Find out exactly how much pasta to cook. Enter how many adults and kids you are feeding, how you're serving it and the pasta type to get the dry weight, how many boxes to buy, the cooked yield, and how much water and salt to use.
Last updated:
Counted as half an adult portion.
Appetite
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How to use the Pasta Per Person Calculator
Enter the number of adults and kids you are feeding.
Choose how you're serving the pasta: main course, side dish, baked, salad or soup.
Pick the pasta type and appetite; fresh pasta needs more weight than dried.
Press Calculate pasta to see the amount to cook, packages to buy, water, salt and sauce.
Use the table to scale up for a party or copy the result for your shopping list.
How much pasta per person: the basics
Pasta portions depend on two things: how central the pasta is to the meal, and whether it is dried or fresh. The calculator starts from these per-adult amounts of dried pasta and then adjusts for appetite, kids (half portions) and fresh pasta, which weighs more because it already contains water.
How it's served
Dried pasta per adult
Cooked, approx.
Main course
100 g (3.5 oz)
about 1¾ cups
Baked pasta (lasagna, ziti, mac & cheese)
90 g (3.2 oz)
about 1½ cups
Side dish or first course
60 g (2 oz)
about 1 cup
Pasta salad
50 g (1.75 oz)
about ¾–1 cup
Pasta in soup
25 g (1 oz)
about ½ cup
Fresh egg pasta is figured at about 1.3× those weights and fresh filled pasta at 1.5×. Cooked yields assume dried pasta gains about 2.4× its weight and that a cup of cooked pasta weighs about 140 g.
Water, salt and sauce
Water: about 1 liter per 100 g of pasta (4–5 quarts per pound), never less than about 2 liters. Long pasta needs a pot wide or tall enough to submerge it as it softens.
Salt: about 10 g per liter (1%). Add it once the water boils, then add the pasta and stir in the first minute so pieces don't stick.
Sauce: for tomato-style sauces, a 24 oz (680 g) jar per pound of dried pasta is a common ratio. Oil-based and cream sauces go further, so start with less.
Save some pasta water. A splash of the starchy cooking water helps sauce cling and loosens baked dishes.
Tips for cooking pasta for a crowd
Cook in batches if you need more than about 1 kg (2 lb). A home stove struggles to bring more than 8–10 liters back to a boil quickly.
Under-cook pasta for baking by 2–3 minutes, since it keeps cooking in the oven.
For pasta salad, cook until just tender, rinse in cool water and toss with a little oil or dressing straight away.
Buffets need less per person than a plated pasta dinner when there are several other dishes; choose the side portion or a light appetite.
Frequently asked questions
How much dry pasta per person?
For a main course, plan about 100 g (3.5 oz) of dried pasta per adult; hearty eaters may want 4–5 oz. As a side dish or first course, 2 oz (55–60 g) is enough, and the standard US serving size on the box is 2 oz dry.
How much pasta for 10 people?
For a main course, about 1,000 g or 35 oz of dried pasta, which is a little over two 1 lb boxes. As a side dish, about 600 g (21 oz), or 1⅓ boxes. Add 10–15% if you want leftovers.
How much does pasta grow when cooked?
Dried pasta absorbs water and roughly doubles to 2.5 times its weight. 2 oz of dry pasta makes about 1 cup cooked. Fresh pasta already contains water, so it only gains about 10–30%.
How much fresh pasta per person?
Because fresh pasta contains water, use more by weight: about 120–150 g (4–5 oz) per adult as a main course, and about 150 g for filled pasta such as ravioli or tortellini.
How much water do you need to boil pasta?
A common guideline is about 1 liter of water per 100 g of pasta, which is 4–5 quarts per pound. Plenty of water keeps the temperature up when the pasta goes in and stops it from sticking. Use at least 2 liters even for one portion.
How much salt goes in pasta water?
About 1% salt by weight is a common choice: 10 g per liter, or a little under 2 teaspoons of fine table salt per liter. For a pound of pasta in 4–5 quarts of water, that is about 2–3 tablespoons of table salt. Coarse kosher salt is lighter, so use more by volume.
How can I measure spaghetti without a scale?
A bundle of dry spaghetti about the diameter of a US quarter (roughly 1 inch) is close to 2 oz, a side portion. For short pasta, 2 oz is about ½ cup dry for small shapes and ¾ cup for larger ones like penne or rotini.
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