This Ingredient Makes Rachael Ray's Pasta Salad Next Level

TV personality and celebrity chef Rachael Ray makes it a point to keep her cooking tips as relatable as possible. As per CheatSheet, her fans are especially fond of her because she's accessible and easy to identify with. Also, Ray's on-screen charm is fairly charismatic. And most importantly, her cooking hacks are on point. For example, Ray suggests that instead of spending your hard-earned money on too many fancy gadgets, it's smarter to focus on essential kitchen tools. "One of the first rules of my cookbooks was that the recipes shouldn't require more than a knife, a cutting board and a pot," Ray revealed. "Later, I included a food processor."

When it comes to planning her own meals, Ray follows her own advice and keep things simple. For her, overly complex recipes and dishes that take too much time to perfect aren't ideal. It's not surprising, then, that Ray is particularly drawn towards pasta, a dish that her husband loves as well.

According to Kitchn, Rachael Ray's pasta salad recipe is easy to master; all you need to do is follow three steps to get it right. First, Ray basically prepares the pasta, and then she whips up a delicious dressing. After that, Ray mixes everything together and the dish is complete. Easy, huh?

Ray's major tip here is something slightly unusual: she recommends using vegetable stock to prepare the dressing. Other add-ons in her dish include cubanelle peppers, pepperoncini, and red peppers. Spices and flavors in abundance!

Is Ray onto something? Quite possibly. According to Livestrong, you can even use chicken broth or vegetable stock to cook pasta instead of water for extra flavor. One Redditor stands by that practice, too. "One of my favorite recipes involves making a mushroom stock in a slow cooker, making spaghetti in the reduced stock, and then adding a few tablespoons of cream and some chopped green onions," they wrote. They added that the pasta leftovers also taste incredible the next day.