15 Mistakes Most Beginners Make Cooking Pasta at Home

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Pasta is was one of the most well known dishes in the world, but why do so many beginners fail to make it tasty at home? In this one dish breakdown, i'll be dissecting every single element of your classic pasta with marinara sauce to give you 15 great tip to up your past game at home!

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[angierogers]

My Italian family will tell you to always add salt to the pasta water....no question about it. Otherwise you will have bland pasta.

[VOsaki]

This is the first video from this guy where I see everyone debating everything he did. Pasta is a sensitive subject

[RugbyDiehard]

why didnt you add the last 3 noodles in that bag, driving me crazy

[hellandaman]

Hi! In the spirit of your commendable effort, allow me clarify a couple things from an Italian's prospective! 1- Italians NEVER use that amount of onion (unless they are going for a so called"cipollata"). 2- Less water is required, as to allow your starching agent to be effective. 3- The pasta water should taste "come il mare" (like the sea), hence way more salt in the pasta and WAY LESS in the sauce. 4- Italians hardly ever mix onion and garlic in one dish. 5- Oregano is hardly ever used for tomato sauces, unless you are going for a puttanesca sauce or for a marinara pizza topping. 6- Last but not least: Spadellare! The mantecatura (stirring) of the pasta at the very end needs to be quick and energetic or your pasta will end up breaking (as does in the last bits of your video). Thanks for going the extra mile to spread passion for the Italian cuisine!

[sbodrillo]

every time you say "noodle" instead of pasta, an Italian dies.

[kennakenna]

How to properly make pasta is basically a political topic.

[gabrielepumo]

Mistake number 16: combining pasta and sauce in a pan so small that it doesnt allow you to toss the pasta and oat it with the sauce.

[flightTime]

Literally no Italian ever will debate salting the water. You make it salty as the sea, no if ands or buts!

[alessandrinchen]

Came here to see if, as an italian, there was still something I had to learn.


I learnt that US americans don't salt their water.

[gfatreak]

If your pasta falls apart when tossing it through your sauce, then it was definitely overcooked...

[EthanChlebowski]

7:20 - No debate in my mind! If you aren't adding salt to your pasta water, you aren't making pasta. Solid tips in this one Mike.

[Whiskypapa]

There’s no option to put salt in water or not... You 100% should add the salt, and it should be as salty as sea water. In other words, way more than “a few pinches”.

[MonkSupra]

“A few pinches of salt”
My grandmother just turned in her Italian grave. You gotta use a lot of salt, it’s the only chance you get to actually season the pasta.

[popefb]

Everything right, except for the "al dente" pasta. As a italian, I can say that the first one you showed, the "not yet done" one, was perfect 😂
Also, if when almost done, the tomato is still a little to watery, you can take out the pasta a copuple of minutes earlier, and finish cook it in the sauce :)

[cyrillehumbert]

the title of this video is actually perfect, it is in deed 15 mistakes people do when cooking pasta. the editing is beautiful. also, i must say cooking is such a vast ocean and especially when it comes to pasta, it would be impossible to have everyone agreeing . even in italy we don t agree from one village to the next. even in same families you ll find some fights about how much this or how long that... good luck everyone, and enjoy your pasta, however you like them.

[hindupair]

Pasta water has to be heavily salted, also some of us, especially Italians, like our pasta with a little starch ring in the middle but that’s just preference :)

[mijles]

Pasta water should taste like sea water. You have to add a bunch of salt to get there. Pinch of salt ain't even close :>

[lomx]

Been trying to cook my whole life and have always and gave up every time because I was disappointed with the results.
Thanks to this one dish breakdown series, I've finally been able to cook things that I enjoy eating, this is an amazing gift both for me personally and for my family 👍👍👍

[xcofcd]

My 3 biggest deathly sins with pasta is:
1. Not putting enough salt in the water
2. Overcooking pasta
3. Putting oil on the pasta so it doesn't stick together. Now your sauce also won't stick on the pasta anymore either...

[EvaaLvsM]

I'm just here reading the comments for helpful tips