Let me ask you something… have you ever sat down to a plate of pasta that was soft, heavy, and almost falling apart on your fork? Be honest — it wasn’t very exciting, right? In Italy, that kind of pasta is a tragedy. Pasta should never be mushy or falling apart. Instead, we cook pasta al dente. That means it’s tender but still has a gentle bite. When you taste it, you’ll feel the texture, the way it holds the sauce, and blends beautifully with the other ingredients, making every mouthful come alive. Once you eat pasta this way, there is no going back.
💯 Follow this link to read the article about Why You Should Eat Pasta al Dente:
https://www.vincenzosplate.com/how-to-cook-al-dente-pasta/
#pasta #aldente #vincenzosplate
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⏱️⏱️TIMECODES⏱️⏱️
0:00 Introduction to The Secret to Perfect Pasta
0:31 How to Cook Pasta Al Dente
1:46 How to Tell When Pasta Is Ready
2:26 What Al Dente Means and Why It Matters
3:55 Should You Finish Pasta in the Sauce?
4:35 Final Thoughts: Why You’ll Never Go Back After Al Dente
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🎬 #VincenzosPlate is a YouTube channel with a focus on cooking, determined to teach the world, one video recipe at a time that you don’t need to be a professional chef to impress friends, family and yourself with mouth-watering #ItalianFoodRecipes right out of your very own kitchen whilst having a laugh (and a glass of vino!).
36 Comments
Mistakes people make when cooking pasta https://youtu.be/Sq7xryeX_fg
A question, if you please! It was news to me to put pasta water into the sauce if it needs to be loosened up, not large quantity. Because al dente releases less starch from the pasta, should I be putting more cooking liquid in the sauce and reducing it? Or is al dente pasta releasing enough starch to use as is for the sauce? And #2. When making stuffed shells or lasagne, something that the sauce is inside, not just on, the pasta, should I be trying for al dente in those recipes? I'd guess most non-Nonna recipie books would recommend a time to yield mushy pasta. Hi to the family!!
Great video as always. Wish you would review some of the higher end Italian produced dried gluten free pasta, sadly for me they are now a necessity not a fad
Awesome segment Vincenzo. You're right Al dente is the best way to eat pasta. Over cooked pasta is not enjoyable. It's like eating over cooked rice, mushy, and bland. Once you over cook pasta, or rice you might as well start again, because no matter what you try to do it can't be saved. Keep up the great work Vincenzo.
I always like to cook my dry pasta one to two minutes less than the packet instructions to make sure it is al dente after tossing through the sauce. Tonight was Gigli con salsiccia.
Love your videos, but please do something about the echoing audio. Always sounds like you are in a big hall.
Thanks a lot for all these tips. Pasta is my favorite meal and I spent a lot of time trying to get authentic Italian recipes and correct technics. Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Nicaragua 👋
In theory it's clear, but I really need an Italian to make me feel it
I try to use just enough water, because I want a high concentration of starch. I never have problems, within a minute all the pasta softened enough to be covered by the water.
I never overcook pasta, it's too slimy for me😵💫😵💫
I love macaroni, grew up with lots of it❤
As a parent I wanted to ask you a couple of questions:
– as per guidance I don't add salt to cooking water for most pasta (if baby is eating that pasta). What's your take? Less salt or just one tablespoon like you said?
– when cooking pasta for my child I usually overcook it by a minute or two over the recommendation in the packet to make it easier for her to chew it. Do you still cook al dente for your young kids?
Thanks
No mention of starchy pasta water in the sauce. Is that a thing when cooking the Italian way?
To me mixing the pasta with the sauce straight afterwards is just common sense. You just get more sauce evenly distributed…
For anyone worried about the dot of uncooked pasta. The pasta is hot enough to carry over cooking just like a steak. If you wait till it's done in the pot it will be overdone on the plate.
The ONLY reason I can see to fully cook pasta is if you are putting it in ice water after and using the shells/spirals in some sort of cold antipasto salad. (Something I don't like to eat so this is a bit of a guess) But by chilling the noodles right away you will stop them over cooking and firm them back up.
This is exactly how I cook pasta. This must be why I love it so much!
I grew up in an Italian American family. My Nonna immigrated over in the 1930’s. I grew up eating it her way as it was how my father made it. School is where I first encountered mushy pasta. I didn’t even know there was a term for it until I got older and I asked her why it seems the rest of the world does it wrong and makes it gross.
To this day, just the look of overcooked pasta makes my stomach queasy and i lose my appetite. I don’t dare buy pasta, even in nicer restaurants, because it is always overcooked. So it’s something I only eat what I make.
As an American who has been cooking pasta since the 4th grade, all of this is old news. Why do people not get this? You gotta take it off the heat and put it in the sauce while it's al dente… if you don't, it will keep cooking in the sauce and end up mushy. ❤
Vincenzo, could you please make a video like this about sofrito (battuto)?
How to properly make and how to best use! Idea for a video! 🙂
Grazie and appreciate! 🙂
For me it's just a matter of practicality. I may get some hate here, but Al Dente means the leftovers can stand up to the microwave or refrying spaghetti with some Tuna and Olive Oil to bring it back to life.
What does, resistance mean?
In Poland our dry pasta packages give two cooking times: al dente and "soft"
I was taught at home to break the spaghetti and cook it "soft"
Mixing with the sauce in the pan (and not dumping the sauce on the pasta on the plate), using pasta water, those were new and surprising things for me when I started watching your channel
Thank you for teaching the proper way to treat pasta, my pasta dishes are still far from perfect as my kitchen skills are dreadful but I can taste that they're improving, Rome wasn't built in a day after all
I do prefer it slightly more than Al dente, not to mush though. Saying that I must be confused because I make many of your dishes and make Nonnas cry by putting breadcrumbs and pecorino on top and grilling it like a pasta Al forno. 😂I do this because ( I live alone) I can make a few servings and put them in single serve ramikins means no work after a 10 hour shift at work!
@vincenzosplate Here in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam, my half Aussie/Vietnamese son & I have started making our own pasta this year. My Son is much faster and makes better pasta than I do, so I'm happy I've taught him a useful kitchen skill he will have for life!
It is important to note that fresh pasta cooks al dente MUCH quicker than store bought dry pasta. We don't always get the timing correct with fresh pasta, so sometimes it overcooks in the sauce. We're still learning!
Love your channel, BTW!
KUDOS
Thank you so much for this informative video, and please make more videos like this!
Al dente is cooked like that because after serving with the sauce you have carry over cooking the pasta will get softer after awhile. Now as it is still cooking even as you eat due to the heat it shouldn't get mushy what happens is the sauce will start being absorbed by the pasta. This harmony of pasta and sauce is only possible when you cook it al dente because the noodles still are cooking and absorb liquid and you now changed the liquid from water to the sauce.
Myself I don't really care about it that much pasta is good and if you overcooked it a trick I learned is grate some cheese over the pasta then add the sauce it works for me.
Myself I like leftovers pasta like lasagna or spaghetti and make a pasta sandwich 😋
My Great Grandparents were Italian From North of Naples. Never once did they undercook Pasta. Please just stop.
I don't buy cheap pasta, but I always found that cheap pasta was nearly impossible to cook al dente – the inside is still raw while the outside is getting mushy already. Super high quality pasta, on the other hand, is quite forgiving. If you cook it a couple of minutes too long by mistake it's usually less overcooked than you expect it to be.
Its the only way. Even if you let it go too far but it still has a little something to it is better than mush
THANK YOU! This is the only way I’ll make pasta. Al dente is transformative, and everyone I make it for tastes the difference!
Very good and informative video. Since I have been watching your cooking videos, i have only cooked my pasta aldente. Keep up the good work
Well, there is a series of problems in your instructions.
Not every pasta will take 10 minutes to boil. People should be instructed to read the package but not to follow it strictly.
Using fresh pasta and pasta made with american or asian wheat will always require short cooking times.
Dry pasta made with hot extrusion or through heat drying will also have shorter cooking times. If you take brands like Molissana the 1 minute rule usually works very well (their cubetto is one exception), but even brands like Barilla may need the pasta to be removed from the water 2-2.5 minutes earlier than the advertised cooking time depending also on how hard is the water you are cooking with. The harder the water the easier to overcook it because it gives the false impression the pasta is not hydrating.
Brands made with american or asian wheat (most of then also heat dryed) tend to be perfectly cooked if you take it 3 to 3.5 minutes prior from the water.
Visual instruction on doneness only confuses people and will lead people to overcook it.
The first checkpoint on doneness is that the pasta will stop being crumbly, or like you said, stop clinging to the teeth.
The second checkpoint on doneness usually comes 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes after that, is that the pasta will stop tasting like flour. When the pasta stops tasting like flour it can be moved to the sauce. There is no need to remove the pasta from the water and inspect the inside. If it stopped tasting like flour move it to the sauce. If you have a thick or greasy sauce you can cook the pasta according to package time instructions. If you have a watery thin sauce don't let it cooking on the sauce for more than a minute, otherwise you will ruin it. The difference is due to osmotic pressure between the pasta and the different sauces.
Raw flour isn't more digestible as a property of the ingredients. Overcooked pasta seems heavy on the stomach because it turns into a porridge, it feels heavy despite the fact cooked starches are in fact more digestible, that's why the glucose and insulin peaks are facilitated.
Thick pastas like penne tend not to float even with a heavy boiling and need more constant stirring. If you are cooking a light thin pasta like spaghettini you can give just the initial stirring as long as the pan is on a heavy boil. The heavy boil will keep it in movement and from sticking to the bottom.
If you are going to use lots of water to mantecare it's better to use less salt in the water, or if you are making pastas with salted/cured meats not to add salt to the sauce at all especially if you are adding pasta water to the sauce.
Best way to cook pasta – take the pasta out just before the specified cooking time and mix the pasta in the sauce. The pasta soaks some of the flavour into it from the sauce.
Never!
Al dente is the only way!🙌🏼
Damn as on all your videos, it looks like yuuuummmmm…
Will try this. TX Vincenzo ! U inspire me for weeks !PS – And be sure I'M a PASTA lover !!