What Pasta Goes With What Sauce?

Answer 1

Pasta comes in a bewildering number of shapes, sizes, textures and colors. How is a cook supposed to know what pasta shape goes with tonight's sauce? Can you mix and match anything? Is the whole topic just a big marketing ploy?

Well, it turns out that pasta shapes do make a difference, and you shouldn't pair just any pasta variety with every sauce out there. There's a science to it, and even if you aren't an Italian cooking expert, you can become a great guesser when it comes to picking the perfect pasta for your favorite pesto or marinara.

How to Choose the Right Pasta for the Sauce

A pasta entre or side dish is a visual as well as a gastronomic delight. That's one of the reasons pasta comes in different shapes. Whimsical bow tie pasta (farfalle) looks very different from robust linguine on a platter, and there are dozens of pasta shapes that are suitable for any type of sauce you might want to try. Although we'll get to the guidelines in a second, your choice should be based on the appearance as well as the function of the noodles. Not to get too artsy here, but the noodles should look good and make an attractive visual contribution to the rest of the meal.

Picking the Right Pasta

The most important rule for pasta is that it should hold the sauce well without being overpowered by goo. Slender noodles, like the ones listed below, work best with thin sauces like pesto or with tomato based sauces that don't have chunky ingredients.

• Angel hair
• Spaghetti
• Spaghettini
• Fedelini
• Capelli d'angelo
• Fucatini
• Vermicelli

For more robust sauces, extruded and cut shapes, wide noodles and large specialty shaped pastas work well. Here are some favorites:

• Gemelli
• Linguine
• Mostaccioli
• Penne
• Tagliatelle
• Ziti

For very thick sauces, cheesy sauces or sauces that contain chunky tomato pieces, meat or other vegetables, pasta shapes that have depressions or large holes to trap ingredients are the most effective choices. They make gooey and chunky sauces easier and more satisfying to eat because they capture more sauce per forkful and provide a nice ratio of pasta to sauce. These are some common examples, but there are hundreds:

• Farfalle (bow tie)
• Fettuccine
• Rigatoni
• Rotelle
• Shells
• Tortiglioni

Don't make the mistake of sticking with the same old pasta shape season after season. If you haven't checked out the pasta aisle of your local market lately, you may be surprised by the variety. Try a nice orecchiette pasta the next time you make your signature mac and cheese. It's shaped like a small ear, with a little depression that's perfect for holding onto your rich homemade sauce. Gemelli will make a nice change too. It's a long, compact spiral that's a little chewy but very satisfying with your thickest and richest marinara. With so many varieties to choose from, it'll make you want to stock up on carbs again.

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Answer 2

Almost any sauce you can think of can go with italian food.