At some point, you must have wondered how to keep cooked pasta so you can eat it the next day without it drying out, losing its flavour or sticking together. And if you haven’t yet found the perfect trick, please keep reading.
However, it must be said that pasta is best when eaten right away. But the truth is that we do not always calculate the right portions for how many people are going to be eating. In that case, the benefit of pasta is that it can be kept perfectly in the fridge to eat the next day. Knowing this, many people choose to cook extra pasta and keep it in the fridge to eat a few days later with different sauces and ingredients. It’s so versatile! The same pasta can be used to create many different dishes. Regardless of your situation, here are three easy steps to remember when keeping cooked pasta so it maintains its delicious flavour and texture!
Step 1. Keep the pasta in an airtight container
It is essential for food safety to keep leftover pasta in an airtight container, to avoid air coming in and drying it out. Ideally, this would be a glass container, since plastic ones absorb smells from previously stored food.
Step 2. Oil trick
How to preserve pasta without sticking? This is as simple as adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil before putting it in the refrigerator. Do not forget to stir well so that the oil is impregnated throughout the pasta and does not remain at the bottom of the container.
Step 3. To the fridge!
Just like with any other food, to keep pasta correctly and avoid any health issues, we need to place the container (once it is cool) in the fridge. Otherwise, with the passing of time (and, especially, in summer) harmful bacteria for our health could start growing.
A final tip: avoid cooling pasta with water
For pasta to keep well in the fridge it is key to have cooked it correctly. And so, just as we explain in this article, you need to avoid giving in to the temptation to cool pasta with water after cooking it. A much more common atrocity than we would like. Because when we do this, pasta loses its texture and porosity and it goes smooth and soft. However, if we cook the pasta until al dente and then just strain it, the residual heat will cook it to perfection. Then we just need to let it cool down at room temperature and follow the three steps we previously explained.
Why not try these tips now? Write down some recipes you can make by using these tricks to keep your pasta perfectly. Let’s get cooking!