Calories in pasta

Spaghetti, enriched, cooked without salt. 158 kcal (661 kJ) per 100 g. Choose a portion below and every figure on the page updates.

Dry pasta is about 371 kcal per 100 g and roughly doubles in weight when cooked, landing at 158 kcal per 100 g. Almost every calorie-counting mistake with pasta comes from mixing up the dry and cooked weights.

Where the energy comes from

Share of total energy contributed by each macronutrient, using the standard 4/4/9 kcal per gram factors:

Things worth knowing

• A standard 75 g dry portion becomes roughly 170 g cooked and supplies about 278 kcal before sauce.
• Wholewheat pasta is nearly identical in calories, about 149 kcal per 100 g cooked, with roughly three times the fibre.
• Cooking pasta al dente rather than soft lowers its glycaemic index. Cooling cooked pasta increases resistant starch and modestly reduces digestible energy.
• Sauce usually dominates the final calorie count: 100 g of a cream-based sauce can add more energy than the pasta underneath it.

Converting these figures

One 1 cup, cooked of pasta is 221 kcal, which is 926 kJ. To convert any other figure, divide kilojoules by 4.184 for calories, or use the converter on the home page.