Pasta: Calories, Nutrition & Healthier Swaps

Pasta made from durum wheat is a plain source of carbohydrates. Cooked al dente, it's digested more slowly than soft, overcooked pasta.

Pasta nutrition facts per 100 g and per serving

Values per 100 g as eaten, averaged from food composition tables (USDA FoodData Central and others) and rounded — a specific brand or recipe will differ a little.

Pasta: nutrition highlights

A serving (plate, 200 g) provides 10 g of protein — about 18% of the 56 g daily reference for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult (0.8 g per kg). It has 3.6 g of fiber per serving — roughly 14% of the 25 g a day most adults fall short of. There's almost no sugar: the carbohydrate is mostly starch.

On the open Nutri-Score algorithm, pasta gets an A: one of the better picks in its category. The score weighs calories, sugar, saturated fat and salt against protein, fiber and the share of fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts.

What to watch

• It's low in fiber, so add vegetables, greens or beans to the plate.

How much movement is one serving?

One serving (plate, 200 g) is 270 kcal — roughly 88 min of easy walking or 34 min of cycling for a 70 kg (154 lb) person. In the diary, minutes are worked out for your weight and the activities you actually do.

Healthier swaps for Pasta

Swaps are picked the same way the app does it: from the same kind of food, with a serving matched to the same calories (±25%), and only when the swap is clearly better — not “salad instead of pizza”.

• Wholegrain pasta, dry — 80 g, 272 kcal: −0.6 g salt, +3.6 g fibre.
• Whole Wheat Pasta — 220 g, 273 kcal: +6.3 g fibre.
• White beans, boiled — 200 g, 270 kcal: −0.6 g salt, +9 g fibre.
• Red lentils, boiled — 230 g, 271 kcal: +7.9 g fibre, +11 g protein.