# Pasta Portion Calculator

> Computes how much pasta to cook for a number of guests from per-person dry-weight portions by course (main 100 g, side or starter 60 g, kids 50 g, hearty 125 g), converts to fresh or filled pasta weight, and gives the cooked weight, boiling water, salt, sauce volume and 500 g packs to buy.

- Calculator id: `pasta-portions` · Category: Food & Cooking (`food`) · Tool name: `calculate_pasta_portions`
- Canonical page: https://tttkmbb.com/food/pasta-portions · This document: https://tttkmbb.com/food/pasta-portions.md · JSON definition: https://tttkmbb.com/food/pasta-portions.json

## Purpose

Computes how much pasta to cook for a number of guests from per-person dry-weight portions by course (main 100 g, side or starter 60 g, kids 50 g, hearty 125 g), converts to fresh or filled pasta weight, and gives the cooked weight, boiling water, salt, sauce volume and 500 g packs to buy.

**Use when:** You are cooking pasta for a group and need to know how much to buy and cook, how much water and salt to boil and how much sauce to prepare.

**Do not use when:** You are scaling a specific recipe's ingredient list (use recipe-scaler), or cooking rice (use rice-water), noodles in broth or baked pasta dishes with their own ratios.

## Input

| Parameter | Type | Unit | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `guests` | integer |  | required | Number of people to feed. (min 1, max 1000) |
| `course` | enum: main \| side_or_starter \| kids \| hearty |  | optional, default "main" | Sets the dry-weight portion per person. |
| `pasta_type` | enum: dry \| fresh \| filled |  | optional, default "dry" | Fresh and filled pasta contain more water, so more weight is needed for the same dry-equivalent portion. |
| `sauce_ml_per_100g` | number | ml | optional, default 150 | Sauce volume per 100 g of dry-equivalent pasta: about 100–150 ml for tomato or cream sauces, 60–80 ml for pesto or oil-based sauces. (min 0, max 500) |

## Output

| Field | Type | Unit | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `portion_g_dry_equivalent` | number | g | Dry-weight portion per person for the course. |
| `pasta_grams_dry_equivalent` | number | g | guests × portion, as dry pasta. |
| `pasta_grams_to_buy` | number | g | Weight of the chosen pasta type to buy (dry ×1, fresh ×1.3, filled ×1.5). |
| `cooked_weight_g` | number | g | Approximate weight after cooking (dry ×2.25, fresh ×1.4, filled ×1.2). |
| `water_liters` | number | L | 1 L per 100 g of dry-equivalent pasta, at least 2 L. |
| `salt_grams` | number | g | 10 g per litre of water (about 1 % brine). |
| `sauce_ml` | number | ml | Sauce to prepare: dry-equivalent grams / 100 × sauce_ml_per_100g. |
| `packs_500g` | integer |  | Whole 500 g packs needed for pasta_grams_to_buy. |
| `cooking_note` | string |  | Water, salt and timing instructions for the batch. |

## Formula

`dry_equivalent_g = guests × portion (main 100, side/starter 60, kids 50, hearty 125); to_buy_g = dry_equivalent_g × (dry 1.0, fresh 1.3, filled 1.5); cooked_g = to_buy_g × (dry 2.25, fresh 1.4, filled 1.2); water_l = max(2, dry_equivalent_g / 100); salt_g = 10 × water_l; sauce_ml = dry_equivalent_g / 100 × sauce_ml_per_100g; packs = ceil(to_buy_g / 500)`

Portions follow common Italian and retailer guidance (80–100 g dry pasta per person for a main course); 1 L of water and 10 g of salt per 100 g is the usual cooking rule. Fresh pasta holds about 30 % water and filled pasta more, hence the weight factors; cooked-weight factors are approximate and depend on shape and cooking time.

## Data Sources

- Wikipedia – Pasta — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta (reference, retrieved 2026-09-24)
- USDA MyPlate – Grains group (1 oz dry pasta = ½ cup cooked = 1 ounce-equivalent) — https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/grains (government, retrieved 2026-09-24)

Data freshness: `static`. Deterministic formula with fixed constants; results never go stale. Inputs supplied by the caller determine the output.

## API

- `GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/pasta-portions?guests=…`
- `POST https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/pasta-portions` with JSON body `{"inputs": {…}}`
- Response: unified envelope (`success`, `request`, `result.values`, `result.units`, `sources`, `freshness`, `timestamp`, `next_actions`, `links`); see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/response-format.md
- Schema: https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculators/pasta-portions · OpenAPI operationId `calculate_pasta_portions` in https://tttkmbb.com/openapi.json
- Authentication: none. Rate limit: fair use, see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/rate-limits.md.

## MCP

- Server: `https://tttkmbb.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, JSON-RPC 2.0, no auth)
- Tool:  `run_calculator` with `{"calculator_id": "pasta-portions", "inputs": {…}}`

## Example

- 4 main courses, dry pasta: inputs `{"guests":4,"course":"main","pasta_type":"dry","sauce_ml_per_100g":150}` → `{"pasta_grams_dry_equivalent":400,"pasta_grams_to_buy":400,"cooked_weight_g":900,"water_liters":4,"salt_grams":40,"sauce_ml":600,"packs_500g":1}`
- 10 starters, fresh pasta: inputs `{"guests":10,"course":"side_or_starter","pasta_type":"fresh"}` → `{"pasta_grams_dry_equivalent":600,"pasta_grams_to_buy":780,"cooked_weight_g":1092,"water_liters":6,"salt_grams":60,"sauce_ml":900,"packs_500g":2}`

```
GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/pasta-portions?guests=4&course=main&pasta_type=dry&sauce_ml_per_100g=150
```

## Limitations

You are scaling a specific recipe's ingredient list (use recipe-scaler), or cooking rice (use rice-water), noodles in broth or baked pasta dishes with their own ratios. Portions follow common Italian and retailer guidance (80–100 g dry pasta per person for a main course); 1 L of water and 10 g of salt per 100 g is the usual cooking rule. Fresh pasta holds about 30 % water and filled pasta more, hence the weight factors; cooked-weight factors are approximate and depend on shape and cooking time. All values are computed from the formula above; no measurement or live data is involved.

## FAQ

**Is 100 g per person too much?**

Italian guidance is 80–100 g dry for a main course; 100 g suits pasta served as the whole meal, 80 g when it is one of several courses (use side_or_starter for 60 g portions).

**Do I really need 1 L of water per 100 g?**

It is the classic rule; less water works for short shapes if you stir, but long pasta clumps in crowded pots. The salt rule (10 g/L) seasons the pasta itself; most of it stays in the water.

**How much sauce for pesto or butter sauces?**

Less: about 60–80 ml per 100 g of pasta, since they coat rather than pool; set sauce_ml_per_100g accordingly.

## Related

- [Recipe Scaler](https://tttkmbb.com/food/recipe-scaler.md) — Scale the sauce recipe to the number of guests.
- [Rice to Water Ratio Calculator](https://tttkmbb.com/food/rice-water.md) — Portions and water for rice instead.
- [Brine Calculator](https://tttkmbb.com/food/brine.md) — Salt concentration of the cooking water as a brine.