Pasta is one of the simplest meals to cook. A stove or a microwave are common appliances used to cook this outstanding Italian cuisine. Nonetheless, have you ever thought about how to enjoy this meal when you have no access to a microwave or stove?
Although cooking pasta without these common appliances can be inconvenient, all is not lost. There are a couple of ways to prepare it.
In this article, I will discuss the available alternatives for cooking pasta and how you can apply them. Read on to explore these fantastic ways.
Can You Cook Pasta Without a Stove?
The traditional way of cooking pasta has always been by using a stove. However, technological diversification has invented many other appliances you can use to cook pasta conveniently.
So, yes, you can cook pasta without a stove! Let’s dive in and find other options you can use to cook pasta dishes without sticking to this known traditional method of using a stove.
Ways To Cook Pasta Without Using a Stove or Microwave
It doesn’t mean you’ll have to forgo pasta over other meals if you don’t have a microwave or a stove. Instead, you can consider other methods to prepare it.
Below are some of the alternative appliances for pasta preparation;
- Instant pot
- Regular Oven
- Rice cooker
Instant pot:
If you’re a working mom, you know how annoying it can be to sit and watch your meals boil for more than an hour when you have a plethora of things to fix, right?
You can make pasta in an instant pot, did you know? Perhaps no! I know you’re skeptical about this. But trying new things never hurts.
Add water, dry pasta, and salt to your instant pot. As a rule of thumb, you need 2 cups of water per 8 ounces of fresh pasta.
When done, close and lock the lid, and start it by pressing the “pressure cook on high” button. Ensure you set the valve in the sealing position before starting the pot.
For the timer, set it to half the normal time as indicated in the pasta packaging and less than 2 minutes. If the packaging reads 10 minutes, take half, which is 5 minutes, and less further 2 minutes to remain with 3.
Release all the pressure when the timer stops to avoid overcooking.
Your pasta is ready; you can add pasta with sauce of your choice and enjoy it.
Regular Oven:
Cooking pasta in the oven can be a bit difficult, especially if it’s your first time. Just a little trial and error, and you’ll be good to go.
The most difficult part is predicting the doneness of the pasta. It depends on factors such as the amount of water and the pasta you’re cooking, the kinds of pasta, and the settings of your oven.
You might want to know the right pasta to cook in your oven, right?
Although lasagna is the favorite pasta for an oven, there are no restrictions on which types are oven friendly. All you need is to try any pasta and master the requirements.
The following tips will come in handy if you’re looking for help making the cooking process easy.
Maintain a temperature of not less than 80o C (176o F) throughout the process. Although the hotter your oven, the faster the pasta cooks. But, too-high temperatures make the water in your pasta evaporate quicker than is supposed.
To make it even easier, consider pre-soaking your uncooked pasta in hot water for some minutes before putting it in your oven. Also, you should preheat the oven to 100o C before cooking the pasta.
Another thing to do is cover your pasta tightly using a lid. When cooking pasta in an oven, use a closable pot. This helps prevent water from evaporating and leaving some parts of the pasta firm and sometimes uncooked.
You also must stir your pasta at the start of the cooking process to ensure they are fully submerged in water. You can also stir it in the process. Just remove the content from the oven, open the lid and give it a nice stir before placing it back in the oven.
Timing is also vital with an oven. If the package of your pasta indicates, for example, 15 minutes, you should let it cook for 25 minutes. In other words, add ten more minutes to the time indicated on the packaging material.
Rice Cooker:
So you don’t have access to a microwave or a stove. But from where you’re sitting, you can spot a rice cooker. You’re lucky because this appliance still allows you to have your pasta for dinner!
A rice cooker is a great alternative for cooking pasta.
When cooking rice, you add a certain ratio of water to rice, depending on the rice you’re cooking. The same applies to cooking pasta. You add water to pasta when using a stove is the same amount you use when cooking in a rice cooker.
The only restriction when using this appliance is that you can’t cook as much pasta as you may want in one round because you only have ⅔ of the appliance. More than that, the liquid will overflow and mess you terribly. Therefore, you might need to cook it in bits if you’re making it for more people.
So, to cook the pasta in the rice cooker, add water to ⅔ of the pot and some salt. Bring the water to a boil and add in your pasta, depending on the water in the pot.
Just as you do when using a stove, follow the instructions on the packaging material to avoid overcooking your meal. Although I prefer pasta al dente, you can always cook yours to your best texture. When ready, drain water using a strainer, add all the sauces of your choice, and enjoy your pasta!
There you have it! The appliances above are some options if you want to break the pasta cooking traditions.
