Let’s talk spaghetti—and the kind of kitchen standoff that can stir up a full-blown dinner table debate. You boil the pasta, drain it, and then comes the golden moment: do you rinse it or leave it as is?

Recently, my partner whipped up a gorgeous bowl of spaghetti with marinara, but skipped the rinsing step. I froze. The pasta looked… sticky. To me, unrinsed pasta just felt wrong. But does skipping that rinse really ruin a dish? Or is rinsing pasta just a leftover habit from another era?

Let’s dig into the facts, bust the myths, and finally answer this age-old pasta question.

Why Rinsing Pasta Even Became a Thing

Rinsing pasta isn’t just about cooling it down. It actually removes surface starch that forms during cooking. That sticky film you see when you drain pasta? It’s starch. Some cooks rinse it off to prevent clumping and keep noodles from sticking together like glue.

Especially when you’re making cold pasta salads, rinsing is common practice. Cold water cools the pasta quickly and gives you a clean canvas for tossing in vegetables, vinaigrettes, and proteins.

But for hot dishes? That’s where things get complicated.

Video: Should You Rinse Pasta After You Cook It?

How Starch Affects Texture and Flavor

When you boil pasta, starches break down and float into the water. If you rinse the noodles afterward, you’re essentially washing that starch away. This might give you a cleaner noodle—but it also strips off the very thing that helps sauce cling to pasta.

Starch isn’t the enemy. It acts like glue, binding your sauce to every curve and edge. Rinse it off, and your pasta might taste “naked,” with the sauce slipping off instead of coating each strand like a warm blanket.

If your partner skipped rinsing, they probably knew exactly what they were doing—maximizing flavor and keeping the sauce where it belongs.

The Science of Rinsing Pasta (or Not)