5

I often make up a box of pasta (dried) with some sauce that I make from leftover ingredients for work the next day. The sauce is always either tomato or cream cheese based.

By lunch the next day, the pasta has soaked up a good amount of the excess sauce that was previously filling the base of the box. Aside from storing the pasta and sauce in two separate boxes, is there anything I can do when cooking to avoid this happening? It does not appear to be a problem in supermarket ready meals.

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    Do you add oil to the water the pasta boils in?
    – mfg
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 12:34
  • mfg, the only effect that oil has when boiling pasta is to in a very very very small way help the water not boil over. It has no other use.
    – daniel
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 18:19
  • I don't add oil, as experience and advice from others tells me it does nothing :)
    – James C
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 11:06

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
7

If I plan on storing my pasta in the fridge with the sauce, I take the pasta out of the boiling water and immediately rinse it in cold water. I rinse until the pasta has cooled completely. Make sure to drain it well. Afterwards, I either mix a little sauce in the pasta to help keep it from sticking or just put the sauce on top. Basically I'm trying to stop the pasta from continuing to "Cook" in the sauce.

Improve this answer
6
  • Obvious really, I'm always sticking hot pasta into a box then putting the lid on so it's no wonder it continues cooking in this way. I will do this from now on.
    – James C
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 11:04
  • Never ever rinse pasta! Cardinal sin!
    – user37489
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 18:28
  • 3
    That may be, but it still works fixes the problem. :)
    – Macromika
    Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 20:50
  • What I find works even better than rinsing the pasta is to drain it about 90 seconds before it's done and let it finish cooking with the leftover heat.
    – James McLeod
    Commented Jun 10, 2016 at 5:58
  • @JamesMcLeod only problem with that is when you misjudge. With the cold water rinse, you halt cooking. It doesn't chill the pasta, it just takes the hot edge off. I rinse it thoroughly in the strainer, then toss it in the strainer to get the water out, and you'll still see plenty of steam and go blind if you wear glasses.
    – Escoce
    Commented Jun 11, 2016 at 16:18
5

Adding a little milk (to the creamy pasta) or water before reheating cooked, wet pasta is a good idea because pasta will continue to absorb the moisture in the sauce and 'cook', leaving it dry and overcooked.

You can compensate for this in large quantities (like supermarket meals) by slightly under cooking the pasta and relying on this process of moisture absorption and reheating to finish the cooking process.

Improve this answer
2
  • I agree with Christopher -- the only way to achieve "prepared meal" type dishes is to undercook the pasta so it finishes in the sauce. Of course, if you could easily estimate how much you wanted to save, you could pull that amount before you finished cooking the amount for your current meal, or pull it all, and finish cooking tonight's meal in the sauce, then box up the remainder of the sauce (possibly thinned slightly) and the extra pasta. You might need to toss a little bit of sauce in with the pasta while it's still warm just to avoid it sticking to itself as it cools.
    – Joe
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 14:47
  • I have tried thinning the sauce and it solved the problem of the sauce disappearing, but of course it continued to cook as you said. I'll try the combination of ideas next time.
    – James C
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 11:03
2

The problem might also be caused by the fact that cooked pasta releases gluten, which thickens your sauce. "Washing" your pasta before putting the sauce in it, as suggested, is a good method, but probably the most simple thing to do in general is to keep your sauce a bit more liquid, and mixing your pasta with a bit of olive oil just before you add your sauce. This way your pasta is somehow "coated" with oil which could prevent a bit the soaking of your sauce.

Improve this answer
2
  • I have tried using oil before but didn't like the flavour it added to the dish. Perhaps it wasn't right for the sauce I had at the time.
    – James C
    Commented May 11, 2011 at 11:05
  • 1
    Likely starch not gluten. Developed gluten (if it was not developed your pasta would fall apart) is essentially water insoluble.
    – rackandboneman
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 8:35
2

I've started pulling out the leftovers before finishing cooking a pot of pasta, so that the leftover portion is only partially cooked, rinsing them and letting them cool before adding any sauce. This works best if you know the portions that work for your family/guests, but is especially handy when trying to enforce measured portion sizes.

Improve this answer
1

I found an extra-yummy recipe for mac and cheese where you put the hot pasta in the casserole, add some butter, mix until it melts, then add the sauce. It's the first recipe I've found where the sauce didn't soaked into the pasta. I wonder if the butter makes a barrier.

Improve this answer
1

I feel your pain, I'm wondering if maybe putting the sauce on the bottom and the pasta on top might help, hopefully that means it will only be the absolute bottom of the pasta that soaks up the sauce? Then maybe stirring it together just before reheating..

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Thanks, Sue. Weird to see this again after I posted it 12 years ago! Since then I actually do this, as well as quick cool the pasta before boxing up.
    – James C
    Commented Feb 18, 2023 at 17:35
0

What I like to do when I'm making pasta and chicken is to first cook the chicken and add the sauce to the chicken. Then I boil the pasta. When I'm ready to serve, I simply serve my pasta on the bottom with the sauce and meat on top. If u want to cook everything together and have leftovers the next day, you can always cook everything the way I said, put some pasta aside in one Tupperware, chicken and sauce in another container and then cook the rest of the meal together if you like

Improve this answer
1
  • The question was explicitly for suggestions aside from storing ... in two separate boxes.
    – Stephie ♦
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 17:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.