Why You Should Never Break Pasta Noodles Before Boiling

Of the whopping numbers of pasta shapes that exist, spaghetti is one of the most common. According to the International Pasta Organization, the elongated pasta is so popular that it's part of one in every three pasta dishes in the world. In a way, that's understandable, considering how simple it is to make a delicious meal with just spaghetti and some good pasta sauce. However, one mistake that many make in their quest to further simplify the process is breaking raw spaghetti in half. You may be breaking it so that it fits more easily into the pot or you won't have to twirl those long strands, but the reasons for not doing so go much further than simply appeasing pasta purists.

Just as noodle shape matters in a pasta salad, changing the length of spaghetti by breaking it can drastically change the eating experience, from its mouthfeel to how it holds the sauce. Remember that spaghetti is a pasta shape that has been perfected over centuries. If you find it cumbersome, there are workarounds that you can use that allow you to keep the noodle whole and still work with it. And remember that once the spaghetti has been broken, the experience of eating that pasta noodle is irrevocably changed. At that point, it's difficult to call the result an authentic spaghetti dish anymore.

Broken spaghetti just doesn't look the same when plated. Instead of the noodles layered and folded in a delicate mass, you will see strands of noodle ends sticking out. Even if the aesthetics don't concern you, taste will. When twirled on a fork, whole spaghetti holds flavor better than broken strands, which aren't long enough to capture much sauce. Thus, the taste and mouthfeel of every bite are diminished.

If your main reason for breaking pasta noodles is to accommodate them more easily in a pot, simply use a bigger vessel that can hold them whole. Even if the pot is not big enough, you can gradually submerge the spaghetti in boiling water as it softens. You don't have to worry about uneven cooking if you submerge the noodles quickly enough and use the right amount of water when boiling the pasta.

The only real reason to break pasta noodles is if you value convenience over everything else. In that case, you can use a rice cooker to boil spaghetti (or any other pasta). Interestingly, breaking spaghetti is more accepted in the scientific community than in the culinary world. An enduring paradox — which took multiple MIT mathematicians to solve and was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — was how it was seemingly impossible to break raw spaghetti in two, as the noodle would always snap into three or more pieces. But if you're just trying to make dinner, you're better off leaving your spaghetti whole.