Spaghetti (or any long, thin noodle, really) can be tricky to cook in boiling water properly if you don’t know what you’re doing. And if you make the same few mistakes every time you cook spaghetti, your dish may not turn out as great as it could have. In this article, I am going to share with you seven common cooking mistakes that you should avoid when cooking spaghetti for dinner tonight!
1- Not using enough salt
Salt is what makes a dish taste good. It’s not just for seasoning, it actually enhances the flavor of other ingredients in your dish. That’s why you want to make sure you use enough salt when cooking pasta dishes! I usually add about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to my spaghetti pot before I start cooking, but that might vary based on how salty your water is and how much pasta you are cooking.
2- Not boiling the pasta long enough
The best way to cook spaghetti is to boil it for 10 minutes. If the pasta is boiled too long, the texture of the noodles will become too soft. The noodles should also be cooked just before they are served so that they do not continue cooking in a hot pan. If you don’t boil your pasta long enough, then the pasta will taste overcooked and mushy.
3- Overcooking it
Cooking your pasta too long is a huge mistake. The best way to judge the doneness of pasta is to taste it: It should be cooked through, but still, have a bit of chew in the center. The worst thing you can do when cooking spaghetti is overcooked it. Pasta turns into mush if cooked for too long.
4- Not draining the water well
It’s not a good idea to save the cooking water. It will have too much starch in it to make a sauce and can cause your sauce to be lumpy or cloudy. The best idea is to cook your spaghetti until it’s just barely al dente, then drain the water and cook it with other ingredients. If you do want to save some of the cooking water for later use, like adding liquid when reheating leftover spaghetti, then skim off as much fat as possible before freezing.
5- Adding too much sauce
1: Adding too much sauce. Cooked spaghetti is slippery so it’s hard to tell how much sauce you’ve added, but too much sauce will cause the spaghetti to slide all over the plate when you go to serve it. If you don’t want a mess and are on a diet, then remember not to add more than one tablespoon of water or oil per serving of pasta. Use olive oil instead of butter or margarine, which adds too many calories.
2: Put salt in the water before adding it to the boiling pot of pasta. Salt impedes what little starch there is in pasta, preventing it from absorbing any extra liquid – leading to mushy noodles!
3: Stirring and stir your noodles until they reach desired texture before draining them completely and setting them aside for a minute before serving. Once drained, quickly shake out as much excess water as possible before putting them into an empty bowl that has been tossed with just enough dressing (or hot sauce) for flavor without turning them soggy!
6- Under seasoning it
Spaghetti spaghetti sauce is a dish that doesn’t need much seasoning- it’s usually a simple, hearty meal. However, if you want to make your spaghetti dish even more delicious, try adding some basil or garlic to the sauce. This can be done by adding fresh basil leaves or finely chopped garlic to the pan before adding in the water and spaghetti. The flavors of these two seasonings will infuse into the pasta as it cooks and give your dish an extra kick of flavor!
7- Over salting it
This is a common mistake many people make when cooking spaghetti. If you over-salt your spaghetti, it will be very difficult to fix at the table. Instead, add salt to your pasta water after it has come to a full boil and before adding your pasta. Then taste the pasta water before adding any additional salt.
