- Use plenty of water: At least 4 quarts per pound of pasta. Crowded water makes sticky, gummy pasta. Give it room to dance.
- Don’t add oil to the water. It will just coat the pasta and stop your sauce from sticking. Save the oil for drizzling after saucing.
- Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining. That starchy, salty liquid is liquid gold for loosening sauces and making them silky.
- Finish cooking pasta in the sauce for the last minute. It lets the pasta absorb flavor and bonds everything together.
One more workhorse hack: batch-cook pasta, toss it with a little olive oil, and store it in the fridge for up to three days. Then reheat in a pan with a splash of water or sauce. It’s a lifesaver on a Tuesday when dinner has to happen in ten minutes flat.
