A bowl of pasta in white sauce.
There's A Right And Wrong Way To Marry Pasta With Sauce

NEWS

By TIM FORSTER
Spaghetti being added into pan of red sauce.
To blend your pasta with its sauce properly, cook the pasta in salted water and reserve some pasta water before mixing the pasta, sauce, and some of the reserved water in one pan.
Pasta being drained into colander.
You can start by adding around two tablespoons (1/8 cup) of reserved pasta water for each serving of pasta you’ve got in the pan, and add more as needed.
A bowl of pasta in white sauce.
Mixing pasta with sauce using pasta water is effective because the starch in the water binds the noodles and sauce together, creating a silky texture and thickening the sauce.
A person tossing pasta in a pan.
The pasta water also adds a touch of saltiness and works well with creamier sauces like carbonara. Some cooks even recommend freezing your pasta water for other uses.
Spaghetti with sauce on top.
Overall, it’s best to refrain from simply cooking the pasta, draining it, and serving it with the sauce poured on top, as this doesn’t facilitate proper mixing of the ingredients.