Adding Noodles To Soup? Take Alex Guarnaschelli's Timing Advice To Avoid Slurping Mush

Noodle soups are a staple when it comes to cold weather cooking, but come with a potential downside: mushy noodles. That's because if you simmer the noodles for too long, they'll swell up in size and become as soft as baby food. Celebrity Chef Alex Guarnaschelli once told Mashed, sister site of The Takeout, that it's all about timing. 

She drops the noodles in the pot just before taking the pot off the stove, adjusting the cook time depending on the type of pasta. "I actually dumped a bunch of the elbows into a chicken soup at the end of cooking it. I made the whole soup and then I threw a handful of the elbows into the hot soup on the stove and just cooked it for seven, eight minutes, shut the heat off and let it sit," she said.

But you'll have to make sure you check the pasta's packaging before you proceed. Guarnaschelli simmers the soup with the pasta until it's almost cooked, then she turns the heat off and lets the soup sit until the noodle finish. Another benefit of limiting the simmering time is preventing excess starch from dissolving into the broth, which will thicken it slightly. That's not ideal if you're looking for a lighter soup base, as in the case of chicken noodle soup.

Another approach to noodle soups is to cook the pasta separately before adding it to the broth base. So if you're making a chicken noodle soup base, simply omit any noodles while you build the broth. When you're ready to eat, cook a fresh batch of noodles and add them to your soup. It's an extra step, but it'll keep the noodles at the proper texture and keep your broth pristine at the same time. Make sure to cook the noodles al dente, as they'll continue to absorb liquid from the warm broth even after it's finished cooking.If you expect to end up with leftovers, portion out only as much pasta as you need for each serving, storing the noodles and broth separately. Leaving pasta in broth will inevitably turn it to mush. 

We've all seen how canned pasta turns out in convenience products like Chef Boyardee. Noodles that sit in liquid for long periods lose their texture, but your noodle soups don't have to be doomed to a sloppy, shapeless fate. Follow chef Alex Guarnaschelli's advice of adding the pasta just before serving, or cook a batch up separately as you're finishing the soup. 

Mashed and The Takeout are owned and operated by Static Media.