Cooking the right amount
Dry pasta and rice swell as they cook, so a small-looking pile of dry pasta turns into a full pot. Most people either cook far too much or run short. This calculator starts from the number of people and how the dish is served, then gives the dry amount, the cooked weight and the cooking water.
The starting portions
The calculator uses common kitchen portions of the uncooked food:
- Pasta: about 100 g (3.5 oz) per person for a main course.
- Rice, quinoa and couscous: about 75 g (2.6 oz) per person for a main course.
- Side dish: 60% of a main portion. The appetite setting adjusts by 0.8 for light eaters and 1.25 for hearty ones.
The 2-oz serving printed on US pasta boxes is a nutrition serving, not a dinner plate. It is closer to a side dish.
How much the food grows
Typical cooked weight compared with dry weight:
| Food | Cooked ÷ dry | Water for the absorption method |
|---|---|---|
| Dry pasta | about 2.25 | boiled in plenty of water |
| White rice | about 2.5 | 1.9 ml per g, about 1 1/2 cups per cup |
| Brown rice | about 2.7 | 2.5 ml per g, about 2 cups per cup |
| Quinoa | about 3 | 2.8 ml per g, about 2 cups per cup |
| Couscous | about 2.3 | 1.4 ml per g, about 1 cup per cup |
Pasta is cooked in about 1 quart of water per 3.5 oz (1 liter per 100 g), never less than 2 quarts, so that it does not stick.
Worked example: pasta for four
- Dry pasta: 4 people × 100 g = 400 g, about 14.1 oz, a little under a 1-lb box.
- Cooked weight: 400 × 2.25 = 900 g, about 2 lb.
- Water: 4 liters, about 4.2 quarts, salted with roughly 2 tablespoons of kosher salt.
The same four people with white rice as a side dish need 4 × 75 × 0.6 = 180 g (6.3 oz) of dry rice, about 1 cup, cooked with roughly 1 1/2 cups of water. It gives about 450 g of cooked rice.
Tips
- Weigh rather than guess. A kitchen scale is the easiest way to get portions right. One cup of dry long-grain rice weighs about 185 g.
- Shape matters for volume, not weight. A cup of macaroni and a cup of farfalle weigh different amounts, so the calculator works in weight.
- Leftovers. Cooked rice should be cooled quickly and refrigerated within an hour or two, then eaten within a few days, because Bacillus cereus spores can survive cooking.
- Large groups. For buffets with several dishes, the side-dish setting is usually enough, since guests take a little of everything.