It’s an average weeknight and you’re trying to get dinner on the table. Spaghetti is relatively quick and easy to make, so you grab your pot and pull the noodles out of the pantry. You put the water on to boil, and decide it would be easier to cook the noodles if you broke them in half first. (You’re using a normal-sized sauce pot after all, not a giant stock pot.) You bend a handful of noodles to snap them in half, but as they break, they send tiny broken noodle bits shooting all over your kitchen.
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I’m guessing that scene feels a bit familiar? It certainly does to me, since I feel like I’ve lived through it dozens of times. But I never knew there was anything I could do about it until very recently! And in case you’re wondering, no, the solution is NOT to simply keep your spaghetti noodles whole. I think there are some good reasons to prefer shorter noodles, like the fact that they fit better in pots and they’re often easier to eat. So how do you break spaghetti in half without creating a mess of tiny noodle bits? The secret is in the twist!
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How Science Solved the Spaghetti Problem
The spaghetti problem was confounding enough to attract the attention of researchers at MIT. They conducted a thorough study on the matter, and concluded that the most effective way to get a clean break was to twist the spaghetti and THEN bend it. According to an article from MIT News, “…they found that by first twisting the spaghetti at almost 360 degrees, then slowly bringing the two [ends] together to bend it, the stick snapped exactly in two.”
How Does It Work in Real Life?
After reading that article about the MIT study, I was curious to see how it would work in “real life.” After all, the MIT researchers were working with individual pieces of spaghetti. But I don’t know of any busy parent who would have the patience to snap each piece of spaghetti individually before cooking them! I thought that if I could achieve similar results using several noodles at once, that this would be a hack worth sharing.
So I grabbed about a dozen spaghetti noodles from the kitchen and gave it a try. I twisted and bent them, just like they did in the study. And to my surprise, it worked pretty well! I still ended up with a couple of broken noodle bits, but that’s far fewer than I would have had if I’d just bent them as usual!
The best part about this hack is that it only takes about a second to do. So even if you were cooking spaghetti for a large crowd, it would still take under a minute to divide the uncooked noodles up into smaller batches and use the twist-and-bend method to break them.
The fact that this hack eliminates the need for me to sweep my whole kitchen after cooking makes it more than worthwhile, in my opinion! :-)
I owe a big “thank you!” to the researchers at MIT for taking the time to solve the spaghetti problem! It may not change the world, but has made my life (and hopefully yours) just a little bit easier!
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My guess is that the folks at MIT needed a little break from the more technical stuff. They can’t be serious ALL the time. I break my spaghetti in the plastic wrapper.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m not Italian so my Spaghetti noodles are broken 3-4 times. I divide my LB. of Spaghetti by about 5 and break them without any problem. Been doing it for years – takes less than 30 seconds – and my family prefers it this way! Far better than cleaning all the spattered clothing from us ‘not so graceful’ spaghetti lovers ;)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use my skillet, not as much water needed, boils faster and have long strands of spaghetti.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Same here.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Someone now sells them in half lengths. I think it’s Mueller’s. Yep! It’s called “Pot-Sized Pasta”. Here’s a link to it https://www.muellerspasta.com/our-products/pot-sized-pasta/
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Or you can just buy the already “split” spaghetti from Barilla! Same amount of product, half the packaging! Win/win:)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Um. Don’t they have more important “problems” to deal with? More importantly to a foodie, you should cook pasta in ample boiling water, not try to shrink your pasta to fit a measly pot. That will only make for pasta that sticks together. And it’s easier to eat when it’s long, as you can’t twist tiny bits round your fork. My Italian father used to cringe inside when my British cousin would cut his up and eat it with a soup spoon, well we all did. Heresy
Please log in or create a free account to comment.That much spaghetti requires 4 quarts of salty boiling water, otherwise is going to be a sticky mush. Try it and you will see and taste the difference and know why Italians cook their spaghetti the way they do. And that goes for all pasta. Oh and BTW, don’t rinse is under cold water. After you drain, sprinkle some olive oil over it then either stir into the sauce or serve your own plate and put on how much sauce you like.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve tried it. Never sticky mush. Just needs a little more stirring.
Sad that MIT would waste time on this. I hope this was part of a more important problem/solution. :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.It wasn’t all of MIT. Just a couple of people sharing something they learned.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just step outside the door and snap. I’m not made of sugar so the weather in Chicago for 15 seconds is not going to bother me.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Haha…….wish I’d thought of that!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.please don’t break the spaghetti!!!!! No Italian from Brooklyn NY would ever do that.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A solution in need of a problem….
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I leave the spaghetti in the box, place it halfway over the counter edge, and press on each end, snapping it in half. Open the box, take out what you need, and store the rest in your container. Works just as well if you put it in a Ziploc bag… you can break a large amount in no time with no condoms.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Me too, only I break mine into thirds. I haven’t tried it with a box, but the plastic covering it comes in is super easy! Lay it on the edge of the counter where I want it broken *push!* done.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Oh please do we actually need MIT researchers to do a study to figure this out? I figured out this method a long time ago in about five minutes one day when I was frustrated about the flying bits. I usually cook my spaghetti whole but when I want or need to snap it for a recipe I’ve been using the twist and snap for a long time! Come on!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My solution for the breaking of spaghetti issue (I’ve been breaking it for years) is to make sure I break it over my sink with my hands just below the top of the sink. That way if there are any small pieces flying they always land in the sink and not all over the counter or my floor! Happy breaking!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Well it may be sacrilegious to pasta purists but I still break my spaghetti, even when I use a big pot. Just way more practical. Pasta is pasta (it is all yummy) — so I seldom use spaghetti but when I do I just pop it into a plastic bag and snap it in half. Then dump contents of bag into the pot. No flying bits, no waste.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.MIT? Really? Running out of other first world problems to study are we?
I saw an article a couple of years ago about cooking spaghetti noodles in a frying pan instead of a whole pot of water and waiting for it to boil….start the noodles in a frying pan of cold water, bring to a boil and cook until desired tenderness. (I prefer al dente) Drain and add your sauce. Takes less than half the time of the old way and you don’t have to break them!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have been doing the same thing, in fact with not just with spaghetti, with all noodles.. Work great, and they don’t stick together.. Win Win
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just break the spaghetti over the pot, cracking them towards to water. If you’re afraid of steam burns, then just snap them over your wastebasket or the sink. I’ll definitely use this twisting technique because it sounds like it’ll reduce those tiny annoying pieces of spaghetti that you can never pick up with your fork, but if you don’t want pieces of spaghetti all over your kitchen floor, then don’t snap them over your kitchen floor.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve also always just pointed the breaking end towards my pot and I only get a couple of strays. And I know of Italians who do break the spaghetti. It’s easier to twirl when it’s not so long. But the fact that a university, especially one as prestigious as MIT studied this truly shows the world has gone mad. What a waste of time and $.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I break it all at once in the sealed package. I bend it in half bending in on the edge of kitchen bench. No mess at all.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have a gadget that helps for measuring how much spaghetti noodles based on the number of people. You just insert the noodles and then break them in half. I’m not sure where my mom got this gadget. It may have been one of her garage sale finds.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I break the spaghetti with an underhand grip. It launches the broken bits that usually fly all over the place into the pan(I still get one or two on the stove but much less), and I feel like I can break a bigger bunch that way.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No Italian that I know of breaks spaghetti. That’s blasphemy. Lol. We will cut it for small children after it’s cooked and mixed with sauce. Can be broken into small pieces and used when making soup. Delicious.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What I do is to drop the spaghetti bunch vertically right in the middle of the pot. They fall in a spiral toward the edges of the pot. They’re still standing at this point, but the ends at the bottom of the pot start to soften and they can then be all pushed down and swirled. No breaking into 2 bunches or splintering into a million pieces.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This tip is lighthearted and made me laugh and delightful comment by Luisa.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I wonder why doing such a mess of a wonderful product! Have you ever asked youself why spaghetti are long? If you break them you lost the best of them! Buy an higher pot instead. Americans…..
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My thought exactly! Jillie, a million Italian ghosts are going to haunt your nights if you keep breaking spaghetti, each of them individually shrieking “Nooooooo! Don’t break spaghetti! Sacrilege! Horror!” ;-)
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