Hi!

The box of pasta that I have says that a serving size is 3/4 cup. Does that mean 3/4 cup dry, or cooked?

Thank you!

I'm fairly certain it means cooked.

Since pasta expands, how much should I measure out to cook?

OR

Does anyone know how many pieces of penne pasta are a serving size?

Thanks!

Is it just plain pasta? Usually plain pasta calories are listed according to ounces per serving, and that is prior to cooking. You might want to compare the calorie content to an online calorie database...I think fitday and calorie king give figures for cooked vs. uncooked. You may want to mention the specific type of pasta; someone may be able to help more if you tell us what it is.

Just about all the pastas I've seen are 3/4 c per serving DRY; occassionally I'll see something listed at 1 cup cooked.

Again, just my own best guess.

You could (and I do this... ) go ahead and count out pieces into eight little piles (or however many servings per package), then measure it for future reference.

I just put my little piles of pasta--or whatever dry good--into little baggies then.

It's a little crazy, I realize, but it usually saves me craziness down the road, when I can just grab a quick serving and not think about it too much.

Because pasta comes in all shapes and sizes, volume isn't nearly as accurate a measure of it as weight. Weigh your DRY pasta in a food scale. It's usually about 100 calories an ounce. Whole wheat pasta is a bit less.

Get ready for a surprise if you never measured your pasta before! It doesn't look like much for the calories. I add a LOT of veggies to the sauce because I need the visual of a dinner-size portion.

Thanks ladies!

I do not have a food scale so that is not an option. There isn't much pasta left in the box...so I cannot divide the servings equally. I guess I'll just throw it away and buy a new box to divide

I had never thought of dividing it out like that...but I should have because that is what I do with frozen veggies. As soon as I open a bag, I immediately divide it into 2c servings...so much faster on busy evenings!

Right about that. I like to dump in some bagged salad greens right after I put the pasta onto my plate (or bowl), then I add the sauce and mix everything up. Make it look like a lot more and the sauce acts as dressing for the salad.

You can get a food scale pretty inexpensively, and they are so worth it! I have two - one I got from WW a million years ago, the other is from Pampered Chef (not inexpensive though!) and it's great. Has a nice big bowl so you're not trying to balance the food. Most pastas I've seen use 2 oz as a portion. I wouldn't throw out what you have - save it for when you can weigh it.

I throw in an equal amount of frozen green beans when the water boils, then throw in the pasta when in comes back to a boil. It's a pretty painless way to keep the calories down and have a full bowl of "pasta" to eat.

I usually make the whole box of pasta and then weigh it after I've cooked it. I weigh to the gram and then divide that number by the number of servings in the box. (Then I write the weight on a sticky note and this is stuck on the inside of the cupboard door.)

Good question! I am ALWAYS asking myself that question. Do they mean measure it DRY or COOKED?

Cooked pasta can be stored in the fridge in a ziploc baggie for about a week or it can be frozen into single servings. To reheat the cold stuff (not frozen), just put it in a colander and run hot water over it. I used to work at Pizza Hut many many moons ago and that's how the pasta was made every morning. (I mean, it was all made in the morning and then just dropped in hot water when someone ordered a pasta dish.)

Kimberly