GO! Pesto™ - How Much Pesto For Pasta - Pesto Per Person (2024)

GO! Pesto™ - How Much Pesto For Pasta - Pesto Per Person (1)

Short answer
We recommend 50 grams of pesto per person if serving as a simple pasta dish. Our accountant recommends more.

Long answer
In Italy, you'll find that chefs use just enough pesto to coat the pasta, and they certainly don’t allow the dish to drown in it. As a very rough guide, your pesto should weigh about 2/3 the weight of the dried pasta you are cooking. So, for a standard, single serving of 75g of dried pasta, we think that 50g of pesto is about right.

Naturally, everyone’s tastes are different, so you’ll have to adjust the quantities up or down depending on who you are cooking for. It also greatly depends on what other ingredients you are serving your pasta with. If you're making a dish with chunks of chicken breast, for example, you’ll want to add a little more pesto to ensure the meat is as well coated as the pasta.

Bear in mind that you will (or we at least hope you will) be adding some extra liquid to your sauce in the form of some of the starchy water that the pasta cooked in.

This water is not only incredibly flavourful, but it also acts as an emulsifier and thickener that enables you to create a silky, luxuriously smooth, restaurant-quality sauce. It also helps your jar of pesto go that little bit further.

Approximate pesto-to-pasta ratio in grams
Note: 190g is the standard size jar for pesto in the UK, and that's perfect for feeding four adults. Likewise, for a standard 500g bag of dried pasta, we recommend using about 335g of pesto.

ServingsDried pastaPesto
175g50g
2150g100g
3225g150g
4300g200g
5375g250g
6450g300g
7525g350g
8600g400g
9675g450g
10750g500g

Approximate pesto-to-pasta ratio in pounds and ounces

Servings

Dried pastaPesto
12 oz1.3 oz
24 oz2.6 oz
36 oz4 oz
48 oz5.4 oz
510 oz6.6 oz
612 oz8 oz
714oz9.3 oz
816oz (1lb)10.6 oz
918 oz11.9 oz
1020 oz13.2 oz

A note on using spoon or cup sizes to measure pesto and pasta
We have purposely omitted a chart showing recommended cup sizes for two key reasons. Firstly, shapes that don't fit into a regular cup (e.g. spaghetti) simply can't be measured in the usual way. Secondly, tiny, compact pasta shapes like orzo can weigh up to twice as much as cylindrical shapes like penne, where much of the physical space is taken up by pockets of air.

GO! Pesto™ - How Much Pesto For Pasta - Pesto Per Person (2024)

FAQs

GO! Pesto™ - How Much Pesto For Pasta - Pesto Per Person? ›

For pesto sauces, use about one jar of 5.6-ounce sauce for a 16-ounce package of pasta. The amount of pesto sauce needed for pasta per person would be about . 75 ounces of sauce for each 2 ounce (about 1 cup cooked) serving of pasta.

How much pesto for pasta per person? ›

For pesto sauces, use about one jar of 5.6-ounce sauce for a 16-ounce package of pasta. The amount of pesto sauce needed for pasta per person would be about . 75 ounces of sauce for each 2 ounce (about 1 cup cooked) serving of pasta.

What is one serving of pesto? ›

Because it's made with olive oil, nuts, and cheese, classic pesto can contribute a fair amount of fat and calories to your diet. A 1/4-cup (63-gram) serving provides ( 1 ): Calories: 263. Protein: 6 grams.

How much pasta per person portion? ›

When you cook pasta, 2 ounces (56 g) of dry pasta per person is a good rule of thumb to follow. What does 2 ounces (56 g) of dry pasta look like? It depends on the shape. Use the helpful charts below to create perfect portions of pasta every time.

How much pesto should you eat? ›

No matter which tummy trouble you're experiencing, you should take 1 dose of Pepto Bismol every half hour to hour until you feel better, but do not take more than 8 doses in a 24-hour period.

How much pesto for 8 oz of pasta? ›

How Much Pesto To Add To Pasta?
ServingsDried pastaPesto
12 oz1.3 oz
24 oz2.6 oz
36 oz4 oz
48 oz5.4 oz
6 more rows
Jun 1, 2022

How much pasta per person in cups? ›

One serving of cooked pasta is typically 1 to 1 1/2 cups, but keep in mind that you'll likely be bulking up your dish with sauce and other extras like veggies or proteins. To determine how many cups to measure, home cooks can use Barilla's handy chart.

What is the best pasta with pesto? ›

Pesto Sauce

This fresh and fragrant pasta sauce is served uncooked, so choose a pasta shape that won't overwhelm it. Similar to oil-based sauces, pesto is served best with longer cuts of pasta, like the corkscrew shape of Fusilli. Pesto works best with Bucatini, Capellini, thinner Spaghettini, and Fettuccine.

Is eating pesto pasta healthy? ›

It is healthy for you as long as you eat it moderately. Traditionally, you can make pesto from extra virgin olive oil, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, and pine nuts. However, every brand has a different mix of ingredients, which means each pesto sauce product has a varying number of calories, fat content and sodium.

How much pesto is in a jar? ›

Tesco Classic Green Pesto 190G - Tesco Groceries.

What is the best portion size for pasta? ›

The recommended serving size is 2 ounces of uncooked pasta, which equals approximately 1 cup of cooked pasta.

How many cups is 2 ounces of pasta? ›

Two ounces of dry pasta is equal to 1/2 cup dry, which boils up to be 1 1/2 cup cooked, or a heaped 1 cup.

How do you calculate pasta portions? ›

Take some dry spaghetti out of the box and place it on your kitchen scale. Note what the initial measurement is, then add or remove pasta to reach the amount of servings you want—which should be 2 ounces (57 g) of spaghetti per person.

How much pesto per portion of pasta? ›

How Much Pasta Per Person?
ServingsPastaPesto
175g50g
2150g100g
3225g150g
4300g200g
6 more rows
Nov 24, 2022

How big is a serving of pesto? ›

If you're worried about the sodium and calories in pesto, try using a little less than 1/4 cup. Try starting with 1 to 2 tablespoons and see if you want to add more.

Can you eat a whole jar of pesto? ›

As for eating pesto neat, well, if that's your thing, go for it. We think its richness means you'll probably get sick of it long before you reach the bottom of the jar. Even pesto obsessives like us can't demolish a whole jar in one sitting.

How much sauce for 1 lb of pasta? ›

Italian dishes do not swim in sauce. An average ratio of tomato sauce to pasta is 1 1/2 cups of sauce to 1 pound of pasta. For oil-based sauces, use 1 cup per 1 pound of pasta.

Do you use a full jar of pesto? ›

I tend to use half a jar, it'll depend how much pasta you use. Depends how much pasta you cook surely? I cooked pasta for 2 teens tonight (which probably could have fed 3) and used about 2/3 of a jar of pesto. I use a jar because I love pesto.

How much pasta do I need for 4 adults? ›

Avoid food waste and measure your portions. 75g of dried pasta per person is about right. If you're cooking for 4 people, you'll need 300g of pasta. Give your pasta plenty of room to cook – so you want a large pan.

Do you add pesto to hot or cold pasta? ›

  1. It is better to mix your pesto to fresh boiled pasta, not for taste-reasons but for a rather practical issue: unseasoned pasta gets sticky when it cools down and you won't be able to mix it properly.
  2. If you please to have your pasta with pesto cold, season it warm and let it then cool down.
Aug 3, 2023

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