1,540 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

How to cook pasta properly

Name: How to cook pasta properly
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 22 min
Yield: 300 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 litres water; 300 g Pasta; 1 tablespoon coarse salt

Here is some advice for pasta that's properly cooked and doesn't stick.

1.17 M 3.7/5 (2,824 reviews)

25 min.

Easy

0.35 €

300 g

3 Ingredients

Last modified on: July 18^th 2019

For 300 g, you will need:

1 2 litres water
2 300 g Pasta
3 1 tablespoon coarse salt
Total weight: 2,315 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 15 min.

Cooking: 7 min.

All in all: 25 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 10 min.

Boil a large pan of water.

When boiling, salt with a tablespoon of coarse salt for 2 litres water.

A large quantity of water is needed to prevent pasta from sticking on the bottom of the pan.

If you like precise numbers, here is the 1-10-100 rule: 1 litre water, to 10 g salt, to 100 g pasta.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 1 min.

When water comes back to the boil, add pasta all at once.

Stage 3

For cooking time, very important, here is a tip: If you use a pasta box or bag where you can read in Italian, cook the exact indicated time (here 6 minutes).

Stage 4

Otherwise, decrease 1 minute from the indicated cooking time (here 12 - 1 = 11 minutes).

So you will be sure to have perfectly cooked pasta, call by the Italians, who are the world masters of pasta since Marco Polo, "al dente"

Stage 5 - ⌛ 7 min.

Stir and leave to cook uncovered for the time indicated on the pasta packet (usually 8-9 minutes, but it depend on type of pasta).

The best way is to taste near end of cooking. It's very important not to overcook pasta, otherwise it becomes too soft and unpleasant.

Italians, pasta masters since Marco Polo, call this ideal texture "al dente".

During cooking, stir once or twice to prevent pasta sticking.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 2 min.

After this time, taste, and if it's OK, remove pasta from water immediately and transfer to a strainer to drain, or pour the whole panful into a colander or strainer.

Chefs will tell you that it's better to remove pasta from water, instead of pouring everything into a strainer, because this keeps the gluten (released during cooking) in the water instead of on the pasta, and it's this gluten that makes it sticky.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 1 min.

When pasta is drained, discard cooking water and put pasta back into the pan.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 1 min.

If you plan to use pasta right away, it's ready.

If not, add a tablespoon of olive oil, mix well, cover and leave to stand, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Note: because it's kept hot and covered, pasta will continue cooking, so you should not keep it too long.

Remarks

It's quite surprising to see how many ways of preparing and serving pasta there are, and at the same time how great a simple pasta dish can be: a pan of spaghetti, a dash of olive oil, some grated Parmesan, what more do we need? hummm, oh yes, a good glass of Italian wine perhaps...

Keeping: Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	40 RDI=10 %	200 RDI=20 %	0	960 RDI=50 %	4,010 RDI: 50 %
Per 100 g	1 RDI=1 %	8 RDI=1 %	0	40 RDI=2 %	170 RDI: 2 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, egg

How much will it cost?

For 300 g : 0.35 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

4 pears salad with vanilla

It's a very easy recipe, everything depends on the choice of differents kinds of pears all fully ripe, to give a delicious contrast in the mouth.

February 21^th 2011243 K4.2 40 min.

Brioche dough

It's a soft and rich dough, with butter and eggs which give a smooth and incredibly tasty brioche. This is the basic recipe for brioche dough, used for all other brioche-based recipes on the site.

September 16^th 2020548 K 44.2 14 hours 30 min.

Citrus crunch

These are fine crumbs of candied citrus peel. It can be used to sprinkle a dessert or other preparation to add both crunch and the flavour of the chosen citrus fruit. It is easy to prepare well in advance, and will keep in an airtight jar. This recipe is given for clementines, but can be made with all citrus fruits: lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit...

February 2^nd 2016248 K3.7 1 hour 20 min.

How to succeed in making sabayon (syllabub)

A sabayon is a delicious and delicate preparation based on egg yolks and sugar, with a liquid added (wine, alcohol, fruit juice, etc), which is then whipped in a bain-marie until it is both light and smooth. Usually sabayon is sweet (syllabub), but you can make it savoury, in which case there is only egg yolk, salt, and the chosen liquid, which could be stock, reduced wine, roasting juices, etc... This recipe is for a...

November 12^th 2017954 K 54 20 min.

Home-made terrine of foie gras

Preparing your own home-made foie gras from raw is immensively satisfying: good quality liver and a simply amazing flavour – much better than anything you can buy. This recipe is a bit tricky, but quite within everyone's grasp, as long as you follow the 3 most delicate stages carefully. These are, in order: de-veining the liver, seasoning and cooking. As usual, I have explained every stage of the recipe in full, with photos to help you.

December 16^th 20245.32 M 74.2 4 days 15 hours 50 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.