Thread: How to not have your pasta stick to the pot

I make a big batch of spaghetti every month it seems and whenever I've boiled the pasta, I almost always find some leftover strands sticking to the pot. That really bugs me! I hate wasting the stuck pasta and it's also time consuming to try to scrape that stuff off.

So, today I made another pot of spaghetti and this time I researched some tips on how to avoid having your pasta stick to the pot. Let me share what I found because today's pasta did NOT stick to my pot and I was doing the happy dance!

You want to make sure your pot is BIG enough to allow the angel hair pasta (in my case) to be able to boil evenly and to have freedom of movement.

You also want to make sure you put in enough water into the pot--at least 3/4 full of boiling water, and make sure the water is on a rolling boil before you put the pasta in. This will ensure that the pasta is continuously moving around and does not have time to stick to the pot.

It is best to not add oil to your pot of boiling pasta because remember, oil and water do not mix and you will end up with some goopy mess on the top of your water. Yuk.

Originally Posted by bullmama

that's good information, I always added olive oil to my water but recently stopped because I heard it makes your sauce slip off the noodles.


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Oh, good point! and I also heard you shouldn't rinse your boiled pasta with water after draining b/c this will wash off the starch that is needed to have the sauce stick to the pasta. (sorry for the run-off sentence)!

I forgot to add, once the dry pasta is in the boiling water, give it a few stirs to further ensure it doesn't cling to the pot. You can do this throughout the boiling phase but no need to continuously stir the pasta. And add some salt to the pot of water too to add flavor to the pasta

I have always added olive oil to my pasta, I guess to keep it from boiling over. It makes TOTAL sense that the sauce won't stick. Next time I am going to try without. Pasta is my very least favorite of foods and one of my hubby's most favorite. lol

I Love pasta but the gluten free type made from corn and rice is even worse than the normal stuff it seems to get in a glug ball so I usually change my water half way through cooking and this helps but I always rinse after cooking my granddaughter told me to put salt in the pot to stop it sticking she learnt that at school not sure if it works though but I too put olive oil in it but will now stop that.

Good to know! I have always added olive oil to the pot as well cause I thought that is what keeps it from sticking together. I usually throw in salt as well once the water starts to boil.

Adding salt to the boiling pasta is a great idea b/c that will add some flavor to the water and in turn make the pasta taste even better!