How do you boil Spaghetti?
Here’s a quick guide that walks you through the best pasta-cooking techniques. See headings for details and explanations of each step.
The best method for cooking spaghetti pasta:
- Start with a large pot of COLD water. The additional minerals in hot water from the faucet can harm pots and change their flavor.
- Boil water in a large pot (I use this one) and cook pasta. This makes room for the long pasta (although short pasta can still benefit from this generalization).
- Make sure you have plenty of water in the pot. Why? Because while it’s cooking, your pasta needs somewhere to swim and move around.
- To flavor pasta from the inside out, it is an Italian MUST to generously salt the water used to make pasta. Before adding any sauce, you want the pasta to taste good enough to detect seasoning on its own.
- Prior to adding the pasta or spaghetti, bring the water to a rolling boil.
- Using the appropriate tool, stir occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking. Don’t just dump and run :). Use a back-and-forth motion in the pot to stir spaghetti until it softens and begins to float freely in the water (see photos below).
- Test the pasta two minutes before it’s “al dente”.
- Save a scoop of pasta water. Another Italian secret!
- Drain, toss with sauce, and serve hot!
(Short pasta varieties can also be prepared using this method; a smaller pot may be needed.)
When do I put my spaghetti in the water?
After putting the stove on high heat, watch for it to fully boil. Add your pound of pasta to the pot of water once it quickly comes to a boil. Place it whole, being careful not to break it. It’s okay if it appears excessively long because a portion of it protrudes above the water.
The water temperature decreases slightly when the uncooked pasta is added, causing the rolling boil to decrease. That’s ok.
As soon as the spaghetti is submerged in water, the bottom portion will soften and become suitable for stirring with a long spoon. Now you should have all of your spaghetti in the boiling water.
Stir your spaghetti in the boiling water frequently to prevent it from sticking together. To prevent my spoon from sticking to the bottom as well, I make sure it is in contact with the pot’s bottom.
Others prefer to add a small amount of olive oil to the water to prevent the spaghetti from sticking. Don’t do it. Later on, when we want the sauce to stick to the pasta’s surface, it will be difficult.
How do you cook Spaghetti without it sticking?
Myth: Putting butter or oil in your pasta water makes it less sticky. Do you often add these substances to keep your food from sticking? For your last pasta dish, this is more detrimental than beneficial.
