Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The weight ratio of dry pasta to cooked pasta

It's not often you ask Google a simple question and you can't get a straight answer. My question was this: "what is the weight ratio of dry pasta to cooked pasta?"

There is plenty of discussion on this matter, with units such as ounces, cups, Fahrenheit, buschels and microfortnights bandied around. But not one answer that had the simple dimensionless ratio I was looking for.

So it's off to the lab (... well kitchen ...) to do an experiment:
  • 100g fusilli (Lid's finest)
  • 500ml water
  • Bring to boil and boil for 10 minutes
  • Strain pasta
  • Weigh pasta
So what is this magic ratio? Well, this is not an exact science. Obviously al dente pasta is going to be lighter than over cooked. And it's probable that the topology of the pasta will have some influence on it's ability to retain water. Pasta topologies with lots of surface area and enclosed spaces (eg pasta shells) are going to have more water clinging to the surface. These are experiments for another day.

Anyhow, as for fusilli, the cooked weight of 100g of dry pasta after 10 minutes boiling was 208g.  So the weight ratio of dry pasta to cooked pasta is

1 :  2.1

7 comments:

thomas said...

Thanks so much for doing this. I was just headed into the kitchen to do it myself. I actually need the ratio for Penne, but good enough.

wendyxo said...

THANK YOU!!!! wow! you hit it on the head about getting random "junk" when searching the internet.

mhelner said...

Thanks so much! Sometimes you need to use up the leftover cooked pasta in the fridge.

HeavyDiesel said...

Yay i can now make spaghetti carburetor, or at least attempt to :-D

lyn said...

Thank you! Great help, I'm using gluten free so its too expensive to throw away if you cook too much.

Unknown said...

Thank you! Dieting is fine, until it comes to the weight of dried pasta and cooked pasta. Though despite under calculating my pasta, it didnt affect the weight loss. But I'm aware mow.

Irina Gancheva said...

Thank you so much! This is so helpful!