How do you keep pasta (with no sauce) from sticking together?

I am making pasta with multiple sauce options so I want to keep the pasta "dry."

Kay.R.Cee
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7 Comments

Meatballs&Milkshakes
Meatballs&Milkshakes March 30, 2012
Olive oil keeps pasta from absorbing the sauce, so you will get less tasty pasta by using it. Also, rinsing pasta (unless you need it cold like for a pasta salad) is just rinsing away flavor and the starches that help to create a cohesive sauce. Pasta is always best when it's finished in the sauce for the last minute in a saute pan.

If you want to give multiple choices and you don't want to just create separate dishes, I would suggest dressing the pasta in a little marinara sauce in a saute pan and people can top with your sauce choices.
 
Kay.R.Cee
Kay.R.Cee March 30, 2012
Thanks for your help! I've never has much luck with olive oil in the past but rinsing it with the cool water and then adding a little olive oil worked like a charm!
 
Laurie T.
Laurie T. March 30, 2012
Definitely olive oil in the boiling water. I have found that if it is long strands you are cooking that shuffling it in rather than all at once fixes that problem. Hope this helps!
 
Stevecarr99
Stevecarr99 March 30, 2012
Cook it until just shy of al sente and then submerge in ice water to stop the cooking. Then when you are ready a quick dunk in boiling water will warm it, complete the cooking and loosen up the starch. This is however almost impossible with angel hair
 
Author Comment
A Whole Foods Market Customer
A Whole Foods Market Customer March 29, 2012
I like to use some high quality olive oil, Whole foods Market has a great extra virgin olive oil and also one kind called Arbequina that has a great fruity flavor. The Arbequina olive oil by itself tossed with pasta will keep it from sticking and will make it taste great.

If you dont want to use oil and you arent eating it right away, I would rinse it in a strainer with cold water, to cool it down and then add it to your sauces which you can have warm in a separate pot.
Also make sure you have plenty of salted water in the pot that you are cooking the pasta in.
Hope that helps!
 
Faith U.
Faith U. March 2, 2018
Hello,

As a healthy eater, I always like to find healthy recipes for the pasta that I use. Now, while I do add olive oil to pasta after draining it (because I add vegetables and a source of protein when I can, and sometimes a sauce when necessary, and I mostly use some of the pasta water as a broth base), I usually use short kinds of pasta such as fusilli, penne, maccheroni, sedanini and caserecce mainly because I'm a university student on the go. Now, I have been wanting to have spaghetti for lunch of late, and I did invent some dishes for them, however, my biggest worry is them sticking together in the lunchbox.

Please, do you have any tips and advice on preventing long types of pasta such as spaghetti, linguini, etc. from sticking together if I'm eating it on the go, aside from adding olive oil and/or sauce to it to stop them from sticking (if it would work in these cases)?

Many thanks
 
Rascal
Rascal March 29, 2012
Add a little oil to the cooked pasta.
 
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