Some of the best pasta advice is also the simplest: salt your pasta water.

It is one of those tiny steps that can completely change the finished dish, yet it is also one of the easiest things to overlook. You can have a great tomato sauce, perfectly cooked pasta, fresh Parmigiano Reggiano, and good olive oil, but if the pasta itself was cooked in completely unseasoned water, something can still taste a little flat. That is because the pasta deserves seasoning too.

When pasta cooks in salted water, it absorbs some of that seasoning as it softens. Instead of relying on the sauce to provide every bit of flavor, you are starting with noodles that already taste good on their own. The key is balance, and Chef Scott Conant has talked about this exact step before. His advice is a little different from one of the most common pasta rules you have probably heard. No, your pasta water does not necessarily need to taste like the ocean.

Key Summary

You should salt pasta water because the pasta absorbs some of that seasoning while it cooks. This gives the noodles flavor before they ever meet the sauce and helps create a more balanced finished dish. But that does not mean you should pour salt into the pot without thinking about what happens next.

Chef Scott Conant recommends seasoning pasta water so it tastes more like a well-seasoned neutral broth than seawater. That is especially important because he likes to reserve the starchy cooking water and use it later when finishing the pasta in the sauce. If the water is too salty, that salt becomes more concentrated as the sauce reduces.

Whether dinner starts with Martone Street Signature Pomodoro, Campagna Marinara, Arrabbiata Calabrian Chili & Garlic Sauce, or Mediterranean Style, properly seasoned pasta helps you get more out of what is already in the jar.

Why Should You Salt Pasta Water?

The simplest answer is that pasta needs seasoning just like everything else you cook. Dried pasta may not look like an ingredient that needs much attention. You drop it into boiling water, wait a few minutes, drain it, and move on to the sauce. But those few minutes in the pot matter.

As pasta cooks, it absorbs water. If that water has no seasoning, the pasta itself can taste bland, even when you put a flavorful sauce on top of it later. Salting the water allows some of that seasoning to make its way into the pasta while it cooks, so the flavor is not simply sitting on the outside of the noodle. It becomes part of the pasta itself.

That creates a better foundation for the entire dish. Think about a simple bowl of spaghetti with Martone Street Signature Pomodoro. The sauce already brings the California tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and seasoning. You want the pasta underneath it to hold up its end of the bargain too.

If the noodles are properly seasoned, you do not have to compensate by adding extra salt to the sauce or covering the finished dish with more ingredients. The pasta tastes like pasta, the sauce tastes like sauce, and then the two come together the way they should.

Should Pasta Water Taste Like the Ocean?

You have probably heard the same advice more times than you can count: make your pasta water taste like the ocean.

Scott Conant has a slightly different way of looking at it. Scott says, "A lot of people say it should taste like the ocean. I think it depends on which ocean you're talking about."

It is a funny line, but there is a very practical cooking lesson behind it. You absolutely want your pasta water to taste seasoned. If it tastes like plain water, there probably is not enough salt in the pot. But you also do not want it so salty that one sip makes you wince.

The reason is simple. The cooking water still has another job to do. Scott does not necessarily treat pasta water as something you automatically pour down the drain once the noodles are finished. He saves some of it and uses it to help bring the pasta and sauce together. That means whatever seasoning is in the water may eventually end up in your finished sauce, so balance matters from the beginning.

Scott's Approach

Why Scott Conant Doesn't Oversalt Pasta Water

Scott says that he likes to use the cooking water again when he is finishing pasta. As he put it, "I like to utilize that pasta cooking liquid, that pasta water, inside the sauces when I'm sautéing the pasta afterwards."

That is an important part of the technique. When the nearly cooked pasta goes into a pan with the sauce, a little reserved pasta water can help loosen everything just enough for the pasta and sauce to come together. The starch in the cooking water also helps create that smoother, more cohesive finish you want.

But if that water is extremely salty, you can quickly run into a problem. Scott explained, "If it's too salty, it's going to reduce with that sauce and then make your dish overall too salty."

As the pasta finishes cooking and some of the liquid evaporates, the salt does not disappear with it. Its flavor becomes more concentrated. That is why the goal is not simply to add as much salt as possible. You are seasoning the pasta, but you are also thinking one step ahead to how that water will interact with the sauce.

If you are warming Martone Street Campagna Marinara in a pan, for example, the sauce is already seasoned and ready to use. You do not need aggressively salty pasta water changing the balance of the jar. You want just enough seasoned cooking water to help finish the pasta while letting the sauce stay the sauce.

So, How Salty Should Pasta Water Be?

Scott gives a much more useful comparison than seawater. He recommends seasoning it so it tastes "like a really good neutral broth."

That is a much easier target to understand when you are standing over the stove. The water should taste clearly seasoned and you should notice the salt, but it should still taste balanced. Think about a simple broth you would happily eat with a spoon. You know salt is there, but it does not dominate everything else.

This is also one of those cooking moments where tasting is more useful than obsessing over a perfect measurement. The amount of salt you need depends on how much water is in the pot, what type of salt you are using, and even the size of the pot itself. A tablespoon of fine table salt does not season the same way as a tablespoon of a larger-flake kosher salt.

So rather than turning pasta night into a math problem, taste the water. Once the salt dissolves, carefully take a small taste. If the water still tastes flat, add a little more. If all you taste is salt, you have probably gone too far. You are looking for seasoned, not overwhelming.

Why Tasting the Water Actually Matters

Recipes often give exact salt measurements because exact measurements feel reassuring, but pasta water is one place where your palate is usually the better tool. The same amount of salt can taste completely different depending on how much water you use.

One person may fill a large stockpot nearly to the top, while another may use a smaller pot with just enough water to comfortably cook the pasta. Those two pots should not automatically receive the same amount of salt. That is why Scott's broth comparison works so well. Instead of chasing an arbitrary number, you are tasting for the result you actually want.

It is also a good reminder that pasta cooking is not supposed to be overly complicated. Season the water, taste it, and adjust it. That small habit will tell you more than memorizing a formula ever could.

Watch Scott's Technique

Better Pasta Starts With the Little Things

Scott's approach is not about adding more steps for the sake of it. It is about paying attention to the details that help pasta and sauce come together properly.

Don't Throw Away All That Pasta Water

Once you have taken the time to season your pasta water properly, save some of it before you drain the pasta. As the noodles cook, they release starch into the water, which is why the water becomes increasingly cloudy as you get closer to al dente.

That cloudy water is useful. Transfer the pasta into a wide pan with your sauce while the noodles are still just shy of fully cooked. Add a small splash of the reserved pasta water and start tossing. The goal is not to flood the pan. You are adding just enough to help loosen the sauce and give the pasta time to finish cooking with it.

If the pan still looks tight, add another splash. This technique works especially well with tomato sauces because you are allowing the sauce to coat the pasta rather than simply pouring it over the top at the end.

If you are using Martone Street Arrabbiata Calabrian Chili & Garlic Sauce, the tomatoes, Calabrian chili, garlic, and seasoning are already there. You are not trying to rebuild the sauce. You are simply using the pasta water to help finish the dish. The same technique works with Signature Pomodoro, Campagna Marinara, and Mediterranean Style.

Pasta and Sauce Should Finish Together

This is another important part of Scott's approach to pasta. He has talked about the common habit of draining pasta completely, putting it onto a platter, and spooning sauce over the top. The problem is that the pasta and sauce never really have a chance to become one dish.

Scott says that doing it that way can cause liquid to pool at the bottom of the platter. For him, it comes back to being "a little bit more thoughtful" about the product itself.

Warm your Martone Street sauce over low to medium heat while the pasta cooks. Pull the pasta just before it reaches your preferred texture, transfer it directly into the sauce, and add a splash of reserved pasta water. Then toss everything together and let the pasta finish cooking in the pan.

As the pasta finishes, it absorbs some of the sauce while the sauce begins coating the noodles more evenly. The result feels more connected, rather than like two separate components that happened to land on the same plate.

Can You Just Add Salt After the Pasta Is Cooked?

You can always add more salt to a finished dish, but it is not quite the same as seasoning the pasta from the beginning. If your pasta was cooked in completely unsalted water, sprinkling salt over the top later is mostly seasoning the surface.

Cooking pasta in salted water gives the noodles a chance to absorb that seasoning throughout the cooking process. That distinction matters most in simple pasta dishes, where there are fewer ingredients to hide behind.

If dinner is spaghetti with Martone Street Signature Pomodoro, fresh basil, and Parmigiano Reggiano, there are not twenty different flavors competing for your attention. Each ingredient matters, so the pasta should taste good, the sauce should taste good, and the cheese should taste good.

When each component is treated properly, you do not need to keep adding things to make the plate interesting. That simplicity is part of what makes a great bowl of pasta so good in the first place.

Can You Salt Pasta Water Too Much?

Absolutely. Salting the water is important, but more is not automatically better. If your pasta water is extremely salty, the pasta itself can become oversalted. Then, if you add that same water to the sauce, you are introducing even more salt to the finished dish.

Some of that liquid is also going to evaporate while the pasta finishes in the pan, which means the salt becomes even more concentrated. If you are using a finished sauce like Martone Street Campagna Marinara or Mediterranean Style, you especially do not want to spend the last few minutes of cooking trying to undo an overly salty pot of water.

Start moderately, taste, and adjust. You can always add a little more salt to the cooking water. It is much harder to take it back out.

When Should You Salt Pasta Water?

Bring your water to a boil first, then add the salt. Give it a stir so the salt dissolves and taste carefully before adding the pasta.

Once the water tastes properly seasoned, add your noodles and cook according to the package directions. If you are planning to finish the pasta in the sauce, pull it a little before it reaches full al dente. The pasta will continue cooking for another minute or two once it hits the pan with the sauce and reserved pasta water, which gives you more control over the final texture.

And before you drain anything, reserve some of that cooking water. A mug or measuring cup beside the stove is an easy reminder. You do not have to use all of it. In most cases, you will only need a few tablespoons.

If you are wondering exactly how much you need, our guide to How Much Pasta Water Should You Add to Sauce? goes deeper into how much to use and when to add it.

Should You Add Olive Oil to Pasta Water?

Skip it. Adding olive oil to pasta water is one of those cooking habits that sounds helpful but does not really solve the problem people think it does. If you are worried about pasta sticking together, stirring is the answer.

Give the pasta enough room in the pot and stir it several times during the first few minutes of cooking, when sticking is most likely to happen. Oil floating on the surface of the water does not meaningfully season the pasta, and it can coat the noodles as you drain them.

That is not ideal when the next thing you want is for tomato sauce to cling to the pasta. If you have a jar of Martone Street Signature Pomodoro waiting in the pan, you want every strand coated in tomato sauce, not slicked with oil first. Save the good olive oil for the sauce, a finishing drizzle, or somewhere it can actually contribute flavor.

Does the Type of Pasta Matter?

The basic rule stays the same no matter which pasta shape you choose. Salt the water. That said, different pasta shapes interact with sauce differently once they reach the pan.

Long pasta like spaghetti or linguine benefits from being tossed thoroughly so the sauce coats each strand, while shorter shapes with ridges, curves, or tubes can hold sauce in all those little spaces.

Either way, properly seasoned pasta gives you a better starting point. A bowl of spaghetti with Signature Pomodoro and a bowl of rigatoni with Arrabbiata may feel like completely different meals, but the basic technique is the same. Start with well-seasoned pasta water, cook the pasta properly, and finish it with the sauce.

Does Salt Make Pasta Cook Faster?

Not in any meaningful way for the way you are cooking dinner at home. The reason to add salt is flavor. There are plenty of little myths and rules around pasta cooking, but this one does not need to be overthought. You are salting the water because you want the pasta to taste better, and that is the part that matters.

What If You Forget to Salt the Water?

It happens. If you realize halfway through cooking that you forgot the salt, add some. You may not get quite the same level of seasoning as you would if the pasta had been cooking in salted water from the beginning, but it is still better than doing nothing.

If the pasta is already drained, do not panic. Finish it in the sauce as usual, taste the entire dish, and adjust the seasoning carefully. Just remember that if you are using a finished Martone Street sauce, you are trying to season the pasta, not unnecessarily alter the sauce. Taste before adding more, then remember the salt next time.

The Martone Street Way

Good Pasta Starts Before the Sauce

We make pasta sauce, so naturally we have a lot to say about what goes into the jar. But a great bowl of pasta does not begin when you twist the lid off. It starts with the water.

Season it properly, cook the pasta until just shy of done, save a little of that starchy water, warm your sauce in a pan, and bring the pasta and sauce together so they can finish cooking as one dish.

Scott's pasta philosophy has always been rooted in paying attention to the simple things, having reverence for the product and being more thoughtful about how it is handled.

That same thinking is at the heart of Martone Street. You do not need to make dinner complicated. Start with good pasta, season it well, open your favorite Martone Street sauce, and give those ingredients enough attention to let them do what they are supposed to do.

And please, salt the water.