Simple Spaghetti
Serves 4 Time 30 minutes Difficulty 1/5 Ingredients 5 Steps 7
Ingredients
- 2.25 L (10 cups) water
- 8 oz (224 g) spaghetti
- 2.5 cups (24 oz) pasta sauce (optional but recommended)
- Salt (optional but recommended)
- Vegetable oil (optional but recommended)
Steps
- Add salt and vegetable oil to water. Bring to a boil on high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add pasta.
- Pour desired amount of sauce into a pan. Set stove to medium.
- Set a timer for 7 min. Then taste a strand. Pasta is al dente when just soft enough to eat, not crunchy in the middle, not mushy.
- When sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat to lowest. Cover.
- Drain pasta through a colander.
- Serve sauce over pasta in bowls.
Notes from the original
- Adding salt to the cooking water enhances the pasta flavor and to allows the water to boil more quickly. Adding vegetable oil to the cooking water helps prevent the spaghetti from sticking together.
- Try adding herbs or fruit (such as pineapple tidbits) to the water before it boils to keep with the pasta after straining for extra flavor and texture.
- Before cooking the sauce, consider sautéing some finely minced onions, garlic, ground beef (or pork/sausage/veal/etc.), cheese (parmesan/mozzarella/etc.), mushrooms, or anything else that catches your fancy. Then add the sauce.
- In a pinch, you can make plain spaghetti and add ketchup if you do not have any pasta sauce available.
- The following foods go well with spaghetti and can be served together:
- Broccoli (or other vegetables).
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Simple Spaghetti” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-07-19, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Spaghetti served with meat sauce.jpg by Original uploader was 酒池肉林 at zh.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.