Types Of Pasta

Who doesn't love pasta. This classic is a crowd's favorite. Pasta may very well be one of the most popular carbohydrates in the culinary world. It can be served on its own with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of herbs, or it can be topped off with a meaty tomato sauce. Fold it into casseroles, put it in soups, or toss into salads for a heartier main dish. With so many different types of pasta shapes and names, you can choose from a variety of noodle types with striking designs, various sizes, and different textures for your menu.

 

Use the following links to explore the types of pasta shapes and colors out there, common terminology, and cooking tips so you can make more informed purchases for your menu!

Types of Pasta

 

 

Angel Hair

Angel hair is a long, thin noodle with a rounded shape. Although it resembles spaghetti – another long, thin pasta – angel hair is much finer.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 2 - 3 minutes
Dry: 3 - 5 minutes
Best for: Tossing with light sauces
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Light tomato, olive oil, light cream, butter, seafood

 

 

Capellini
Capellini is a very thin variety of Italian pasta. Like spaghetti, it is rod-shaped, in the form of long thin strands.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 2 - 3 minutes
Dry: 3 - 5 minutes
Best for: tossing with chunky Pomodoro sauce
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Hearty tomato and meatballs

 

 

Cavatappi

Cavatappi is a Corkscrew-shaped pasta that has ridges scored into the shape to better adhere sauce.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 6 - 8 minutes
Dry: 9 - 11 minutes
Best for: Baked dishes, salads, or tossing with sauce
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Pesto, sundried tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, peas, cream sauces, and hearty Pomodoro

 

 

 

Egg Noodles
Egg noodles are ribbons of egg- and flour-based dough. They are Very hearty, rich in flavor, and deep in color.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 5 minutes
Dry: 6 - 8 minutes
Best for: Adding into thicker stews, soups, sauces, and casseroles
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Thick stews, stroganoff, butter, chicken broth

 

 

Fettuccine
Fettuccine is a flat, thick pasta traditionally made of egg and flour that are about 1/4" wide.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 4 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Alfredo, cream, cheese, meat, seafood

 

Fusilli
Fusilli is made of short and thick strands of pasta twisted into little corkscrew shapes. They are available in both white & Tri-color

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 2 - 4 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce or making a cold pasta salad
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Alfredo, cream, cheese, tomato, fresh or sautéed vegetables, meat

 

 

Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a type of miniature cylindrical pasta dumpling, usually made from wheat, eggs and potatoes. With a lightly dense texture and potato flavor, they are a hearty and unique type of pasta.

Cooking Time
Fresh/Frozen: Place gnocchi in boiling water. Once they are fully cooked, they will float to the surface. Wait 10 - 15 seconds, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon.
Best for: Tossing with sauce.
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Tomato, cream, pesto, cheese, meat

 

 

Lasagna Noodles
Lasagna Noodles are Long, wide flat noodles used to make the layered pasta dish Lasagna. Sometimes the long edge of the noodle is ruffled to give it texture.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: At room temp, build into lasagna
Dry: Cook 6 - 8 minutes, then build into lasagna
Best for: Building lasagnas
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Cream, cheese, meat, and vegetables

 

Linguine
Linguine is a long, flat, narrow strand of pasta that is about 1/8" wide, usually made with durum wheat semolina.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 2 - 3 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce

 

 

Macaroni
Macaroni is an type of pasta that is shaped into narrow C-tubes. It is made with durum wheat & is commonly cut in short lengths.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 4 minutes
Dry: 6 - 8 minutes
Best for: Baked dishes, salads, soups, macaroni and cheese
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Cheese, butter, broth

 

Orzo
Orzo, also known as risoni, although looks like rice is just a form of short-cut noodles.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 4 - 6 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Salads, soups, and cheesy pasta dishes
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Tomatoes, olives, parsley, mushrooms, olive oil, cheese, broth

 

 

Penne Rigate
Penne Rigate is a type of pasta that looks like a small tube that is about 2-4" long. They are available in white & Tri-Color.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 4 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Chunky tomato, meat, cream, vegetables

 

 

Rotini
Rotini is a type of pasta that is Spiral-shaped to retain sauces and ingredients. Rotini is available in both white & tri-color.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 4 - 5 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce, pasta salad
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Tomato, cream, vinaigrette, meat

 

 

Rigatoni
Rigatoni are shaped like Short tubes that are about 1 1/2" long and 3/4" in diameter, with ridges

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 5 - 6 minutes
Dry: 11 - 13 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce, baked dishes
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Chunky meat or vegetable, cream, cheese

 

Shells
This type of pasta is called a shell because it is has a small shell shape with an open cavity that collects sauce, seasoning, and meat.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 4 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Baked dishes, salads, macaroni and cheese
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Tomato, cream, cheese, vinaigrette, meat, vegetable

 

Spaghetti
Spaghetti - an Italian classic. Spaghetti is a type of pasta that has Thin round strands that are about 10" long. It is available in white & wheat.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 2 - 3 minutes
Dry: 9 - 11 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Tomato, Onion, Mushroom, Pesto, Meat, Seafood.

 

Tortellini
Tortellini is a Ring-shaped pasta that are usually stuffed with meat, cheeses, or vegetables.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 5 minutes
Dry: 10 - 11 minutes
Best for: Tossing with sauce, soups, pasta salad
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Alfredo, cream, cheese, garlic, tomato

 

Ziti
Ziti is a type of pasta that look like tubes that are at least 2" long.

Cooking Time:
Fresh: 3 - 4 minutes
Dry: 10 - 12 minutes
Best for: Baked dishes
Ideal sauces and ingredients: Light tomato, olive oil, cream, cheese

 

 

Dry Pasta vs Fresh Pasta

Dry Pasta

Dry pasta is made from semolina or "00" flour and water. These ingredients are mixed into a paste, pushed through molds, and cut into different types of pasta shapes. The noodles are then put through a drying process that extracts all the moisture. Since dry noodles do not contain moisture, there are a few benefits to buying them:

Benefits of Dry Pasta:

• Longer shelf life than fresh noodles (can last up to two years if the packaging is unopened)
• Can also be cooked al dente, whereas fresh pasta has a softer texture once it's been cooked
• Best for soups, casseroles, and dishes with heartier sauces

 

Fresh Pasta
Fresh pasta is typically made from white flour, and eggs are substituted in place of water to provide extra moisture. These noodles are made with a pasta machine or cutter. The shaped noodles are then left out to partially dry. Once you're ready, add your fresh pasta to boiling water and cook just like dry pasta, but for less time.

Benefits of Fresh Pasta

• Has a fresher, more authentic, and flavorful taste
• Faster cooking time
• Best served with delicate sauces, olive oil, or creamy alfredo

Pasta Color Comparison

Now that you understand the difference between the various pasta types, you're faced with another decision: the Color! Like bread, you can also choose between white and whole wheat pasta. Tri-color pasta is also a readily available noodle type. When making your own, try adding spinach, squid ink, pumpkin or butternut squash puree, and even beetroot powder or puree to your pasta dough for an even trendier & tastier dish.

 

White Pasta

• Made from 100% durum wheat semolina
• Neutral, appetizing color that contrasts well with all types of sauces

 

Wheat Pasta

• Made from whole wheat flour for higher protein content
• Higher nutritional content than white pasta, making it appealing to health-conscious customers

 

Tri-Color Pasta

• Offers a mix of white, green, and red noodles for an enhanced visual appeal that’s ideal for pasta salads and kids' meals
• Includes spinach and tomato infused noodles for slight diversity in flavor

 

Glossary of Pasta Terms

If you've ever looked at a recipe or Italian menu, you may have been confused by some of the vocabulary used to describe pasta. It's important to understand some basic terms that you'll find when you look at a Italian recipe so you won't get your dish wrong.

Here are some basic terms you'll run into.

• Al dente: Meaning "to the tooth" in Italian, this term refers to fully cooked pasta that is still a bit firm, which gives it an appealing texture.
• Al forno: A pasta, pizza, or other Italian dish that is baked in the oven.
• Alfredo: A white sauce made with cream, butter, parmesan cheese, and black pepper.
• Asiago: Asiago is a popular hard Italian cheese that's used for grating. Add it to sauces or use it as a garnish.
• Bolognese: Bolognese is a ragu pasta sauce native to the Bologna region of Italy. Traditionally, it contains finely chopped meats, onions, celery, carrots, and tomato paste.
• Carbonara: Carbonara is a pasta dish that is made from eggs, a hard, grated cheese such as Pecorino or Parmesan, and a cured meat, traditionally guanciale.
• Durum: Durum is a hard wheat that's high in protein and gluten. It also has a low moisture content and a long shelf life.
• Fra diavolo: A spicy, tomato-based pasta sauce with crushed red pepper flakes.
• Ini and Oni: If you're trying to choose between fusillini, fusilli, and fusillioni, the pasta names that end with the suffix -ini will be the smaller versions, and the pasta names that end with the suffix -oni will be the larger versions.
• Pomodoro: Pomodoro is simply a meatless tomato sauce.
• Primavera: meaning "spring" in Italian, Primavera is consisted of al dente pasta tossed with an equal amount of sautéed spring vegetables and drizzled with a light olive oil.
• Rigate: The term rigate means "with ridges." These noodles have greater texture, so they'll cling to sauces, seasonings, meats, and vegetables when lifted from the plate.
• Semolina: Semolina flour is the course flour used to make dry pasta. Made from durum wheat, its high gluten and protein content provides great resistance and elasticity, thus giving dry pasta the ability to hold its shape when cooking.
• Soffritto: This cooking term means "under-fried." Typically, vegetables are lightly fried in oil before they're added to the sauce for further cooking.

Pasta Cooking Tips

When creating a pasta-based dish, it's important to prepare all other ingredients in the recipe, including sauce, vegetables, seafood, and meats, first. Since pasta is best served as soon as it's cooked, you can simply add the finished noodles to your already-prepared dish. When cooking your pasta, keep these tips in mind:

• Use 128 oz of water to every 1 lb of pasta.
• Boil water and cook pasta in a pasta cooker to eliminate the use of a colander.
• Add 1 tbsp of sea salt per 1 lb of pasta to boiling water to add flavor to noodles.
• Add 1 tbsp of olive oil per 1 lb of pasta to boiling water to prevent noodles from clumping together once drained.
• While cooking, frequently stir pasta with a wooden spoon to prevent clumping.
• If you want al dente pasta, set your timer for one minute less than the minimum cooking time specified on the package.
• Immediately after the timer goes off, fish a few noodles out of the pot using a pasta server or slotted spoon to see if they're cooked al dente or soft enough for your preference. If done, drain immediately.
• Rinse cooked, drained pasta in ice water to prevent it from cooking further.
• Wondering how much pasta per person? Try using 2 oz of dried pasta per person for a small course, and 4 oz of dried pasta per person for a main course.