Does Pasta Cooking Water Thicken The Sauce? (2024)

FAQs

Does Pasta Cooking Water Thicken The Sauce? ›

The water helps loosen any bits of food stuck to the pan and also aids in coating the pasta with all those flavors. One more advantage to using this water is that the leached starch in the cooking water will help thicken the sauce further.

Adjust the heat so it keeps the sauce at a low simmer, then leave it uncovered to cook, stirring it every 5 minutes or so. Be sure to reach the bottom and sides of the pot while stirring so nothing scorches; a heatproof rubber spatula is particularly effective. As water evaporates, your sauce will eventually thicken.

After 12 ounces of fettuccine pasta noodles are finished cooking, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water to include in your sauce. The starchy water is essential to creating a thick, creamy sauce consistency.

A small amount of this water can really enhance your pasta dishes. It works as a binder and a thickener: A skillet of vegetables, pancetta and eggs, or just garlic and butter can be turned into a silky sauce for pasta with the addition of a cup or two of starchy cooking water.

The pasta water and butter will emulsify as you toss together to create a luscious, glossy emulsified sauce.

The water helps loosen any bits of food stuck to the pan and also aids in coating the pasta with all those flavors. One more advantage to using this water is that the leached starch in the cooking water will help thicken the sauce further. I was about to use regular hot water from my faucet.

Causes of Watery Spaghetti Sauce

Other causes include excess water from the noodles themselves or inadequately cooking down the sauce. Giving the sauce the proper amount of time to reduce is key: To do so, bring the sauce to a boil, then drop it to a simmer, and allow it to cook.

The most obvious answer is to make a sauce for the noodles you just cooked. Using a little bit of pasta water is the key to making smooth, restaurant-level sauces. Some of the most classic Italian pasta dishes, like cacio e pepe and carbonara, depend on the starchy, binding power of pasta water to make the sauce.

Don't pour all the pasta water down the drain.

It's salty and, most importantly, full of starch, which helps bind and thicken a sauce. Take a ladle of the water—a quarter cup or so—and set it aside before draining your pasta, then add that water to your sauce.

Use Cornstarch

This advice will leave you with the creamiest Alfredo sauce you've ever tasted. Here's how to make it: In a bowl, whisk together equal parts of cornstarch and water—about 2 tablespoons of each for four servings of pasta and sauce. Add 2 teaspoons of the slurry to the Alfredo sauce.

What is the rule for pasta water? ›

In Italy, the golden rule for cooking pasta is 1, 10, 100 or 1 liter of water, 10 grams of salt for every 100 grams of pasta. Converted for American cooks, the rule should be 1/3, 3, 30, referring to 1/3 oz of salt, 3 oz of pasta and 30 oz of water.

If your dish seems a bit dry or the sauce isn't coating the noodles as much as you like, add a splash of hot pasta water — about a quarter cup per pound of pasta. Toss until the cooking water is completely incorporated.

Keep some pasta water back to add to your pasta dish

Not only will this thicken the sauce, but it will also help it to stick to the pasta. Dishes like classic carbonara rely on the pasta cooking water to add to the egg mixture and dilute it to obtain a thick and enveloping cream.

Do Not Rinse. Pasta should never, ever be rinsed for a warm dish. The starch in the water is what helps the sauce adhere to your pasta. The only time you should ever rinse your pasta is when you are going to use it in a cold dish like a pasta salad or when you are not going to use it immediately.

Simmer and Reduce

Sometimes your pasta sauce simply needs a little more cooking time to allow the water to evaporate and the sauce to thicken. The reduction method is the best way to thicken tomato sauce, as no additional ingredients are needed.

A small amount of fat—extra-virgin olive oil or butter—is essential to good pasta sauce texture. Without fat, you have at best watery sauce (nobody has ever said, "Waiter, my pasta is not quite wet enough"), and at worst sauce that over-thickens with starch alone and takes on a pasty texture.

The easiest way to thicken a sauce is by reducing the amount of liquid. This can be done by simmering your sauce or bringing it to a full boil—do this uncovered, so the steam can escape.

Make a Slurry: Mix equal parts flour and water or other liquid together. Stir a good amount of the mixture into simmering sauce; cook for a few minutes, then add more until you have your desired consistency.

It means bringing the sauce to a boil, reducing the heat, and letting the sauce simmer gently until it reaches your desired consistency. That might be 20 minutes or an hour—perhaps even longer.

Keep in mind, a sauce that might seem too thin in the pot after the first cook, will thicken up after a few minutes off the heat. So you might not need to thicken your sauce at all. Let it sit for 10 minutes and check it. If your sauce is still too thin, reduce it.