How Long to Boil Pasta (Chart for Every Shape)

Pasta boiling time chart

Times start once the pasta is in the pot and the water has come back to a rolling boil. They are for dried durum-wheat pasta unless noted. Thickness matters more than shape, so a bronze-cut artisan brand may take a minute or two longer than a supermarket one.

The 10 minute timer covers most long and short shapes. For anything else, type the exact minutes into the countdown timer and it will ring even if the tab is in the background.

What "al dente" actually means

Al dente is Italian for "to the tooth". The pasta should be cooked through but still offer a little resistance in the centre when you bite it. If you break a piece, you may see a faint pale dot in the very middle. That is right.

Al dente pasta is not just a preference. It holds its shape in sauce, does not turn soft as it sits on the plate, and keeps cooking slightly after you drain it. If the pasta is going back into a hot pan with sauce for a minute or two, drain it a full minute before it tastes done.

The packet time is usually the fully cooked time. The most reliable approach is to set your timer for two minutes less, then taste a piece every 30 seconds.

Water, salt and the boil

• Use about 1 litre of water for every 100 g of pasta (roughly 4 quarts per pound). Less water works for short shapes if you stir, but crowded pasta sticks.
• Salt the water once it boils: about 1 to 1½ teaspoons of fine salt per litre (roughly 7 to 10 g). It should taste pleasantly seasoned, not like seawater.
• Add pasta only to a rolling boil, stir in the first minute to stop it sticking, then keep it at a lively boil.
• Skip the oil. It coats the pasta and makes sauce slide off.
• Before draining, save a mug of the starchy water. A splash of it helps sauce cling and turn glossy.

Special cases

Pasta salad: cook pasta fully (not al dente), because cold pasta firms up. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking, then toss with a little oil or dressing straight away.

Baked dishes such as lasagne or baked ziti: undercook by 2 to 3 minutes. The pasta finishes in the oven while it soaks up sauce.

Gluten-free pasta: it goes from firm to mushy quickly, so start tasting 3 minutes early and rinse briefly after draining to remove excess starch.

High altitude: water boils at a lower temperature, so add 1 to 3 minutes and taste rather than trusting the packet.

How much pasta per person

A standard serving of dried pasta is 75 to 100 g (about 3 to 3½ oz) per person for a main course, or 50 to 60 g as a starter or side. Dried pasta roughly doubles in weight when cooked. Fresh pasta is heavier because it already contains water, so allow 115 to 150 g per person.

For long pasta, a bundle about the diameter of a coin (roughly 2.5 cm) is one serving. For short shapes, about a cup of dried pasta is close to 100 g, depending on the shape.

Matching the shape to the sauce

Cooking time is only half of good pasta. The shape changes how the sauce clings, which changes how you should time the finish.

• Long, thin pasta (spaghetti, linguine, angel hair) suits olive-oil, tomato and seafood sauces that coat each strand. Finish it in the pan with a splash of pasta water for the last minute.
• Flat ribbons (fettuccine, tagliatelle, pappardelle) hold rich cream and meat sauces.
• Tubes and ridges (penne, rigatoni) trap chunky sauces and are the best choice for baked dishes, because they hold their shape.
• Small shapes (orzo, small shells, ditalini) suit soups. Cook them separately and add to each bowl, or they keep absorbing broth and turn soft.

When pasta finishes in the sauce, take it out of the water one to two minutes early so it reaches al dente in the pan rather than going past it.

Timing the whole meal

Pasta is the last thing to cook, not the first. Have the sauce ready and the water at a boil before the pasta goes in, so the pasta can go straight from the pot to the pan. If you are boiling eggs for a carbonara alternative or a salad on the side, the egg timer has its own presets; for several dishes at once, the multiple timers page runs separate labelled countdowns.

For the rice that goes with other dishes, see our rice cooking time guide.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How Long to Cook Rice (Every Type, With Water Ratios)
• How Long to Let Dough Rise

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