I love leftovers. Cooking once and eating again is like giving your future self the gift of time savings. While some foods are best eaten immediately, there are plenty of dishes that are just as delicious, if not better, a day or three later. Pasta is a prime example. I would argue that in most cases, leftovers are just as delicious as the day they were made, if reheated properly.
The problem with pasta is that it tends to dry out in the fridge, so the obvious solution is to add liquid while cooking to reconstitute the noodles and sauce. The liquid can be water, wine, milk, cream, or whatever suits your dish. A tablespoon or two per serving is a good idea.
When reheating food, consider how it was originally prepared – on the stove or in the oven. (Yes, you can also reheat it in the microwave, which I’ve done before, but it may not heat the pasta evenly.)
For a tomato-based, loose pasta dish (such as spaghetti alla gratin), place the pasta in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat, add a splash of water or wine, and cook, stirring regularly, until the pasta is loosened and hot. A cream-based, loose pasta dish, such as fettuccine Alfredo, cook in much the same way, but use your preferred dairy product and turn the heat to low or medium-low to prevent the sauce from separating. For baked casseroles, such as sausage, spinach, and goat cheese lasagna, add a splash of liquid, cover tightly with foil, and bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until warmed through.
Some dishes are just craveable because, at their most, they’re fleeting. One that springs to mind is spaghetti carbonara, with its silky egg and cheese sauce. Recipe editor Becky Crystal writes, “If you have leftovers, you can fry them in a skillet with a little butter and olive oil until warm and crisp in spots, but they’ll never be the same as when you first cooked them.”
All of this sage advice is based on the assumption that your pasta already has a dressing on it and isn’t just plain noodles (note: it’s always best to finish your pasta with a sauce). But if you do want to reheat plain pasta, all you need to do is submerge it in boiling water.
