Yes, it's a good idea to rinse pasta salad noodles after cooking them. Rinsing the noodles with cold water serves several purposes: 1. Cooling: Rinsing with cold water helps quickly cool down the cooked pasta, which is important for a pasta salad as you want the pasta to be at room temperature or slightly cooler before mixing it with other ingredients. 2. Stopping Cooking: Rinsing also stops the cooking process, preventing the pasta from becoming overcooked and mushy. 3. Removing Starch: Rinsing removes excess starch from the surface of the pasta. This prevents the pasta from clumping together and sticking as it cools. After rinsing, be sure to drain the pasta well before adding it to your pasta salad.