What can be done to keep pasta from sticking together after it is cooked?

It sounds like you are overcooking the pasta....a lot.

So first, do not overcook the pasta. That will reduce the excess starch.

However, you do need "most" of the starch (just no so much as you seem to have) as the starch makes the sauce adhere to it.

So, NEVER rinse your pasta with water....you will loose the starch, which you need, your sauce will not adhere to it, and swarms of Italian spirits from past generations will nag at you all night for doing it.

Next, dress it immediately with sauce so it will not stick as it cools. If that's not possible, add some olive oil to the pasta and toss lightly. That will keep the pasta loose.

Good luck!

Delia Smith from the BBC will tell you that the secret to cooking pasta without the sticking problem is to cook (meat with a little animal fat) with the pasta.

She would also tell you to buy the "roughest" pasta available and to avoid the "refined" variety, and would add that if you preferred fish with the past to add a little olive oil with the water while cooking...

Use Olive oil over the pasta and toss, should help with the sticking, Also when you cook the pasta use olive oil in the water.

Put some cooking oil in the water before boiling it and placing the pasta. After cooking the pasta, wash it with tap water then strain.

Rinse it with hot water, put it back in the pot and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil, butter or margarine. Toss it around a bit, and the fat will lubricate the pasta and keep it from clumping together.

Pour a little olive oil over and stir in, also add a little of the water pasta cooked in

There are 2 remedies. First it sounds like you are overcooking it slightly, That will cause a lot of the starch to come out. Next, you need to rinse the starch off as soon as it finishes cooking. I do this with hot water, to keep from cooling it off. Just run it under the faucet until all is rinsed.

Rinse your pasta with cool water.

I put my pasta in with my sauce as soon as it is cooked so I don't rinse. This is so the sauce sticks to each and every noodle!

Rinsing also makes it easier to store any leftover pasta.

Add some olive oil to the water when you're boiling it. If your pasta is still too sticky add olive oil after draining and toss!

Right after you drain it put just a little sauce or even butter, evenly coated in with it. Not enough that it will change the taste or anything really, just to stop it from sticking.