Debate: Should you really salt your pasta water or is it a myth?

I always followed the rule to salt pasta water heavy like the sea, but last week I tested two batches one with salt and one without and honestly the unsalted pasta tasted cleaner with the sauce. The salted water definitely helped the pasta itself, but did it clash with my tomato basil sauce from scratch? What's your take do you always salt or skip it?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler49224d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you actually tested this side by side and the unsalted pasta tasted cleaner with a homemade tomato basil sauce? That's wild. I've been throwing a fistful of salt into the water for years without question. But now you got me wondering if my heavy hand is actually overwhelming the flavor of my own sauces. Might have to try your test myself this weekend.

kevin_martin24d ago

@tyler492 I remember watching my grandmother make pasta sauce about 15 years ago and she never salted the water. She said the sauce did all the work. I thought she was just being stubborn. But I tried her way last month with a fresh batch of tomatoes from my buddy's garden and she was right. Her recipe uses a little bit of anchovy paste and a parmesan rind simmered in there, which adds plenty of salt on its own. The unsalted pasta let that flavor come through way better than my usual salt bomb. I think a lot of us just dump salt in the water out of habit without thinking about what the sauce already brings to the table.