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I have found that when adding salt just before adding pasta, that more is better.

But how much is too much?

What is a good ratio of salt to water when cooking pasta?

Jason P Sallinger
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3 Answers3

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More is not necessarily better, but no salt leads to a bland final dish. Some folks are fond of saying "as salty as the sea." This sounds romantic, but probably has no basis. Pasta water, and the resulting pasta, can certainly be over salted. The internet shows results that are all over the place. Any where from 3/4 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons per liter of water. However, this also depends on the saltiness of the condiments you are using with your pasta. Unfortunately, there is no magic number.

I think the best you are going to find is "salt to taste".

moscafj
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    "Salty as the sea" produces disgusting pasta according to serious eat's experiments. https://www.seriouseats.com/how-salty-should-pasta-water-be – JS Lavertu Aug 14 '23 at 13:00
  • You certainly can end up with too much salt when you are using a sauce from a jar or a can. You have to watch the salt carefully if you caramelize onions for your own sauce as well. – Wastrel Aug 14 '23 at 13:43
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    Also be aware that this is for italian pasta. Some Asian noodles are pre-salted. (It makes it more difficult to knead, but it’s more efficient in its salt usage) – Joe Aug 14 '23 at 14:47
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    The sea is pretty salty... – 25939 Aug 14 '23 at 20:29
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    Upvoted even though depending on the sauce, a pasta dish can taste great with no salt in the pasta water at all. I stopped salting my pasta water decades ago and didn’t really notice a difference. Probably because I only eat pasta with tomato sauces that are well salted and grated cheese which adds salt. – Todd Wilcox Aug 15 '23 at 03:31
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    For having actually made pasta with sea water (very common on racing sailboats), I can tell you that the good ratio is 1:1 sea water / fresh water for pasta and only sea water for potatoes. – mmomtchev Aug 15 '23 at 10:22
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    @ToddWilcox do a side-by-side. Even a little salt makes a difference regardless of condiment. – moscafj Aug 15 '23 at 10:22
  • @moscafj If I weren't sure about how I like my pasta boiled I would do a side-by-side, but since I've been boiling pasta 2 - 6 times a month for about 40 years now, I'm pretty confident in my preferences and experiences. – Todd Wilcox Aug 16 '23 at 17:35
  • 2 tablespoons per liter - that's for a pot with 5 liters 50 grams. That's almost as "salty as the sea" :-) – BNetz Aug 16 '23 at 21:17
  • @BNetz that would be less than one third of the salinity of the sea, not almost as much – Agos Aug 17 '23 at 12:57
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Use salt as you would in a soup

I just throw in some amount of salt that looks about right, then stir briefly, taste the water and add more salt if needed. If the water tastes as salty as I would like a soup to be, the saltiness of the pasta will also be perfect for my taste.

To give a rough numeric value as well, soups generally contain slightly below 1% of salt by weight. For comparison, sea water has about 3.5%, which would be WAY too salty for my taste.

MaxD
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  • I think there's an argument to making your pasta saltier than a liquid you would sip or drink. I have at least once mistakenly put what I would consider to be too much salt in the water for pasta. Upon first taste, the pasta was a bit salty, but melded nicely with the sauce (which I err on the side of not salty enough) – Jason P Sallinger Aug 14 '23 at 18:56
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    @JasonPSallinger Sure, the overall salt amount is the most important metric, slightly oversalted pasta and slightly undersalted sauce can still give a perfect dish. For simplicity, I make both the sauce and the pasta as salty as if I was gonna eat them separately, and combining them consistently hits the spot for me... if there's any drawback I sure haven't noticed it :) – MaxD Aug 14 '23 at 19:17
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I'm pretty sure that Marcella Hazan recommends 2 tblsps. of salt per 4 gallons of water, I think in Marcella Says (sorry it's in a box :/). At some point years ago (through a process I don't exactly recall now) I determined that this meant I should use 14.2 g of salt per 2 L. of water for 1/2 lb. of pasta, which is more like what I usually make. I've done this for some indeterminate amount of years and it always gives excellent results. Other tips I learned from her are to stir the pasta for 30 s. after adding it to the water to prevent it from sticking, and to toss it immediately after draining in either butter or olive oil (depending on the sauce) at a ratio of 1 tblsp. / lb. of pasta. Priceless information if you ask me.

Zoë Sparks
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  • Thank you. Good intel. I do tend towards these numbers, including tossing with oil. – Jason P Sallinger Aug 16 '23 at 19:39
  • With a few important exceptions. Italian pasta dishes are finished over heat _in_ the sauce, _in_ the sauce's pan.. so I find the Hazan's general recommendation to dress pasta with butter or oil a bit puzzling. – Robin Betts Aug 27 '23 at 07:50
  • @RobinBetts I do both! I think her motivation is twofold: pasta can stick very rapidly once drained, but also she wants to ensure that fat (and not water) coats and even permeates the pasta thoroughly as soon as it's out of the water. This is so the sauce will adhere to the pasta more effectively, which I think is also the main benefit of finishing it in the sauce. You don't need to use much fat—she recommends a quarter of what went into the sauce. (Most of her recipes use 4 tblsps. of fat / lb. of pasta so that's where my 1 tblsp. came from. I don't usually measure, though, being honest.) – Zoë Sparks Aug 28 '23 at 02:26
  • Ahh.. Okydoky. Thanks! Not generally a thing for me, because I tend to _lift_ the pasta, slightly undercooked, straight into the sauce pan, to finish cooking there. That also means I can spoon out a bit of pasta-water if the sauce needs it, and can use the simmering water pot as a very gentle heat-source if I need it, especially for a carbonara. (IMO 'not measuring' is the key to fluent cooking.. unless you're a pâtissier :D ) – Robin Betts Aug 28 '23 at 06:34