Pasta may be one of the simplest weeknight meals to throw together, but achieving that restaurant-level consistency isn’t always as easy as it looks. Despite being a daily staple in kitchens across the UK, many home cooks unknowingly make common cooking mistakes that compromise the taste and texture. Rinsing your noodles under cold water or choosing the wrong shape for your sauce are seemingly small errors that can result in lacklustre, soggy dishes instead of the perfectly textured, flavour-packed recipe you’re craving.
According to Roberta d’Elia, Head Chef at Pasta Evangelists, knowing what not to do is just as important as learning a recipe off by heart. She says too many people are getting pasta wrong because of outdated advice and myths that “can ruin your next bowl of spaghetti.”
Common pasta making mistakes to avoid
1. Don’t add oil to boiling water
One of the most persistent misconceptions is that adding oil to boiling water helps keep pasta from sticking.
It’s not just unnecessary, it’s actually counterproductive, as Roberta explained: “Adding oil to your pasta water doesn’t prevent sticking and can actually stop sauces from sticking to the noodles.”
2. Don’t rinse the pasta
Rinsing cooked pasta under cold water might seem like a good way to stop it from clumping, but doing so washes away an important component: the starch.
That starch is essential for binding your sauce, especially if you’ve saved a ladleful of pasta water to mix in at the end – a classic Italian technique to thicken and emulsify.
3. Overcooking is ruining the texture
Too often, people cook pasta until it’s far too soft, but Roberta insists that “the key to perfect pasta is ‘al dente’.”
This not only improves the mouthfeel but also ensures the pasta doesn’t disintegrate into a sauce-soaked glob.
4. Pasta shapes are not one-size-fits-all
Sometimes it’s necessary to substitute fusilli for penne or spaghetti for linguine based on what’s in the cupboard, but this can affect the dish’s balance.
Roberta pointed out: “Traditionally, each pasta shape has its own purpose and is to be paired with certain sauces.”
Tube-shaped pastas like rigatoni are ideal for holding thick, meat-based sauces, while thin varieties such as linguine are best suited to lighter, oil-based dressings.
5. Leftover pasta can be better than fresh
Some dishes, like lasagne and mac and cheese, often improve with time. In fact, according to Roberta, “it’s a well-known fact in Italy that baked pasta is better the next day.”
Letting the ingredients rest allows the flavours to deepen, making leftovers not just acceptable, but delicious. It’s also a brilliant way to minimise food waste by repurposing older produce.