Macaroni is one of the most popular pasta shapes and is versatile – use it in macaroni and cheese, pasta salads, and even soup! But if you’re looking for other pasta to try (it’s okay if you’re getting bored with macaroni – it happens!), you might consider these five pasta shapes:
- Farfalle (bowtie)
- Conchiglie (shells)
- Ditalini
- Orecchiette
- Rotelle (wagon wheel)
Read on to learn more about these pasta shapes!
What is macaroni?
Macaroni is a dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes. It’s cut in small lengths and is usually made with durum wheat. When it’s curved it’s often referred to as elbow macaroni (even though gomiti pasta translates to ‘elbow’ in Italian but looks more like a snail shell!).
Macaroni is most commonly used in dishes like macaroni and cheese, pasta salads, and soups.
5 pasta shapes to try other than macaroni
Farfalle (bowtie)
Also known as “bowtie pasta” because of its resemblance to a bowtie, farfalle is a versatile pasta shape (like macaroni) that can be used in hot dishes or cold pasta salad. It means “butterfly” in Italian, and its fun shape is also kid-approved!
You can use farfalle with a variety of sauces, from cream-based to tomato-based.
Conchiglie (shells)
Shell pasta is a fantastic alternative to macaroni, especially for holding thick sauces like cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese.
Lumache pasta has a similar shape as conchiglie, so the two are sometimes interchanged – though lumache pasta has less of a shell shape than conchiglie.
Ditalini
Ditalini are shaped like small tubes and are usually used in soups and pasta salads. They aren’t curved so won’t catch and hold sauces as well as macaroni, but they are great choices for other uses (like white bean soup and pasta salad, as mentioned earlier).
Orecchiette
Orecchiette means “little ears”, and is a type of “strascinati” pasta, which means it’s pulled over grooved boards to give it its textured shape (strascinati means “drag” in Italian).
If you’ve never heard of orecchiette before, you might try it in its signature dish – served with olive oil, garlic, cheese, and sauteed broccoli rabe!
Rotelle (wagon wheel)
This fun shape is kid-approved (like macaroni) and is also versatile. It’s especially fun for making pasta salads, especially if you get multi-colored ones that are colored with vegetable powder.
Speaking of “veggie pasta” – it’s usually not made from vegetables, but is regular pasta with the addition of vegetable powders to color it – usually green, red, orange, etc., but you can also make spiralized veggie pasta from vegetables like zucchini.
FAQs:
Cavatappi pasta closely resembles elbow macaroni (curved macaroni), but it’s a bit more corkscrew-shaped. Like macaroni, cavatappi pasta is great for capturing sauces thanks to its curves and hollow tube shape!
The different types of pasta usually only differ in their shape, so it’s usually fine to substitute another pasta shape in recipes. You’ll want to consider the recipe – for instance, if you want the pasta to hold sauce, you’ll want a ridged, tubular shape versus a flatter shape that won’t capture sauces as well.
Almost any type of short pasta will work in macaroni and cheese! Long pasta (like spaghetti) isn’t ideal since it can’t hold on to the delicious cheese sauce as well, which is why short pasta is ideal.
Penne pasta is a short, tubular pasta shape that is a suitable alternative to macaroni.
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