after reading this post, I set out to discover the truth for myself.

Barilla Spaghetti. Not plus, not whole wheat, just regular, plain old spaghetti. Measure out 2 oz DRY on your food scale. Boil it, and measure it. It will be one cup of cooked pasta.

2 oz dry OR 1 cup cooked Barilla spaghetti contains 200 calories, 1 gram of fat, 42 grams of carbs, and 7 grams of protein.

Now you can have your pasta, and eat it, too!!!

I know this is old but guys, 1 cup is 8 FLUID ounces which is a measure of volume (how much space something takes up). All liquids take up the same amount of space so it's easy to measure them like this. 1 cup of jelly takes up just amount of space as 1 cup of water . 8 fluid ounces of water actually weighs roughly 8.3 oz. Water takes up one cup of space (8fluid oz) to equal to 8.3 oz in weight. But. Food is measured by weight. Not all foods are the same size and shape so you have to find their weight. Think about it. Weigh a 1/4 cup of rocks and a 1/4 cup of yarn. They take up the same space but weigh different. 2 oz of yarn might be 4 cups where as 2oz of rocks are 1/2 cup. Since most people do not have scales to measure their food companies will determine that 2oz of pasta takes up roughly 3/4 cup. This way you can still measure out a serving.

OP...8 oz in cup is a liquid measurement....liquid ounce. A cup of something dry can vary substantially in actual weight. One cup of popcorn is going to weight significantly less than one cup of pasta for example.

I think it's already been stated, but 2 oz pasta (typical serving size) is roughly 1/2 cup dry and 1 cup after being cooked.

HERE IS WHAT I DID.. My recipe called for 4 cups of cooked penne pasta. I, like most on here, have been irritated by the boxes that list calories for dry pasta only. Then, I realized that the pasta producers needed to use a measurement that would be the same for every pasta, and which would not be dependent on any one cooking method, or result. Thus, dry measurements are the answer. Well, swell, but where do I go with my recipe that calls for 4 cups of cooked pasta???

Hmmmm.

I finally decided to cook the whole box, al dente, per their instructions for exactly 11 mins. Usually, I would test for the tenderrness I prefer, but to keep all measurements standard, I removed the pasta at once, and drained it immediately. Then, I measured it, coming up with 8 cups of cooked pasta for a 14.5 oz box of Barilla Plus Penne. Then, I divided the 1470 calories (for the box of dry) by 8 to get the calories per cup of cooked. Next, I entered the cooked pasta for this item in My Foods on MyFitnessPal, so I can always know what it is for that product. I will do this for every pasta variety I use, until My Foods list has all the ones I use. End of problem. I put the other four cups in the refrigerator for another use. Being a fan of pastas as a side dish, I'll have no trouble using it up.

I just cooked 2 1/2 ounces of Barilla Whole Wheat Spaghetti and after it was cooked, it measured 1 1/2 cups. This is a great amount when cooking for one -- the end result of my spaghetti and sauce was 2 cups of spaghetti with sauce (no meat).
Came out making 2 servings of 1 cup each.
This was a big help and very easy to weigh the dry spaghetti. Thanks