Does Salting Water Actually Make It Boil Faster?

"If you don't salt your water, your pasta won't boil quickly." You've probably heard this little nugget of conventional kitchen wisdom before. Since it was probably passed down from your grandma to your mom and originating from some mysterious unknown source, you may have wondered just how true it is. If you're like me, you probably want to believe it, if only because you hate waiting for water to boil and occasionally wonder if you can just chuck in your pasta before waiting that long. Unfortunately, I have some tragic news for everyone living under the placebo effect: salting your pasta water doesn't make it boil faster. But you should still do it, because salting pasta water does have a purpose.

What's that purpose, exactly? Well, my friend, if you care about flavor, then this is an unskippable step. Salt isn't a crucial kitchen staple for nothing, after all. Salting your pasta water is an important first step for taste, enhancing the final flavor of the dish and seasoning each noodle from the inside out. This technique is used by pasta masters around the world to get a balanced and delicious bite, so don't skip this step. It really makes a difference, and seasoned pasta water can be added as a thickener to take your sauces to the next level, too.

If you can't add salt to make your pasta water boil faster, are you just up the creek without a paddle? Nope! There are other ways to get that water boiling faster. Temperature itself (perhaps surprisingly) doesn't matter; cold and hot water boil at equal rates. Instead, focus on boiling less water at a time or using a bigger pan. Less water takes less time to heat through, and when you use a big pan, more water stays in contact with the flat and hot bottom so it heats through faster.

Always grab a lid, too. When you boil water without a lid, you're playing a losing game. Heat escapes through the top as quickly as it's introduced from the bottom, so you're basically fighting against yourself to heat that pot up. Last but not least, if you have an electric kettle and you're really pressed for time, then it's not cheating to grab it and boil your water there first. Then all you have to do is dump your boiled water into a hot pan to keep the heat going. Blink and you'll be done! ...Well, maybe not that quickly, but you will have fully boiling water much faster than before.