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Pasta Portion Calculator

Work out the right amount of dry pasta, cooking water, and salt for any number of people.

How it is calculated

Three quantities follow from two inputs. Dry pasta is pasta = people × portion, with the portion in grams per person. Cooking water is fixed at one litre per 100 g of pasta, water = pasta / 100. Salt is fixed at 10 g per litre of water, salt = water × 10.

Pasta and salt are rounded to whole grams and water to one decimal of a litre. The water and salt ratios are built into the tool and cannot be changed; if you prefer less salt, simply use a smaller amount than shown. Both people and portion must be greater than zero. The weight is of dry pasta, before cooking, and fresh or filled pasta is usually weighed differently.

Worked example

Four people at 80 g each. Pasta: 4 × 80 = 320 g dry. Water at 1 L per 100 g: 320 / 100 = 3.2 L. Salt at 10 g per litre: 3.2 × 10 = 32 g. For three people at 85 g the tool gives 255 g, 2.6 L and 26 g, because 2.55 L is shown rounded to one decimal.

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Common mistakes

  • Weighing cooked pasta. The portion is for dry pasta; cooked pasta weighs roughly two to three times more, so a cooked-weight figure would give far too much.
  • Entering the whole package weight as the portion. The box asks for grams per person, not for the total.
  • Using the same portion for a starter and a main course. Set a smaller figure for a starter or side dish.
  • Reading the salt figure as what ends up in the dish. It is the salt added to the cooking water, and most of it stays in the pot.
  • Filling a pot to the exact water figure without checking size. A very large amount of pasta may need a bigger pot than the litre figure suggests.

About this calculator

This calculator scales standard Italian kitchen ratios to any number of diners: roughly 75-100 g of dry pasta per person as a main course (less for a starter or side), about a liter of water per 100 g of pasta so the strands have room to move and cook evenly, and around 7-10 g of coarse salt per liter of water — enough to season the pasta itself as it cooks, since sauce alone rarely salts it adequately.

Home cooks use it to avoid the common mistakes of under-portioning a dinner party or over-portioning a quiet weeknight meal, while caterers and restaurant kitchens scale the same per-person ratios up to plan bulk ingredient orders and pot sizes for large events without guesswork.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The water and salt amounts are fixed ratios, one litre per 100 g and 10 g per litre, so a pot that is too small for the result is your cue to cook in batches rather than cram the pasta in. The weight is dry pasta, and filled or fresh shapes usually need more. If the salt figure seems high for you, just use less. How do you portion pasta for kids or for a starter?

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