I’m almost ashamed to post this on the website because it is in no way gourmet. However, there is a certain level of appreciation for discovering incredibly quick, incredibly simple hacks that make your life easier when you are feeding a hurried family. Especially mornings. Ugh…some mornings….
For those times when you need to make pasta quickly and get the kids out the door, enter the “8 Minute Microwave Pasta Hack,” which my 13-year-old daughter discovered on Tik Tok of all places. For hurried, disorganized mornings or quick “I’m starving!” after-school snacks, this has become one of our go-to recipes.
It’s also a great side dish for when you need to add a little bit of carbohydrate to a healthy, low-carb meal for the kids. Just combine some noodles with some water and a little salt in a bowl, heat it in the microwave, and then set it aside. There is no waiting for the water to boil, washing the colander or pot, stirring, or for the timer to sound. Just walk away and let it do it’s thing. When it’s finished, stir in your preferred sauce, such as butter and parmesan or a scoop or frozen cube of pesto. Even better with some leftover Bolognese. Easy button pushed. Win.
Your children should learn how to make this if they are a little older. Any time of day, especially when a growth spurt occurs, requires no stove, no mess, and damn fast food, and nothing but a creamy, rich bowl of pasta will do. One step closer to independence is always a win in my book!
The Technique for How To Cook Pasta Faster
You only need to put your pasta in a pot. (Depending on how much pasta you intend to cook, change the size of your pot or pan so that the pasta primarily sits in a single layer of starchy goodness. ).
Add enough water to the pan to completely cover the pasta layer. Add a little salt, turn the heat to high, and stir it all together.
(We recommend performing a taste test to check the doneness rather than simply timing it.) Your pasta will be ready in about 12 minutes, but you’ll need to stir occasionally throughout the cooking process to prevent the noodles from sticking. ).
You can either add your sauce directly into the pasta, allowing the starchy pasta water to thicken the sauce, or you can drain the pasta, add it to your sauce, and then add as much pasta water as you’d like. This depends on how much water is left in the pot.
McGee discovered that using this method to cook pasta completely takes about 12 minutes. When compared to the 15 minutes it takes to boil water and the additional 11 minutes it takes to cook the pasta, you have at least 14 minutes of cooking time saved!
Don’t miss our favorite 15-Minute Dinners for Weight Loss if you like quick meals. Olivia Tarantino Olivia Tarantino is the managing editor of the website Eat This, Not That! She focuses on writing about food, health, and nutrition.
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According to conventional cooking wisdom, there must be enough water for the pasta to move around freely while it boils. Theoretically, the water won’t turn into a starchy, gluey soup, and the pasta won’t clump together. No matter how much water you use, you should stir the pasta at the beginning of the cooking process to loosen it up and prevent it from sticking to itself. Additionally, that water with the starch is actually liquid gold—at least in the kitchen. Use it to loosen up a pesto or give body to any number of sauces (like carbonara) right in the pan rather than draining it and discarding it.
What all of this really means is that you only need to cook pasta in just enough water to cover it, not 4 to 8 cups. For thin shapes like spaghetti or farfalle, 2 cups should be sufficient, but for bulkier shapes like rotini or penne, you may need 212 or 3 cups.
Select your largest skillet. A large skillet will have a larger diameter than a typical stockpot, unless it is a very large stockpot, increasing the surface area. This implies that the hot skillet comes into contact with the water more frequently. Less water + greater surface area = a faster boil. That’s win-win on energy and water use!.
About 4 or 5 minutes after the water begins to boil, add the pasta and stir. If necessary, break longer shapes if they don’t fit. Turn the heat down a little bit, but keep it at least at a rapid simmer. Keep an eye on it because pasta water frequently boils over, and a shallow skillet makes this even more likely to happen. (Pro tip: Only cook 8 ounces of pasta at a time in the skillet.)
Pasta will cook faster than the 9 to 11 minutes specified if you test it after about 5 minutes. For instance, the total cooking time for 6 ounces of elbows in 2 cups of water in an 11-inch skillet was only 11 minutes. Now that’s what I call a speedy side.
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Pastas one of the easier meals to make at home. Boil water, cook, top with sauce and youre done. But occasionally it seems like cooking takes a little bit too long. It takes forever for a large pot of water to heat up. Prior to draining and eating, the pasta must cook for an additional 8 to 12 minutes, depending on your preference for the noodles and pasta. Thats just too long.
Turns out, theres more than one way to cook pasta. Theres a faster way — one thats done in 60 seconds. Thats right, the smart folks at Ideas in Food discovered that if you presoak dried pasta for a little over an hour, it will cook in 60 seconds flat. Thats shaving off 7-11 minutes from standard cooking time. Amazing, we know.
Yes, this method does require a little forethought — about an hour and a half of it. But if youre a planner, this will be easy for you. Or, if youre taking the time to cook up a nice sauce, this is just one step you can take before you get cooking. Head on over to Ideas in Food to see how its done, then use your new speedy pasta trick to make one of these recipes below. (Just maybe dont tell your Italian grandma about it.)Advertisement
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FAQ
What helps noodles cook faster?
Less water + greater surface area = a faster boil. When the water reaches a boil, after 4 or 5 minutes, add the pasta and stir. If necessary, break longer shapes into smaller pieces. Turn the heat down a little bit, but keep it at least at a rapid simmer.
Can I cook spaghetti in the microwave?
Yes, it is possible to cook pasta in the microwave. Place your pasta in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with water, and cook in the microwave on High for 3 additional minutes, or until the pasta is al dente, following the directions on the package. Drain and stir in your favourite pasta sauce.
How fast can you cook spaghetti?
The most popular way to cook spaghetti is simple. Place the pasta in a large pot of boiling water, stir it, bring it to a simmer, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the pasta cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
Can you cook pasta in 3 minutes?
The majority of dried pasta ribbons, including linguine, spaghetti, and tagliatelle, require 8 to 10 minutes to cook. Fresh pasta varieties like ravioli and tortellini take between 3 and 5 minutes to cook, while shorter, thicker pasta shapes like bows or penne take 10 to 12 minutes.
