Can You Cook Pasta In Sauce? [Pasta Cooking Hack + Tips and Tricks]
Are you a pasta lover looking for a quicker and easier way to whip up your favorite dish? Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to cook pasta in sauce instead of boiling it separately? Well, you’re not alone!
This controversial cooking technique has been debated among chefs and foodies for years, and today we’re going to explore whether or not it’s actually possible to cook pasta in the sauce.
Get ready to discover a new way of making your favorite pasta dishes that may just change the way you cook forever!
Can You Cook Pasta In Sauce?
What are you doing with your spaghetti noodles? Are you still boiling them? Then, we want to let you in on a little secret. You’ll create fewer dirty dishes and less mess next time you make your spaghetti recipe with this simple trick.
As a result, you will be able to spend more time together around the table with the ones you love. Using your sauce directly as a cooking medium is the trick to cooking your noodles.
It might sound strange, but it totally works! A simple and delicious meal can be made by adding uncooked noodles and a little extra liquid to the sauce.
To make sure your spaghetti cooks properly, make sure you add enough extra liquid to your sauce. If you don’t add enough, your spaghetti will be crunchy.
Don’t overdo it, or you’ll end up with spaghetti soup. It is more flavorful to cook your pasta in the sauce rather than just tossing it in it.
With no boiling water to wait for, and no strainer to use, just make the sauce you’re going to cook anyway, and you’re left with perfectly cooked pasta in a smooth, hearty sauce.
Is It Okay To Put Uncooked Pasta In The sauce?
The pasta will take longer to cook through if it is cooked in sauce rather than boiling water. If you want to postpone serving your pasta, this is a good technique to use.
If you are using this method, keep the sauce thinned out with pasta water as it finishes cooking. To allow the pasta to finish, you need to undercook it for a few minutes before adding it to the sauce.
When it comes to cooking pasta, don’t toss it with oil—it makes it difficult for the sauce to adhere later.
How to Make One-Pot Spaghetti?
- On medium-high heat, brown one pound of ground beef in a large Dutch oven or soup pot.
- Add the beef back to your pot after draining and discarding any excess grease. Keep grease out of the drain.
- A few sprinkles of grated Parmesan cheese, 1 jar of store-bought marinara, 1 cup of chicken broth or beef broth, 1 bunch of chopped fresh basil, and 1 clove of finely chopped garlic will complete the recipe.
- Using a spatula, stir once every few minutes to keep it from sticking for 15 minutes.
- Stir in 3 more cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup water (or cream if you prefer a creamy sauce) after 15 minutes of cooking.
- Raise the heat to medium-high and add 1 pound of thin spaghetti. Ensure that all spaghetti noodles are submerged in sauce by breaking them in half if necessary.
- Cook it on low or medium-low for 15 minutes, stirring once to prevent sticking. After it boils, cover, and reduce heat to low or medium-low.
- Serve your noodles as soon as they are done after 15 minutes.
- Add a splash of water before reheating and store in an airtight container in the fridge for two to three days.
This simple trick will make pasta night dishes a breeze.
How To Properly Sauce Pasta?
Compared with pasta that is simply sauced on the plate, pasta heated in a skillet with sauce has a vastly superior flavor and texture.
Even if you can make a great sauce, you’ll miss out on one of the greatest pleasures of life if you don’t sauce your pasta correctly.
The same can be said about a store-bought, jarred marinara sauce that’s just so-so, if it’s finished off correctly. The following steps will guide you through the process of properly saucing your pasta.
Step 1: Prepare Your Sauce Separately
Toss pasta with sauce that is already hot and ready. Your pasta should not be allowed to heat up in a cold sauce, absorbing more water and becoming mushy.
Whenever I make a sauce, I either use a large skillet or a wide saucier – as a saucier has sloped sides, which makes it easier to toss the pasta.
Step 2: Cook Your Pasta
Boil a couple of quarts of salted water in a separate pot. You don’t want your pasta water to be as salty as the ocean.
You should aim for one to two percent salinity, which translates to around one or two tablespoons of kosher salt per quart or liter.
Also, you don’t need a lot of water to cook the pasta-just enough to keep it moving. I use a saucepan or a saucier when cooking small shapes, such as penne or fusilli.
It is best to use a 12-inch skillet when preparing long, skinny shapes, such as spaghetti or bucatini.
When it comes to pasta, this country used to default to cooked-to-mush. Today, we seem to have the opposite problem: People are too afraid to overcook pasta that they often undercook it.
To cook pasta al dente, it should be cooked until it is just done. An undercooked pasta will have a chalky or brittle core. Give it a little more time!
Step 3: Transfer Cooked Pasta to Sauce
Pasta can be transferred from the pan to the sauce in a couple of ways. When you are transferring long, skinny pasta to the pan with the warm sauce, you can grab a set of tongs or a metal spider.
The water from the pasta can also be saved if you drain it using a colander or fine-mesh strainer.
Step 4: Add Pasta Water
Pasta water should be added to the sauce once the pasta is in it. The most important step in the process is this one. In addition to thinning the sauce to the right consistency, starchy pasta water also helps preserve the flavor.
You’ll also be adding cream and cheese, which helps it emulsify with the pasta. Whatever sauce you make-whether it’s chunky marinara, a hearty ragù Bolognese, or a simple carbonara-it should cling to the noodles.
In addition to the pasta water, I stir in a few tablespoons of sauce per serving. To adjust consistency, we will add more down the road.
Step 5: Add Fat
You should add extra fat to low-fat sauces (like tomato sauce, for example). Good pasta sauce texture requires a small amount of fat, such as extra-virgin olive oil or butter.
If you don’t have fat, you end up with a watery sauce (no one’s ever said, “Waiter, my pasta isn’t wet enough”), or a pasty sauce thickened by starch alone.
An emulsion can be created by adding fat to a sauce, which makes it creamy while still remaining loose. The fat in the sauce also contributes its own flavor and helps fat-soluble flavor compounds reach the tongue.
Depending on my mood and the sauce, I add a little good extra-virgin olive oil or butter.
Step 6: Cook Hard and Fast
It’s time to simmer everything in the pan, including the pasta, hot sauce, pasta water, and extra fat.
As the sauce simmers, the liquid is reduced (thus thickening the sauce), and the starchy pasta water is mechanically stirred.
When your pan is hot, your sauce will bubble more vigorously, forming a better emulsion.
In order to achieve that perfect saucy texture, I crank my burner up to maximum heat and stir and toss the pasta constantly.
It is a constant game of adjustments that you have to play when finishing pasta. The consistency of the pasta is adjusted by adding pasta water throughout the process. It’s nothing to be afraid of!
Step 7: Stir In Cheese And Herbs Off Heat
If you are using cheese or chopped herbs, add them once the pasta and sauce are where you want them.
When adding cheese to a thick, well-emulsified sauce, it’s generally safe, but when adding cheese to one that’s thin or doesn’t have much else besides cheese, it can clump.
Step 8: Adjust Consistency
Have you finished the pasta water yet? Still, a bit to go! Now that the pasta is just about to be served, it’s your last chance to adjust the texture.
It’s probably a good idea to do so: the cheese has thickened the sauce, the pasta has absorbed water from the sauce, and some of that water has evaporated.
Adding more pasta water and reheating the sauce over a burner until everything is exactly how you like it is safe once the cheese has been emulsified into the pan.
Step 9: Garnish As Necessary
Add the final garnishes, if using, to the pasta sauce before serving it in a warmed bowl or on individual plates.
A variety of ingredients can be used, such as chopped fresh herbs, grated cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. At this stage, I like to drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil on top.
When you dump hot pasta into a cold bowl, it will seize up and turn too thick. This is why all your serving plates need to be hot.
Step 10: Serve Immediately
There is no waiting for the pasta. A countdown timer starts automatically once the pasta is added to the sauce and cannot be paused. As the pasta sits, it will continue to cook and soften. Slowly, the sauce will thicken and cool.
Final Words
If everything is done correctly, you shouldn’t have any trouble serving it immediately and eating it with gusto. **This is Italian for splattering sauce all over one’s tunic.
