How much salt for pasta water?
Learn a practical grams-per-litre range for pasta water, when to use less salt and why very salty sauces need a different approach.
Start with 8–10 g fine salt per litre of water. Use less when the sauce contains salty cheese, guanciale, anchovies, olives or capers.
The old instruction to make water taste like the sea is memorable and not especially precise. Seawater is far saltier than sensible pasta water.
A scale gives a repeatable starting point. After a few pots, your palate will do the job.
Salt the pasta, not just the sauce
Pasta absorbs seasoned water while cooking. A finished sauce cannot season the centre of an under-salted piece of rigatoni.
Account for the final sauce
Carbonara, cacio e pepe and puttanesca bring substantial salt later. Their cooking water should be seasoned more lightly than water for a simple tomato sauce.
| Water | Fine salt starting point |
|---|---|
| 1 litre | 8–10 g |
| 2 litres | 16–20 g |
| 3 litres | 24–30 g |
| Very salty sauce | Reduce by roughly one third |
Keep in mind
- Different salts fill a spoon differently, so grams are clearer than tablespoons.
- Taste the sauce before adding extra salt.