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Hello, my Insiders!
Today’s topic has been a long time coming. So many of you over the years have asked whether it’s possible to cook dried pasta using your steam ovens, and although it’s a question I’ve kind-of answered many times, it’s time to give you a comprehensive response!
As well as my method for simple ‘boiled’ steamed pasta, I have a truly brilliant dinner recipe for you, which makes the very most of both dried pasta and your steam oven. It’s a re-work of a famous Martha Stewart recipe, but where her version was a stovetop affair, we’re going to use a low temperature combi steam with plenty of humidity to get that pasta cooked.
There’s more pasta to be had in From the Archives, and a lovely recommendation for one of my favorite bakers to follow in A Thing I’m Loving.
Happy steam oven cooking, see you in mid February!
Emily
Cooking Dried Pasta in a Steam Oven
Did you know that you can cook pasta in your steam oven using just water, salt and a shallow pan? Think of it as turning your steam oven into a hands-off saucepan.
With this method, there are some big pros and a few potential cons, all of which we’ll explore so you’re armed with exactly the knowledge you need to give it a go.
New to Cook
One-Pan Steam Oven Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic
This one pan steam oven pasta with tomatoes and garlic is the ultimate low-effort, high-reward dinner. Everything cooks together in the oven to create a silky, starchy sauce that coats every strand of pasta — no draining, no fuss, just a simple meal that you can adapt and change as you wish.
From the Archives:
Lots more steam oven pasta here!
There’s one of my very favorite pasta dishes of the past couple of years; this one-pan Bolognese affair. Then two green dishes! Bright green and very pretty steamed kale pasta, and kind-of-ugly but SO easy braised zucchini pasta, which is more than delicious enough to make up for its lack of fanfare in the looks department.
A Thing I'm Loving
Not a ‘thing’ I’m loving today, but a person! Erin Jeanne McDowell is royalty in the baking world, spanning savory bakes to the best pie baking book I know of. I’ve loved her content, and her recipes, for a long time. If you haven’t come across Erin’s beautiful and exceptionally well-tested recipes, and you enjoy baking, I hope you’ll find her as charming as I do! She recently began a Substack newsletter; it’s raw and honest and also full of brilliant baked goods, and I am excited every time it lands in my inbox. As with many Substack-ers there’s a premium paid option, but (as someone who frequently needs to justify spending on food content!) I’m finding plenty of value just in the free version.
Ask Me Anything (AMA)
The AMA format is changing slightly in 2026, but I still want your questions! This is still your best opportunity to ask me anything you like about steam oven cooking.
I’ll continue to answer some AMA questions via email, but my goal is to respond to more of them as articles on the Steam & Bake website – today’s pasta issue is the direct result of AMA emails! This makes the answers easier to search and refer back to if the same questions come up again. Whenever a new article is published in response to an AMA question, I’ll let you know here in our Insiders journals.
If you have a question, big or small, please email it to [email protected]. Be sure to include INSIDERS AMA in the subject line so I can easily collect and review all submissions.