Boiling pasta in salted water is a straightforward kitchen task, but you can improve your results with these simple tricks to make perfect pasta.
1. Use Plenty of Water or Stir Often
As pasta boils, it leaches starches into the cooking water, which can cause the noodles to stick together. The easiest way to cut down on sticking is to boil pasta in a generous amount of water for about 4 quarts per pound of dried pasta to dilute the starches. However, if you don’t have a pot large enough for all the water, you can reduce the water by half and stir the pasta frequently during cooking.
2. Salt the Water
Salting the cooking water ensures that seasoning gets into the pasta, not just on it, so always add one tablespoon of salt to 4 quarts of water (or ½ teaspoons to 2 quarts). Make sure to stir well so that the salt will dissolve to make perfect pasta.
3. Skip the Oil
Since it merely sits on top of the cooking water, adding a splash of olive oil to the pot before adding the pasta doesn’t prevent the pasta from sticking together as it cooks, but it may help keep the water from boiling over. To prevent the pasta from sticking together, stir it for a minute or two after adding it to the boiling water.
4. Check for Doneness Often
We recommend ignoring the cooking times listed on the packaging, which are almost always too long and result in mushy, overcooked pasta. Tasting the pasta is the best way to check for doneness. We prefer pasta cooked al dente, meaning that it has a bit of resistance in the center when bitten.
5. Reserve Some Water
Before draining the pasta, reserve about ½ cup of the cooking water, which is flavorful, somewhat salty, and starchy. It can be used to loosen a thick sauce without diluting the sauce’s body or flavor as much as plain water would.
6. Don't Assume Fresh Pasta is Always a Good Sub for Dried
Because fresh pasta is made from eggs and white wheat flour, it has a tender, delicate texture, which makes it less versatile than dried pasta. The latter is made from water and semolina flour, which gives it a stronger gluten structure and a sturdier texture to make perfect pasta.
You can also check our other new tips to improve your cooking skills even more.