Some days, there’s nothing better than to reach in the fridge and grab last night’s pasta dinner and reheating it for lunch. But in reality, if you’ve ever tried to reheat cooked pasta, it doesn’t always turn out so great. Unless you know the secret of how to reheat pasta. Reheating pasta that’s already been cooked is actually pretty simple, and it doesn’t need to involve a microwave (not that that doesn’t work well in a pinch). Here’s how to reheat pasta the right way.
How to Reheat Pasta
To reheat plain pasta that doesn’t have any sauce on it, you’re going to treat it similar to cooking dried pasta from a box or cooking fresh pasta that you’ve made from scratch. Heat up a saucepan full of water to boiling. Once the water is boiling, place the cooked, refrigerated pasta into a metal strainer and dip it into the boiling water for 30-45 seconds or until the pasta is completely warmed up. This will heat the pasta up more evenly, without making it soggy or sticky like it would if you cooked it in water for a longer period.
If you’re trying to heat up pasta that you’ve already prepared with sauce, then you’ll need to take a slightly different approach as dipping it in water isn’t going to turn out so well. In this case, you’ll want to grab a skillet large enough to hold the pasta you’re heating up. Turn the heat up to medium high and when the skillet has heated up enough, dump the leftover pasta into the skillet.
Stir consistently to ensure that the pasta doesn’t burn, and cook it long enough so that the pasta is completely warm and any sauce or vegetables that are in it heat up too. This should take around 3-4 minutes.
Another alternative is to heat the leftover pasta up in the oven. To do this, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spoon the refrigerated pasta into a glass oven safe dish. Cover with foil and heat in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is hot. Top with fresh herbs or cheese to make it even better before serving.
Do you have any tips for how to reheat pasta leftovers? Share them with us in the comments!
And if you are at work and only have a microwave, add 2 tablespoons water per cup of pasta, cover with plastic wrap tight and 1 min. On high will revive most dried pasta.