How to Fix Sticky Spaghetti

We've all had it happen. Cook Spaghetti for dinner, drain it in the colander - then wait a few minutes.

There's a good chance that your Spaghetti is sticky! For most of us, that's not the ideal way to eat Spaghetti.

Now there are a few methods of preventing sticky spaghetti:

1) Put a little oil in the cooking water. This is not very effective, and for those who must avoid oil for health reasons, it is problematic.

2) Buy a brand that is less inclined to become sticky. This can help, but it's not an exact science.

3) Leave the Spaghetti in its cooking water - and just add a cup of very cold to stop further cooking. This was my Mom's method - and a pretty effective one. But, as you serve the Spaghetti, you have to wait for each serving to drain so that you don't get water on the plate, which could result in watery sauce.

But, let's assume that you've already drained your Spaghetti, and it turned sticky on you. What do you do NOW?

Here's my trick - and it works quite well:

Run cold water over the Spaghetti in the colander, tossing the Spaghetti to rinse all sides thoroughly. This will un-sticky it.

Then, simply rinse in your hottest tap water to re-heat, or for even hotter Spaghetti, microwave it hot again.

This works great for me, and is so easy to do.

By the way, when I have leftover Spaghetti, and am preparing it for refrigeration or freezing, I rinse it well in cold water, then add a couple of spoonfuls of water to the container to keep it moist. Then, when I remove the container from the fridge, the Spaghetti isn't sticky.

To thaw frozen Spaghetti, I simply rinse it well in hot tap water - it thaws and warms at the same time. If serving diners who don't like food piping hot (as is often the case with children), you'll find that you might not even have to heat the Noodles additionally after thawing in hot tap water : )

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