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.

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.

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.

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.

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.