Do I Really Need a Spaghetti Measurer?

Cooking spaghetti for one person is where most of us go wrong. A “handful” of dry pasta looks like nothing, so you add a bit more, and then you’re eating pasta until it hurts or binning the leftovers. A spaghetti measurer takes the guesswork out, and it’s one of those daft little tools that earns its drawer space.

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How it works

It’s a flat piece of stainless steel with holes of different sizes cut into it. You push a bundle of dry spaghetti through the hole that matches the number of portions you want, and whatever fits is your amount. The holes are sized for roughly 2, 4, 6 and 8 ounces of dry pasta, so one to four servings.

Does it actually work?

Mostly, with one honest caveat. Different brands of spaghetti vary a little in thickness, and thin angel hair packs more strands into the same hole than thick spaghetti does. So treat the holes as a good starting guide rather than a lab scale. If you cook the same pasta every week, you’ll quickly learn whether one hole is a bit generous or a bit mean for you.

It only really suits long pasta. Penne, fusilli and the like need a scale or a measuring jug.

The one I’d look at

The CoiTek Spaghetti Pasta Measurer is a single flat stainless steel piece with four measuring holes. The opening is on the side of each hole, which makes it easier to slide the strands in without snapping them. There’s a hanging hole in the handle too, so it can live on a hook rather than rattling around in a drawer.

It’s a very simple object, so there’s not much to go wrong. Wash it, dry it, hang it up.