Why Pasta Tastes Better At A Restaurant

Pasta is a diverse food that finds its place in many people's favorite meals — from the fresh, earthy tastes of Tuscan pasta to the richness of chicken alfredo, there are an abundance of delicious pasta recipes you need to try. Many of these are simple and often made at home, like this baked spaghetti recipe. Unfortunately, it can seem like the pasta you make at home falls short compared to what you'll get in a restaurant. Could this be all in your mind or is there something special about professionally made pasta that you just can't replicate on your own kitchen stovetop?

I spent 15+ years in the food industry and during that time, I made quite a bit of pasta. Some of the eateries I worked at had a number of pasta dishes on their standard menu, while others rotated pasta through their dinner specials. All this culminates to mean one thing — I'm qualified to assure you that it's not all in your mind and restaurant pasta does, indeed, taste better. The good news is that many of the tips, tricks, and techniques used by pasta chefs are replicable in your home kitchen. Let's get into it.

Much of the pasta you eat at restaurants is made from scratch, and the best places make it either that morning or the night before. This means the pasta is fresher — fresh pasta is softer, richer, and overall more flavorful than the dried items you'll find at your local grocer. The quality of ingredients used is also higher in restaurants, which helps to elevate the taste. And, of course, restaurants can keep numerous pasta types on hand, ensuring a perfect pairing for every recipe.

You can easily make fresh pasta dough at home, which will bring the taste of your dishes much closer to professional — and it only takes two ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Start with a mound of flour on your clean counter or table and create a small dip in the center called a well. Add eggs to this well and knead the dough until it forms a ball before rolling it out into your favorite pasta shapes. When cooking, note that fresh pasta usually takes a little less time than the dried varieties you're used to, so keep a close eye on your pot to avoid overcooking.

The professionals making your restaurant pasta have numerous tools at their disposal to make the process easier and more efficient. These can include utensils like chopsticks, spatulas, rolling pins, dough scrapers, drying racks and specialty items like gnocchi boards. Some eateries also use professional pasta making machines. Streamlining the process from start to finish and always having what's needed on hand can lend to a fresher, better tasting pasta. 

If you want to start making fresh pasta but don't want a bunch of tools cluttering your kitchen, my recommendations are to purchase a pasta maker and a dough scraper. I recommend this Nuvantee pasta maker because it's a comparatively affordable option with nine thickness levels and an easy-to-use hand crank. For your dough scraper, opt for stainless steel rather than plastic for maximum durability and strength — this two-pack from Ourokhome is excellent and has a helpful measuring scale and conversion chart printed on the side, which I think is a nice touch.

Professionals have an in-depth understanding of what can or can't be done to fresh pasta, which allows them to experiment with it in ways you might not have thought about before. Depending on the recipe alterations, this can enhance the flavor, improve the visual aesthetics, and add textural interest.

One obvious example is the incorporation of pesto or vegetables into the pasta noodles themselves. Pesto will turn the noodles green and impart a strong, earthy flavor with a kick of garlic; topping with basil pesto sauce further enhances these flavors. If carrots are incorporated into the pasta, it'll turn a bright orange color and provide mildly sweet notes to the dish — sweet potatoes will offer similar results, but with a slightly elevated sweetness.

Seasonings are one of the simplest ways to enhance a pasta recipe. Adding salt to pasta enhances the starchy taste but prolongs cooking times, while red pepper flakes create a spicy base that pairs perfectly with a spicy pasta provençal. The addition of garlic creates sharp, tangy noodles, while dried Italian seasoning imparts an earthy taste that perfectly pairs with many Italian recipes.

When eating out, you're not going to taste the pasta by itself. Instead, you'll taste the pasta coated in sauce, the taste of which varies based on the specific dish you're eating. This may sound obvious, but it bears mentioning because it lends itself to one crucial fact – you may think restaurant pasta tastes better because the sauce tastes better. This isn't to say the pasta isn't better on its own, but when it's paired with a homemade, well-seasoned sauce, you get an overall fresher, more full-bodied meal.

Sauces will set the tone of your dish, with strong flavors that easily overpower the basic taste of your pasta. A classic homemade Italian tomato sauce will bring an acidic, earthy profile to your spaghetti noodles. Using a tasty béchamel sauce in lasagna can impart a rich, creamy taste that balances the other ingredients instead of overpowering them. Even a simple chimichurri recipe can be dish-altering — when tossed with fettuccine, it creates a light nutty profile with notes of pungent garlic and a slight savoriness. When any of these sauces are made from scratch by a professional, they lend themselves to an overall tastier pasta dish.

The fresh pasta and homemade sauce aren't only better than the store-bought items you likely use at home, but the cooking techniques used on them are also superior. That perfectly cooked pasta is usually finished in the dish's sauce so it absorbs the flavor — this trick also ensures every noodle is thoroughly coated.

Finishing pasta in the sauce is an easy technique to replicate at home to get closer to that restaurant taste. Start by cooking your pasta in a pot of salty, boiling water like normal, but take it out about one to two minutes before it reaches your desired texture. At the same time, you'll want to have your chosen sauce prepped and ready to go; I like to keep mine on a back burner at a low simmer with the lid on. Ladle some sauce into a sauté pan and carefully add your noodles.

After adding your noodles, you'll want to keep the pan moving with a gentle wrist-flicking, back-and-forth movement. This ensures neither your pasta or sauce burns. How much sauce you add to the pan is up to you, but I recommend one ladle per serving of pasta.

Plain, boring water isn't the way to go when you're cooking pasta. Professionals know that the water needs to be heavily salted if you want the most flavorful dish. This technique was described to me several times using a single phrase you should remember: "Your pasta water should taste like the sea." So, if your water isn't as salty as that mouthful of ocean water you accidentally swallowed at the beach last summer, add some more.

Salt is a flavor enhancer that brings out the tastes of other foods — in this case, the pasta, which doesn't have a strong profile on its own. But, while taste is the most noticeable benefit, it's not the only one. Adding lots of salt can also improve your pasta's structure, helping it to firm up during the cooking process. If you've battled at home with pasta that breaks or turns to mush, one solution is to salt your water — the other solution could be to cut back on the cooking time by one to two minutes.

At home, you might hold back on ingredients that have been deemed "unhealthy" like fats, sugars, and sodium. There's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to be healthier, but the pasta dishes you get in restaurants are going to be chock-full of these ingredients. Why? They lend a lot of flavor to a dish.

Sodium enhances a food's natural flavor, but I recognize that some people need to restrict their salt intake for various reasons. If that applies to you, you might want to skip the restaurant pasta because it's challenging (if not impossible) to remove or restrict the salt. Fats help create richer dishes with a smoother mouthfeel, which is why so many recipes call for butter.

Sugar is something our bodies need in moderation for energy and eating it can actually cause our brain to feel real pleasure — so if you've always wondered why eating sweets when you're upset turns your day around, that's why. And yes, you'll find sugar in lots of pasta dishes. Many chefs add a little sugar to their tomato sauce to help cut the acidity and enhance the natural sweet notes of the tomatoes.

Chefs are trained to cook the pasta less than you would think. In fact, we pull the pasta out of the water just before it reaches al dente, when it's still relatively firm. Every kitchen I've worked in has their own tried-and-true timing to get this just right, and it's one of the first things new hires are taught.

The exact timing can vary slightly from one place to another, based on several factors, like the size of the pot, pasta type, stove type, and the kitchen's overall environment — for example, kitchen temperature and humidity play a role in many dishes. Of course, whether the pasta is made fresh daily, crafted in large batches, or dried also comes into consideration.

It's not uncommon for home cooks to overcook or undercook their pasta, which can cause an unusual or undesirable taste and texture. Overcooked pasta will clump together and lose its distinct shape; the texture will be mushy with a gummy mouthfeel. Undercooked pasta will still be hard and might be rigid (if using dried options); the texture will be almost rubbery and the mouthfeel can be a little chalky. If your pasta comes out in either of these ways, adjust the cooking time by adding or subtracting one minute as appropriate. 

The chef making your food is cooking pasta almost every day, for eight to twelve hours at a time. And, there's a significant possibility they've been doing that for years (or even decades). This is something the home cook just doesn't do because there's no need for it. Like every other skill, the more you cook pasta, the better you become at it, eventually achieving mouth-watering meals every time you make them.

Experience is more than just knowing what to do, though. With countless hours dedicated to honing their skill, pasta chefs learn how to make changes on the fly if need be. Did the last batch of pasta come out a little too well done? Have the noodles lost their freshness? Did the pasta pot suddenly boil over amidst the dinner rush? When something goes wrong, they can easily determine the problem and find a solution so your meal still comes out as delicious as you expect.