How much salt for pasta water - How To

Dec 16, 2024

Don’t tell Nonna.

For something as seemingly innocuous as a bowl of pasta, the process of cooking it can very quickly become an exercise in overwhelming existential insecurity. Suddenly, every move you make leaves you fraught with doubt. Is the pot big enough? Should the water be simmering, or boiling like an angry volcano? How much water do you need in there, anyway? And what about oil? Oh god – should you have added oil? What’s wrong with you? Do you, like, even know how to cook?

No matter what you do, you can’t shake the feeling that somehow, somewhere, there’s a disappointed nonna making tsk-tsk noises at your utter culinary incompetence.

One of the biggest boiling boo-boos we all struggle with is how much salt to add to the pasta water. “Make it as salty as the sea,” some people will tell you. Others are more technical, giving precise nanogram measurements per millilitre of water. Then there are those who just casually reach into a salt cellar by the stove and instinctively fling the exact right amount with practised abandon. All of this just adds to your confusion as you stare blankly out the kitchen window, questioning your worth as a human being, while the saucepan of pasta sits long forgotten on the stove.

“Oh mio dio,” your imaginary nonna says. “La mamma dei cretini è sempre incinta. And when are you getting married?”

But you can dry those poorly salted tears, little one, because we have discovered that there is an actual product you can buy that solves this salty dilemma in an instant. Meet the salt bomb.

salt tablets

What is a salt bomb?

Also known as salt tabs, salt discs or salt rocks, these nifty little bundles come in pre-measured 10g portions, so you just add one per litre of water, which is the standard recommended ratio. Are they nonna approved? Highly unlikely. Are they useful? Hell yeah. You can find Galateo & Friends salt tablets at Gourmet Life, and Rivsalt pasta salt rocks at various online retailers.

Adding salt to pasta water

Why add salt to pasta water?

Some people claim that adding salt to pasta water increases the boiling point, so therefore makes your pasta cook faster. Scientifically speaking, adding salt to water does increase its boiling point, but you’d need to add an awful lot of salt for it to make any real difference, and that would totally ruin the taste of your spag bol. What salting your pasta water does do is season each strand or piece of pasta, adding an extra layer of flavour to your final dish. Salt also helps to improve the texture of your pasta, helping you to achieve that perfect al dente consistency. Someone even did a study to prove it.

As for the best time to add salt? That’s when the water is coming to the boil (the general rule of thumb for the amount of water you need is 1 litre of water for every 100g pasta). Then wait for the water to come back to the boil (a good rolling boil; not a simmer), and add your pasta. Molto bene!

Once you’re done cooking your pasta, every good chef knows to reserve a little of the pasta water. Adding a splash of the pasta cooking water to your pasta sauce will help thicken it, and help the pasta better adhere to the sauce. This is thanks to the starch in the water, which is leeched out of the pasta during the cooking process.

Do you add oil to pasta water?

No, you do not. Oil and water don’t mix, remember? So while you might think it’s a nifty trick to help stop your pasta from sticking together, the oil is just going to float on top, not doing anything of any use except perhaps aggravating our poor, long-suffering nonna. And once you drain your pasta, the oil will stick around, potentially making your pasta more slippery and less likely to adhere to the sauce. All you need to do to stop your pasta from sticking together is to give it a good stir in the first minute or two of cooking, and then maybe once or twice after that, and you’ll be golden.