Alton Brown’s 10 Best Tips For Cooking Pasta

When Alton Brown first appeared on our television screens in “Good Eats” way back in 1999, he very quickly amassed a serious fan base. He gave us a crash course in not only cooking but also in science, and it’s been a wild ride. Over the course of his career, Brown’s tips have included ways to make your morning coffee even better, and he’s shared the unexpected ingredient that will elevate your favorite tomato soup. (Spoiler alert: It’s orange juice.)

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Even he isn’t perfect, though. It turns out that Brown has one recipe that he considers his worst, and that’s his slow cooker lasagna. And we get it. Lasagna can be tough to get right. Noodles can be too soft or too hard. The lasagna can cook unevenly, and the texture can just be pretty awful. That can happen any time you’re making pasta, but fortunately for us, Brown has had years to perfect his pasta game, and he’s shared his tips with the world.

Surprisingly, some of his wisdom seemingly flies in the face of everything you may have been taught about cooking pasta, but isn’t that why we’re all fans of his? He’s doing all the experimenting in the kitchen so we don’t have to. The result is that he’s come up with some easy, almost-foolproof ways to guarantee your spicy penne arrabiata is going to be a family favorite, and your chicken pasta salad is going to be the star of the backyard barbecue.

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It’s a bit of cooking wisdom that you’ve probably heard a million times, all the way back to the first time you watched someone cook pasta. The widely accepted way is to boil the water, add the pasta, and wait for magic to happen. According to what Alton Brown has said in many video clips and on his blog, that’s not what you should be doing at all. Instead, he says you should be putting your raw pasta in cold water, heating the entire thing at the same time until it boils, and letting it cook to al dente.

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Brown has even admitted that for a long time, he subscribed to the boil-first method. Now, though, he knows there are a few major benefits to using this cold method. That starts with the fact that it’ll cook faster, since the pasta is starting to soften even as the water is still heating. The process of cooking pasta isn’t just about heat, after all. It also requires the noodles to absorb some of that water — which also happens faster if they’re in the water from the start. 

And we’ll be honest here and say that everyone could do with some shortcuts to make dinner prep easier, and there’s good news to follow this up. Brown also says that you might find this method gives you a slightly different, more firm texture that’s actually better than what you’ll get with the boil-first method. It’s a win-win.

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Here’s another bit of wisdom that Alton Brown absolutely turns upside-down, and that’s the idea that you’re going to need a big pot of water for cooking pasta. The more conventional thought process is that if you’re cooking your pasta in what’s basically a swimming pool of boiling water, it’ll cook evenly and won’t stick together. It turns out that’s just another one of the myths about pasta that you can stop believing right now. Brown noted in a Facebook reel that if you put your pasta in the pot first and add just enough water to cover it completely, that’s actually perfect.

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What? Now that we’ve given a moment for the horrified gasps to clear, let’s talk about the benefits to this method. It’s going to help you save on time as less water is going to heat up faster than a giant pot with more water, and there’s some water conservation to consider here, too. That can be particularly important in some areas, but others might be asking, “Sure, but how does it taste?” That actually brings us to another tip because when you use less water, that water you do have will contain a higher concentration of starches that have drained out of your pasta. Surprisingly, that pasta water is one of Brown’s secret ingredients.

We totally get it. Cooking pasta is one of those things that many of us tend to do a lot, and it might be such a frequent thing that we’re kind of on autopilot when we do it. That probably means boiling your pasta and then immediately dumping it in a colander to drain. But according to Alton Brown, that’s a huge mistake in two ways. First of all, you shouldn’t be dumping that pasta water down the drain until you’ve completely finished putting the meal together. That’s because pasta water is exactly what you need to finish sauces.

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If you’re following the rest of Brown’s advice, you’ve started your pasta cooking in cold water, and you’ve used only enough water to cover that pasta … right? On his blog, Brown has explained that this starch-heavy water is a great addition that works particularly well with sauces like a classic cacio e pepe. When this cheesy, buttery pasta dish gets a dash of starchy water, the sauce turns into something extra-creamy and therefore, extra-delicious.

That’s not the only time you should be using pasta water to elevate sauces. Brown also recommends (via his blog) that you use this same idea to take your favorite weeknight spaghetti dish and turn a tomato sauce into something that’s as divine as it is easy to make.

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Sure, there’s a lot to be said for a simple, creamy, dish of garlic butter noodles, but it’s entirely possible that’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of what you’re going to do with cooked pasta. If it’s mac and cheese that springs to mind first, we not only see you, but we also hear you, and we’re here for you. There are a lot of ingredients you can add for some truly stellar mac and cheese, but according to Alton Brown, one of the best things you can do to take this old-school comfort food to the next level is cook your macaroni the right way.

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When Brown posted a YouTube video doing a Reloaded version of his fan favorite stovetop mac and cheese, he stressed that you should use only just enough water to cover the macaroni, and that you should follow the cold cooking method. The result was a pot of cooked pasta with just enough water that there was no need to drain it before adding the other ingredients.

After absorption and evaporation, the remaining water helped to create that creamy, delicious cheese sauce that we all cross our fingers and hope for. Not only do you end up with just the right amount of water this way, but the starch that’s cooked out into the water helps you get that smooth texture of a perfect sauce.

If you watch enough videos of Alton Brown cooking pasta (and we have!), you’ll notice that much of the time, he simply picks the pasta up out of the water with tongs or suggests using a spider strainer. In one particular TikTok, Brown says that it’s absolutely fine to do it this way, and that you’ll get the bonus if not having to wash a colander. That’s not all there is to it, though.

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In a video posted to his Facebook page, he says that when it comes time to drain his pasta, he doesn’t take forever to do it. When he pulls the noodles out of the water and into the sauce, they’re dripping. That, he says, is because you want your pasta to still be covered by the starchy water … but not too much.

There’s a delicate balance going on here, and it might seem like not properly draining or rinsing pasta is going to leave you with overcooked or sticky noodles … or some other nonsense that you’ve heard a million times. Although that’s another bit of so-called cooking wisdom that often makes the rounds, it’s the opposite of what you actually want most of the time. If you’re making a hot dish, having pasta that’s slightly damp with starchy water will make the sauce cling to each piece. The exception to this is a cold pasta dish. In that case, it’s fine to rinse and cool your pasta before adding the rest of the ingredients.

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One of the things we love about our current foodie landscape is that things are constantly getting reinvented. Take pasta. It’s mostly been considered a dinnertime staple, but let’s take a page from Alton Brown’s book and say that pasta can be a breakfast food.

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In a video posted to TikTok, Brown explained, “Breakfast carbonara. Why not have pasta for breakfast?” he asked. “You got the whole day to work it off, and besides, if you get hit by a truck when you go out the door, at least you will have died with a tummy full of pasta.” That’s the kind of optimism and attitude we love Brown for, and the dish itself is pretty brilliant. It’s basically pasta, ground meat, egg, cheeses, parsley, and scallions all mixed together for what we think might be the perfect breakfast. In a Facebook reel, Brown gave another version of this pasta breakfast, with a sauce that included egg, anchovy, cheese, black pepper, chili crisp, and — believe it or not — a dash of coffee.

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We love this idea, and it’s super easy to add breakfast sausage to a carbonara to turn it into a hearty breakfast. Getting creative with adding eggs to pasta can turn any meal into a classy Sunday brunch. And if the thought of slicing into a perfectly poached egg so it runs through your plate of just as perfectly cooked pasta sounds like a win? What are you waiting for?

Alton Brown talked about his cold method for cooking pasta in a Facebook reel, and before even adding the water, he added salt. It’s not just any salt, though. He stressed that he uses kosher salt. Why kosher salt?

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We all know that we need to salt pasta water, and there’s a few different schools of thought here. In some cases, you might find some sources saying that as long as you don’t use iodized table salt — as it just won’t taste right — it doesn’t matter. That might technically be true, but the larger, more consistent grains that you find in kosher salt will give you more control over what you’re doing, and that’s especially true if you’re adding salt by hand. 

Brown is famously a fan of Diamond Crystal salt, so much so that he was an official spokesperson for the company. He spoke with the Twin Cities Pioneer Press about different uses for different salts, saying, “My go-to salt is kosher. I was using Diamond Crystal kosher salt long before they paid me. That’s all we used when I did my internships in culinary school in France. They wanted something that acted like French sea salt but was more flexible and cheaper.” He also explained that because all the grains of kosher salt are the same size, it’s easier to evenly distribute.

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Pasta might be a go-to favorite, but sometimes you’re just in the mood for something a little lighter. Eggplant is famously among the great, low-carb alternatives to pasta and noodles, and Alton Brown has some handy advice on how to transform eggplant noodles into a family favorite, too.

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On his blog, Brown talks about using eggplant noodles for a quick and easy version of eggplant parmesan. Given that it only takes 20 minutes of active cooking time, we’re going to go out on a limb and say this idea is a total win for busy nights. He says, however, that if you really want this to turn out stellar, you’re going to have to add in a step. He says to cut your raw eggplant into thick strips, and before you slice it further into noodle sized strips, cover it evenly with kosher salt, and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Flip, re-salt, wait 15 minutes, then rinse, squeeze, and dry.

Brown explains that this removes bitter compounds in the eggplant’s water content. If you know someone who hates eggplant because it always seems to taste bitter, it’s because they’ve probably had it prepared by someone who skipped this step. You’re also changing the texture of the eggplant, too. You’ll end up with something that has an al dente bite similar to regular pasta, which might end up getting rid of any complaints you’ve weathered at the suggestion of getting creative with eggplant pasta.

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Getting the noodles right is a huge part of serving up an incredible pasta dish, and while there’s obviously a little variation here depending on what kind of pasta you’re cooking, many of Alton Brown’s pasta-cooking tips can be used with any type of noodle. Sauces are a little harder to talk about, though, as they’re more specific. Brown does, however, have one particular tip that you can consider using with a variety of pasta sauces, and it’s pretty darn brilliant.

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On an episode of “Good Eats,” Brown takes on a standard meat sauce. Most home cooks probably have their favorite recipes, but one of the things that Brown stresses is that when it’s time to cook the meat, you want to start with a really, really high heat. The goal is to sear the meat instead of gently steaming or stewing it, and yes, you’re going to get all kinds of crisp meat bits stuck to the pan in the process.

Brown says you need to remove most of the meat, then deglaze the pan with white wine. That’s going to cook down and reduce into a liquid that will add some incredible flavor to your sauce. It’s a trick that you can use with a number of different pasta dishes — even your longtime favorites.

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In the same episode of “Good Eats” that features Alton Brown talking about adding depth and flavor to your meat sauce by using white wine to deglaze the pan that you cooked the meat in, he offers up another idea on how to make it even better. That, of course, is by adding bacon, and we think all meat-lovers will agree that everything is better with bacon.

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That’s not the only secret ingredient Brown shares when it comes to making some seriously delicious pasta dishes, either. In a blog post, Brown wrote that beef jerky can and should be your secret weapon for making an amazing sauce. He suggests taking your jerky, cutting it into small, manageable pieces before rehydrating it and adding it to a tomato-based sauce that’s going to be so good that it’s not just for pasta, but you might just find yourself serving it up with rice or biscuits, too. Does that sound like a great breakfast to us? Yes, it absolutely does.