Yesterday we shared our pick for the best gluten-free pasta. A few of those gluten-free options almost convinced us we were eating wheat pasta – they were that good!
One thing about gluten-free pasta that is definitely different than its wheat counterpart, though? How you should cook it.
Gluten-free pasta has a tendency to get gummy, mushy, or stick together if it's cooked for too long or too short. It's more finicky than regular pasta that way. And the cook time on the package? Don't trust it.
But it is possible to get perfectly al dente gluten-free pasta! Here's how to do it.
IMPORTANT TIP! Before you begin, look at the cook time instructions on the pasta package and then subtract two minutes. This is your starting cook time. In my experience, gluten-free pasta rarely adheres to the cook time on the package, so it's best to start checking it a couple of minutes early to make sure you don't miss the window and the pasta descends into gumminess or mush.
1. Add a little olive oil to the pot.
Fill a large pot 2/3 of the way full with water. Gluten-free pasta foams more than wheat pasta, so it's wise to leave a little space in the pot to account for that. Season the pot of water with two tablespoons Diamond kosher salt OR four teaspoons Morton's kosher salt per one gallon of water. Salty water is one of the keys to good pasta, gluten-free or not.
Then, once the water starts boiling and before adding the pasta, pour a little olive oil into the pot to help keep the noodles from sticking together.
Truth time: This is a controversial recommendation. I think this is an important step, and that it really does help prevent the noodles from sticking together, but some think adding olive oil is unnecessary, or worse, that it actually makes it more difficult for sauce to stick to the noodles after cooking.
I haven't found that to be the case, and since I'm more concerned about ending up with a clump of sticky noodles than I am with a potential loose sauce-and-spaghetti situation, I'm solidly pro olive-oil-in-the-pot.
Once you've added the pasta to the pot of boiling water, stir every 30 seconds for the first five minutes of cooking to move the olive oil around and keep the pasta loose. Gluten-free pasta requires more stirring in the initial cooking stage than regular pasta so that it doesn't (surprise!) stick together.
3. Taste for doneness before the package says you should.
Begin checking your pasta for doneness a couple minutes before the cook time indicated on the package. If it's not ready yet, keep checking every minute until the pasta is al dente with a slight chew and a uniform texture and color all the way through.
4. Give it a quick rinse.
Once the pasta is al dente, drain it but keep some of the cooking water on hand to use later if the pasta starts clumping. Rinse briefly with cold water. Again, this helps prevent sticking (a common theme here!). Don't rinse for long or else the pasta will cool down too much. Five seconds is perfect.
5. Toss immediately with olive oil or sauce.
After the quick rinse, return the pasta to the pot or pour into a bowl. Toss immediately with olive oil or your sauce of choice. Add in some of the saved cooking water if needed to help loosen things up. Eat!
How did yours turn out?
Share your gluten-free pasta cooking and reheating tips with us! We'd love to hear them.
Once you've added the pasta to the pot of boiling water, stir every 30 seconds for the first five minutes of cooking to move the olive oil around and keep the pasta loose. Gluten-free pasta requires more stirring in the initial cooking stage than regular pasta so that it doesn't (surprise!) stick together.
Gluten free pasta tends to absorb more sauce than normal pasta. This means you might need to add more water to the sauce as you mix it through the pasta. Don't rinse your pasta. Drain your pasta using a colander (large sieve) but don't rinse it.
Because of the starch, gluten-free pasta noodles tend to cling together. Add a glug of olive oil to the water and make sure to run a spoon through it to redistribute every 30 seconds during the first few minutes of cooking. Once the pasta has begun to plump you don't have to worry about it as much.
Starch, as we all know, can get sticky if it absorbs too much water — and now we see why cooking gluten-free pasta in a large pot of boiling water might present some problems! This is why adding a little olive oil to the pot after the water boils but before you add the pasta will help.
Properly salting your water absolutely combats this. I usually use 2 – 3 heaping teaspoons of salt when cooking a box of gluten free pasta. The only time to pull back some on the salting is if you'll be serving your pasta with a salty sauce. A good example of this is a parmesan heavy cheese sauce.
After 6 minutes remove one piece of pasta and carefully bite into it to check if it is 'al dente' meaning cooked but with some bite. Watch out it will be hot so blow on it first! If it feels too hard then continue to boil and test again at no more than one minute intervals until the pasta is cooked.
Unfortunately, it is not advisable to reheat gluten-free pasta because it is made of corn and rice, both of which break down more quickly and easily than wheat. As a result, gluten-free pasta tends to become mushy and tasteless when cooked a second time.
According to Sarah Schmalbruch's INSIDER article Here's the Real Reason You're Adding Olive Oil to Boil Pasta – And It's Not Sticky Noodles, the real reason to add olive oil is to prevent the pasta water from boiling over the pot itself rather than to prevent noodles from sticking.
On its own, gluten-free pasta is really pretty tasteless. It needs seasoning, in the form of salt, just like regular pasta. After the water comes to a boil, add enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean (about 1/4 cup for a large pot of water), before adding the pasta.
Which gluten free pasta tastes the most like regular pasta? Gluten free pasta won't taste exactly the same as wheat flour pasta, because the flours used to make it have different flavours. Gluten free pasta made with chickpea flour or red lentil flour is nutty, and earthier than one made with rice flour.
Barilla Gluten-Free Pasta (Corn and Rice): We purchase Barilla by the case from Amazon (affiliate link). It's the least expensive of the pasta brands we like and in our opinion, the one that tastes most like “regular gluten pasta”.
This couldn't be further from the truth! Gluten free pasta can be cooked just as easily as wheat pasta. Thanks to our unique blend of corn and rice, there's no risk of mushy pasta. The only difference is that the whole grain rice pasta may take a bit longer to cook as the grain must be broken down.
In fact, pasta will continue to cook for several minutes after it is taken out of the pot. Any pasta that has been overcooked will start to fall apart and dissolve, especially pastas made with less-starchy ingredients that don't naturally bind together.
This couldn't be further from the truth! Gluten free pasta can be cooked just as easily as wheat pasta. Thanks to our unique blend of corn and rice, there's no risk of mushy pasta. The only difference is that the whole grain rice pasta may take a bit longer to cook as the grain must be broken down.
According to Sarah Schmalbruch's INSIDER article Here's the Real Reason You're Adding Olive Oil to Boil Pasta – And It's Not Sticky Noodles, the real reason to add olive oil is to prevent the pasta water from boiling over the pot itself rather than to prevent noodles from sticking.
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Introduction: My name is Virgilio Hermann JD, I am a fine, gifted, beautiful, encouraging, kind, talented, zealous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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