For most dry pasta shapes, one cup equals about 4 to 5 ounces. That’s the golden number. But here’s the catch: pasta is a trickster. A cup of spaghetti noodles looks completely different from a cup of penne, and your measuring cup doesn’t care about shapes.
Think of it this way: a cup of dry rotini is like a bunch of tiny springs holding hands. They take up space differently than a cup of broken lasagna sheets. Weight is your friend here, not volume.
