A. We usually just run the pot we boiled the noodles with under cold water before adding the pasta back to it after draining (not rinsing the noodles, just cooling down the pot, itself). Additionally you can save a little of the pasta water that you drained off. Add a little back at a time if it is getting too dry while cooling. You can also place the macaroni on a cookie sheet while cooling. If you are in a time crunch, you can also just run cold water over the pasta to cool it quickly while draining. However, this will rinse off some of the starch and salt on the pasta, and it will lose some flavor.