Aglio e olio: garlic, oil and the water the pasta cooked in
One of the cheapest pasta dishes there is, and the one that most quickly reveals whether someone can cook. There are five ingredients, and the sauce is made from nothing: oil and starchy pasta water emulsify in the pan into a smooth, glossy liquid that clings to every strand. Without that emulsion you have pasta swimming in oil. The second condition is garlic golden, never brown — in a dish with five ingredients you taste burnt garlic immediately.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Pasta 10 min
- Garlic 6 min
- Emulsifying 4 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSalt the water like the sea
Bring 4 litres of water to the boil and add two tablespoons of salt. It looks like a lot, but the pasta absorbs only some of it, and this is the only moment you can season it from within. Add the spaghetti and cook one minute less than the packet says.
Ingredients: 400 g spaghetti · 4000 ml water · 2 tbsp salt
TipDon't add oil to the water. It does not stop sticking and it coats the pasta in a film of fat that later stops the sauce clinging.
Slice the garlic thinly
Slice the garlic lengthwise, so thin it is almost translucent. Don't crush it: crushed garlic releases more juice, burns within seconds and dissolves into the oil instead of staying as a recognisable piece.
Ingredients: 8 cloves garlic · 100 ml olive oil · 1 tsp chilli flakes · 1 bunch parsley · ½ tsp salt
Almost translucent slices, never a pressFry the garlic gently
Heat the oil in a wide pan over low heat and add the garlic with the chilli. Cook 4–5 minutes, moving the pan, until the slices are pale gold at the edges. Take it off the heat the instant that happens — it keeps cooking in the hot oil.
TipGarlic goes from golden to brown very quickly, and brown is already bitter. Better to pull the pan ten seconds early than ten seconds late.
Pale gold edges, then straight off the heatSave the pasta water
Before draining, reserve two cups of the water. That cloudy, starchy water is an ingredient here, not waste: the dissolved starch acts as an emulsifier binding oil and water into one sauce.
Two cups of cloudy water before drainingEmulsify in the pan
Tip the drained pasta into the pan, add a cup of the pasta water and set it over medium heat. Stir and shake the pan hard for 90 seconds. The oil and water come together into a creamy, glossy sauce that coats the pasta. Add more water if it dries out.
Ingredients: 400 g spaghetti · 4000 ml water · 2 tbsp salt
TipThis is the moment the dish is won or lost. If you can see oil and water sitting separately in the pan, keep stirring, harder — an emulsion needs movement.
Ninety seconds of vigorous tossingStir in the parsley and serve
Off the heat, add a whole bunch of chopped parsley and toss. Season with salt. Serve immediately, with parmesan or toasted breadcrumbs if you like. Aglio e olio does not wait: after five minutes the sauce soaks into the pasta.
Ingredients: 60 g parmesan · 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
A whole bunch of parsley, straight to the table
Before you start
Breadcrumbs instead of cheese
In the poor south of Italy, parmesan was replaced by breadcrumbs toasted in olive oil. They give crunch and a savoury edge, cost almost nothing, and suit this dish better than many cheeses.
With anchovies
Two anchovy fillets dropped into the oil with the garlic dissolve completely and add a depth nobody identifies as fish. It is a popular way of reinforcing this sauce.
How much pasta per person
100 g dry per portion as a main course, 70 g as a first course. Aglio e olio is light, so the upper figure is safe.
Why a wide pan
The pasta must fit in one layer so it can be tossed. In a tall pot the emulsion is harder to achieve, because the pasta cannot be tossed properly and the sauce easily stays split.
