#2: Salting Pasta Water
The secret to delicious, perfectly cooked pasta is definitely salt.
It is somewhat exaggerated to say that you should add salt to your pasta water to make it taste like the sea.
One tablespoon of coarse sea salt or kosher salt for every quart of water is the ideal salt to water ratio for cooking pasta. *Take note that regular table salt is “saltier” than kosher salt, so if you use it, cut the amount down to 2 teaspoons per quart.
- Although the amount of sodium may seem high, the pasta absorbs just the right amount of salt to give it a delicious flavor. Restaurant chefs often use double that amount. Be aware that the salt is diluted with water, most of which is drained off, so you’re not really consuming that much of it.
- Additionally, keep in mind that some of the starchy pasta water will end up in your finished sauce (think of how pesto gets its saucy texture). For this reason, you want your sauce to taste flavorful and well-seasoned.
- Before adding salt, bring the pot of water to a rolling boil. Because the salt crystals can settle at the bottom of the pot before it reaches a boil and cause pitting in the metal, it will dissolve more quickly and you won’t break your pot.
Types of pasta and their cooking time
It’s hard to know how long to cook pasta for, with so many varieties available at the grocery store, including farfalle, angel hair, spaghetti, macaroni, and tagliatelle. Because of the shape of the pasta, not all of it cooks at once. It usually takes longer to make shorter, thicker pasta than standard thin spaghetti strands.
Although wheat is the traditional ingredient for pasta, you can now find pasta made with other ingredients, like chickpeas, lentils, organic beans, corn, and rice, which also affects how long it cooks.
These are the general cooking times for pasta, depending on type:
- Angel hair pasta: 5 minutes
- Farfalle (bowties): 10-12 minutes
- Penne: 12-14 minutes
- Rotini: 8-10 minutes
- Spaghetti: 8-10 minutes
- Macaroni: 8-10 minutes
- Conchiglie (shells): 9-15 minutes, depending on size
- Fettucine: 8-13 minutes
- Pappardelle: 7-10 minutes
- Gluten-free pasta: Approx. 6- 8 minutes
- Tortelli and ravioli: 3 to 5 minutes
Frequently asked pasta-cooking questions:
Learn the three “golden rules” and become an expert pasta cook:
- Water volume: Find out how much water to use when preparing pasta.
- Salt quantity: The best salt ratio for tasty pasta
- Cooking time: Time chart for different pasta shapes
