Pasta Serving- Cooked or uncooked

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4/10/12 9:58 P

If the box contains 375 grams of pasta, then you'll know it's dry. If the box contains a different total weight, you'll know something is inaccurate (and that something is NOT you!).

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4/10/12 6:38 P

BY LAW, in the United States, the nutritional information on the box MUST be for the product as it was when they put it in the box. They have to give you the information about the actual thing they are selling to you. They are not selling you cooked pasta; they are selling you dry pasta.

There's no real way to know exactly what size a cooked portion of pasta will be, because it depends on how YOU cook it and how many pieces are broken. Try it yourself; weigh out two 1-ounce portions and cook them in two separate pots. Cook one for 7 minutes and cook the other for 15 minutes, and then measure each one. The 15-minute one will take up much more room in the cup because it will have more (zero-calorie) water swelling it. (Unless it dissolves into mush from being overcooked.) It will also weigh more. The weight *before* the water is the accurate one.

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4/9/12 7:09 P

Im so glad to have spark :0 I always get the answer I need on here just by searching! Now I know my 1 cup of Spaghetti is about 2 oz :)

Posts: 153
2/4/12 3:08 P

Thank you Dietician Becky. That shed's light on the whole how much uncooked is cooked! Thank you for clarifying this question. I have saved your message so I can refer to it when needed!

My box of shells says 2oz dry and I split that between two people. It typically measures out about 1.5 cups per serving.
Thanks Becky.

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3/21/11 6:06 P

Generally the nutrition on the box is for UNCOOKED as people may cook their pasta in more than just water which could sway the cals.

What I do is I weigh my 2oz of whatever pasta shape and cook it separately. I then either weigh it again or use measuring cup to see what the cooked pasta resulted in. I then mark it on the package so that I know in the future how much I can have of whatever shape.

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3/21/11 4:48 P

I think the easiest way to do this would be to buy a cheap small food scale. Measure out 75g of the DRY pasta and cook it. That's how I determine one serving of pasta for myself.

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3/21/11 4:39 P

The serving size will be listed for dry. I make 2 servings and split it fairly evenly between myself and DH. I don't know what that measures in cups our grams but it's 1/2 of 2 servings regardless.

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3/18/11 10:31 A

Cook your pasta as you normally would, put your normal serving on your plate, then measure it, without sauce. Once you know how many cups or whatever in your normal serving, add it to the tracker to determine the nutritional values.

If you think your serving is too much, or too little for your daily needs, adjust from there.

I too, have been confused about "serving sizes" in the tracker, so I now determine my own serving sizes and add them as a food if necessary.

It has certainly taught me to know that what I previously considered a serving was much more than what I should be eating; hence the need to join Spark People.

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3/18/11 9:42 A

I agree...the info on MANY of the boxes is very confusing. I think it is a tactic to get you to eat more of their product. :) I don't even look at the back of the box. I use this general information, and it works well for these pasta type products.
SO this is what I suggest:

Egg Noodles, 8 ounces (2 cups) uncooked = 4 cups cooked

Spaghetti, fettucini, 8 ounces (1 1/2 inch diameter)uncooked = 4 cups cooked

Macarroni, shells, bowtie, etc, 8 ounces (2 cups) uncooked = 4 cups cooked


A 1/2 cup cooked portion is a standard portion, providing approximately 80-100 calories and 15-18 grams of carbhydrate. check the SP food tracker.

so determine how much of the cooked product you want. For example: 1 cup (which is two portions). then start with half that amount uncooked, 1/2 cup uncooked.

SP Dietitian Becky

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3/17/11 4:02 P

I know exactly what you're asking - and was hoping for a straight answer too, but none of these answers are really relevant.

I'm assuming you're referring to the serving size that is written with the nutrition info on the box of pasta, right above the nutrition info. Does the serving size (written on the box) refer to when the pasta is cooked, or when it is dry?

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3/14/11 8:42 A

When I prepare a meal for my family sometimes I will dry measure and seperate my portion and boil in a seperate pot to ensure that I am consuming the portion I intend to, and that I'm logging correctly. Once you cook it, you can measure how much it turns out to be for future reference if you like. Pasta can be tricky to measure, as shown in some of the other responses. It's easy to overdo pasta for me, so I try to be careful.

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3/14/11 8:40 A

I'm still so confused.
I just need to know a serving size of pasta once cooked

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3/14/11 8:19 A

it depends on how much you want to eat.
in general 2oz dry pasta runs between 170 and 210 cals. once cooked, it becomes a fairly large portion. in other words if your 75 g pasta was 180 cals and you cook all that and get 2 cups of it, each cup would have 90 cals. it all depends on how much you cook the pasta and what shape it is.

if you cook the pasta and weigh 75 grams, you need to use the info from the tracker for cooked pasta, because the info on the box does not apply to cooked pasta [because pasta soaks up water during cooking and weighs much more once cooked].

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3/14/11 8:17 A

Cooked.

O

Posts: 221
3/14/11 8:09 A

So if a serving is 75g dry. then do I weigh 75 g dry and cook it and that is my portion or do I cooke the pasta and weigh 75g cooked and that is my serving?

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3/14/11 8:03 A

cooked is the best way to weigh it

Edited by: BABA101 at: 3/14/2011 (08:04)

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3/14/11 7:59 A

Ummmm...no.
Past comes in all shapes and sizes, and 1 cup varies widely in serving sizes.

Right now I am looking at a box of macaroni - acini di pepe.

Like I said in my previous post, a serving of pasta is 2 ounces (56 grams) DRY.
For this particular macaroni, that 2 ounces (56 grams)is 1/3 cup.
That serving will NOT be tripling in size, so one cooked cup of it will be MORE than one serving.

You really need to weigh 2 ounces out before you cook it.
If you don't get a scale, divide up the box when you buy it. If it is 16 ounces, divide it into 8 baggies - 2 ounce servings!

Edited by: LUANN_IN_PA at: 3/14/2011 (08:00)

Posts: 221
3/14/11 7:25 A

Pasta generally expands so if it's one cup dry, then I eat one cup cooked, i'd be consuming less than a serving no?

Posts: 15,379
3/13/11 6:22 P

My boxes state that one serving of pasta is 2 ounces (56 grams) DRY.
And, yes, the DRY is in capital letters on the box!

And not all pasta will equal 1 cup cooked.
Some pastas can be 2+ servings in a cup....

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3/13/11 5:43 P

Whatever you cook, make the serving size 1 cup cooked. It's an easier way than worrying what it was uncooked.

Posts: 221
3/13/11 5:01 P

So I am confused.
It was 1cup uncooked, so does that mean I get a cup cooked?
So confused

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3/13/11 4:54 P

A good rule of thumb is 3/4-1 cup cooked pasta. The 75g is for dried.

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3/13/11 4:31 P

The serving size should end up being 1 cup cooked, I think the 75 g is for dried spaghetti. When you cook that, you should end up with a cup of cooked pasta. I'm always disappointed at how little that is, considering how much I love pasta. :)

Posts: 152
3/13/11 3:47 P

I totally know what you mean!!! I always get confused at that. Sometimes if the box also gives an indication of serving size if cups I'll weigh out the serving size before cooking and after to see which one it is, but sometimes it's close or off so I still don't know. Honestly I'd guess cooked, but I really want to hear what others have to say!

Posts: 221
3/13/11 3:40 P

On my box of pasta it says nutritional information for 1/5 package (75g). So is the 75g cooked or uncooked pasta?
I always have such a hard time with this.
Any info would be great
Thanks