Should You Rinse Cooked Pasta? Barilla Settles the Debate

Few ingredients are as versatile as pasta. Toss it with some garlic, olive oil and crushed red pepper and you have the simplest Wednesday night dinner. Serve it with a luxurious, long-simmered Bolognese, and you have a dinner-party ready meal. And while cooking pasta may seem as simple as boiling a pot of water, pasta aficionados know that many factors can affect how your noodles taste. One of the most contentious? Whether or not you should rinse your pasta after it’s cooked.

To settle the debate, we turned to Lorenzo Boni, executive chef of Barilla America, who told us in no uncertain terms: “I never recommend rinsing pasta.”

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“The habit of rinsing pasta is thought to come from a time when many pastas on the market were of poor quality, made with blends of tender and durum wheats, and were very starchy. These had a tendency to overcook easily and clump up,” he explains, adding that rinsing the pasta would stop the cooking process and prevent the pasta from clumping. Higher-quality pastas made from 100% hard durum wheat won’t have this issue—and shouldn’t be rinsed.  

Why You Shouldn’t Rinse Pasta

There are two key reasons that you should never rinse your pasta, Boni says, and both are tied to the starchy residue pasta picks up from the water while it’s cooking. 

1. That starch gives the pasta its nutty grain flavor, as well as its golden color. If you rinse it, all of that goes down the drain—literally. “When I do cooking classes at Barilla, I talk about thinking of pasta like a nice chicken breast that you are grilling for the purpose of topping on a freshly mixed salad. You would never rinse the chicken under water to cool it down, right? You would waste the nice flavor that you built by seasoning and grilling it. Think the same way about pasta,” he says. 
2. That starch will coat the pasta and ultimately help your sauce cling to it, making for a cohesive and flavorful dish. “Just drain it and toss it right into your sauce for the best texture and taste,” he explains. For an even silkier consistency in your sauce and to help it coat the pasta, save a cup of the pasta water and add it to the sauce. 

What About Rinsing Pasta for Cold Dishes? 

Do a quick search on the internet about whether or not you should rinse pasta, and you’ll find plenty of sites suggesting it should only be done when you’re making a cold pasta salad. But Boni says that even if you’re making a cold pasta dish, there’s no reason to rinse your pasta. Instead, he recommends draining it well, drizzling it with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and spreading it out to cool on a sheet pan. Once the pasta is cool, mix it with your desired ingredients, and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. “This technique will retain the nice golden color and flavor of the Barilla pasta, and the remaining starch will hold the ingredients together better,” he says.  

How to Prevent Sticking 

If you’re not immediately tossing your pasta in some kind of sauce, you can keep it from sticking by just drizzling a tablespoon of olive oil in it. This is also best to do if you’re planning on storing your pasta in the fridge for a later use.

Should You Rinse Gluten-Free or Other Specialty Pastas? 

While Boni recommended against rinsing any Barilla pasta, including gluten-free, Protein+ and the chickpea and red lentil lines, if you’re using a different brand, check the directions on your specialty pasta for the best advice. Banza, for example, does recommend rinsing their chickpea pastas, while Jovial doesn’t include rinsing in the directions for their brown rice pasta. 

And while Italian pasta shouldn’t be rinsed, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be rinsing other noodles. Japanese soba noodles, for example, should always be rinsed, as rinsing will remove the excess starchiness that will make the noodles stick together and stop the cooking process. Rice noodles should also be rinsed for the same reason. Ramen noodles, however, don’t necessarily need to be rinsed, as these are made from a similar strong wheat flour as Italian pastas. 

The Bottom Line 

If you’re cooking Italian pasta, there’s no need to rinse it after cooking it—no matter what dish you’re making. Rinsing removes the noodles’ starchy coating, which not only adds extra flavor and a golden color but also helps sauce adhere to the pasta. For the tastiest pasta, Barilla America Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni recommends cooking it for a minute less than the package directions, straining it and finishing the cooking in the sauce. Add a cup of your pasta water to the sauce for an even silkier consistency and clinginess.