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Cooking Pasta

⚠️ This recipe is general guidance, not professional instruction — you cook at your own risk. See our Terms of Use for details.

Mushy on one end, a hard core on the other — that's where most home attempts at al dente pasta land. The fault is almost never the recipe itself, it's the details around it: how much water, when the salt goes in, whether the pot gets watched or left bubbling under a lid unattended.

  • Prep2 minutes
  • Cook8–11 minutes
  • Totalabout 12 minutes
  • Servings4
Illustration for Cooking Pasta

Ingredients

  • 350–400 g pasta
  • about 3.5–4 liters of water
  • 25–35 g salt (depending on how much water you use)

Steps

  1. Pour water into a large pot — plan on about a liter for every 100 g of pasta, so it has enough room and does not stick together.
  2. Bring the water to a rolling boil first, then salt it, about 7–10 g of salt per liter of water. There is no point salting earlier, since it only dissolves once the water is hot anyway.
  3. Add the pasta all at once to the fully boiling salted water and stir right away so it does not stick to the bottom or to itself.
  4. Keep cooking uncovered over medium heat, and stir occasionally, especially in the first couple of minutes.
  5. Go by the time on the package, but taste a minute or two before it is supposed to be done — dried pasta is usually ready in 8–11 minutes, fresh pasta needs just 2–4 minutes.
  6. You will know it is al dente when you bite into a piece and feel just a slight resistance in the center — no raw core, but no mushiness either.
  7. Before draining, scoop out a mugful of the cooking water — it is useful for loosening up your sauce.
  8. Drain in a colander. If you are serving the pasta hot with sauce right away, do not rinse it with cold water — the starchy surface that rinsing would wash off is exactly what helps the sauce cling to it.

Tip: Skip the oil in the cooking water, even though it is a common habit. It mostly just floats on top and barely touches the pasta itself — but it does leave a thin film on the surface that makes sauce stick to it worse later on.

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This recipe is general inspiration, not professional instruction — times, temperatures, and ingredient suitability can vary depending on your situation. You cook at your own risk: follow the kitchen safety and hygiene basics and use your own judgment, especially with raw foods and allergens. We are not responsible for any damages resulting from using this recipe. See the terms of use for details.