Why do we add salt to pasta water?
We add salt to pasta water mainly for flavor. Pasta absorbs some of the salty water as it cooks, seasoning it from the inside in a way that salting the sauce cannot.
Many cooks say pasta water should taste like the sea, though most recipes use a little less, about 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt for 4 to 5 liters of water. Pasta cooked in unsalted water can taste flat even with a good sauce.
A common belief is that salt makes water boil faster or hotter. In fact, the amount used in cooking raises the boiling point by only a tiny fraction of a degree, so it has no meaningful effect on cooking time.
Other pasta tips
Use plenty of water and stir in the first minute to stop pasta from sticking. Adding oil to the water is not necessary and can stop the sauce from clinging. Saving a cup of the starchy cooking water helps make sauces silky.
Did You Know?
Salt is usually added after the water boils, because salt added to cold water can sometimes cause small pits in stainless steel pots.