Cooking macaroni is the beginning of a delicious plate of macaroni. But to enjoy this famous pasta dish, you must first cook the macaroni. And then just long enough for them to taste perfect. We’ll tell you exactly what the cooking time for macaroni is.
The cooking time of macaroni
The cooking time of macaroni is about 8 minutes. Cook the macaroni in boiling water for 8 minutes until tender. To cook the macaroni al dente, cook the macaroni for about 7 minutes.
But to cook macaroni you not only have to take into account the cooking time, you also have to know how to do it the right way. Read on because we’ll tell you more about it!
How long should you cook macaroni?
So the average cooking time for macaroni is about 8 minutes. The cooking time depends on the type of macaroni you use. The cooking time of 8 minutes applies to the well-known macaroni.
There are also larger and smaller types of macaroni. The cooking times of these types of macaroni differ from the normal macaroni. The larger the macaroni, the longer it needs to cook until tender. On the other hand, the smaller the macaroni, the shorter the macaroni needs to cook until tender. This actually applies to all the pasta types out there. And there are a lot of them!
If you want to be sure what the exact cooking time of the macaroni is, you can always look at the packaging. It always says how many minutes macaroni needs to cook. So if you are in doubt, just look at the packaging.
When we talk about the cooking time of macaroni we always talk about the time the macaroni is in the boiling water. So if the package says to cook macaroni for 8 minutes, this is meant to be 8 minutes in boiling water. Therefore, don’t put macaroni in the pan until the water is actually boiling.
Another thing I want to tell you about the cooking time of macaroni is that you should bring the water back to the boil as soon as possible once you have added the macaroni. This is because the water has a habit of stopping boiling for a while as soon as you drop macaroni in the pan. So bring the water back to a boil as soon as possible by turning the gas to the highest setting.
We recommend that you always stick to the amount of minutes indicated on the package. This is a good starting point to determine how long you want to cook the macaroni. But also to determine how long the macaroni needs to cook to be “al dente”. We’ll tell you more about it in the next paragraph!
Cooking macaroni ‘al dente
Cooking macaroni ‘al dente’ is a term you may have heard before. But what exactly does this term mean? It is nothing more than a simple Italian term that indicates how cooked the macaroni is.
Cooking macaroni ‘al dente’ simply means cooking the macaroni al dente. This means that the macaroni is not cooked all the way through, but still has a little bit of “bite” in it.
To cook the macaroni al dente you have to stick to a different cooking time. You need to cook the macaroni for about 7 minutes instead of 8 minutes. By cooking the macaroni one minute shorter you will see that the macaroni has just a little bite in it which in Italian is called ‘al dente’.
Make sure the pasta is not underdone. This is really not good and it can ruin your whole macaroni dish. Therefore, always taste before you drain the macaroni. This way you can taste how cooked the macaroni is and if you like it that way. Because in the end, it’s all about whether you like the macaroni!
In the blog: ‘How to cook pasta al dente’ we go deeper into the cooking of al dente pasta.
Taste the macaroni before you pour it off
We always recommend tasting the macaroni before you drain it. Because if you peel off the macaroni too early, or too late, it can ruin your entire macaroni dish. So it’s very important to taste whether the macaroni is done enough before you drain it.
To prevent the macaroni from not being cooked enough, it is best to fish a piece of macaroni out of that pan 1 minute before the cooking time is up. Taste the macaroni and decide for yourself if you think the macaroni is done enough. Is the macaroni still too hard? Then let it cook for another 1 minute and repeat the tasting.
There are two major advantages to tasting the macaroni before you drain it:
You taste right away if you have added too little salt to the water. If this is the case, you can do this first. Let the macaroni cook for another minute before you finally drain it. If the macaroni is already cooked and you do not want it to overcook, you can also choose to add a little salt to your pasta sauce. This will compensate for the lack of salt in the water and your macaroni will not overcook.
You can taste right away if the macaroni is done. By taking a piece of macaroni out of the water and tasting it, you will immediately notice if the macaroni is like cooked enough to eat. The macaroni should be “al dente. Or in other words, cooked enough to eat but it should still have a slight “bite. This is how they cook macaroni in Italy. By the way, this is easier said than done. You can read all about cooking pasta al dente here.
Tasting the macaroni before you drain it is perhaps the most important tip in the whole list. Not because it makes cooking the macaroni a lot better, it just makes sure that your macaroni dish will be delicious. And that’s what we all do it for! Therefore, always taste the macaroni before you drain it.
How much macaroni do you cook per person?
If you want to know more about how much macaroni you should cook per person, take a look at our blog: ‘How much macaroni do you cook per person‘ and find out all about it.