Pasta is simple, but a few small details separate a claggy bowl from one that tastes like it came from a good Italian restaurant. Here’s how to get it right every time.
Use plenty of water
Use a big pan with about 1 litre of water per 100g of dried pasta. Lots of water comes back to the boil quickly and gives the pasta room to move, so it doesn’t stick together.
Salt the water properly
This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Add roughly 10g of salt per litre (about two teaspoons) once the water is boiling. It should taste pleasantly seasoned, not like the sea. Most of it stays in the water.
Skip the oil
Oil in the water just floats on top, and it coats the pasta so sauce slides off. To stop sticking, stir well in the first minute or two of cooking instead.
Cook it to al dente
Al dente means “to the tooth”: cooked through but with a slight bite in the centre. Start tasting two minutes before the time on the packet. The pasta will keep cooking a little in the sauce, so take it out just before you think it’s ready.
Save a mug of pasta water
Before you drain, scoop out a mugful of the cooking water. It’s cloudy with starch, and that starch is the secret ingredient: it helps sauce and fat combine into a smooth, glossy coating that clings to the pasta.
Finish the pasta in the sauce
- Drain the pasta (don’t rinse it — you’ll wash off the starch).
- Tip it into the pan of sauce over a low heat.
- Add a splash of pasta water and toss for a minute or two until the sauce turns glossy and coats every piece. Add more water if it looks dry.
This one step makes the biggest difference of all.
Match the shape to the sauce
- Long, thin pasta (spaghetti, linguine) for oil-based, tomato and seafood sauces.
- Tubes and twists (penne, rigatoni, fusilli) for chunky sauces and bakes.
- Wide ribbons (tagliatelle, pappardelle) for rich, creamy or meaty sauces.
How much per person?
About 75–100g of dried pasta per adult for a main course. Fresh pasta cooks much faster — usually 2–4 minutes — so keep an eye on it.
Got pasta but no plan? Tell AI Cook what’s in the fridge and it’ll suggest a sauce to go with it.