Campania · oil · thin
Best pasta for aglio e olio
Garlic, olive oil, chili, parsley. The thinnest sauce there is. It needs a strand that it can coat, with nothing to hide in.
- Region
- Campania
- Base
- Oil
- Texture
- Thin
- Shapes that hold it
- 12
- Classic plates
- 1
What it asks of a shape
Aglio e olio is a thin oil-based sauce. It wants a long strand, so the sauce coats every turn of the fork, a thin, light shape; a heavy one would drown the sauce, and a smooth surface, because the sauce coats rather than clings. The ranking below scores every profiled shape on those traits, then the shape's own sauce notes break the ties.
What it is
- Main ingredients
- Spaghetti, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, chili flakes
- Place of origin
- Campania
Spaghetti aglio e olio is a pasta dish typical of the city of Naples, Italy. It is popular because it is simple to prepare and makes use of inexpensive, readily available ingredients that have long shelf lives in a pantry.
12 shapes that hold it
Spaghetti
Long strands · Campania
A strand has no cavity and no ridges, so a sauce must coat it.
Spaghettini
Long strands · Campania
Less mass per strand means less sauce per mouthful, so the sauce should be light and fast.
Stringozzi
Ribbons · Umbria
Rough and thick, so it holds an oily truffle paste or a garlic and tomato sauce without help.
Bigoli
Long strands · Veneto
Rough, thick, and heavy, bigoli takes sauces that a smooth spaghetti cannot: onion and anchovy, duck or rabbit ragu, sardines.
Capellini
Long strands · Campania
There is almost no mass to carry sauce, so the sauce must be nearly weightless: butter, lemon, a splash of oil, a raw tomato, a little broth.
Testaroli
Sheets · Tuscany
A porous griddled sheet soaks up sauce.
Vermicelli
Long strands · Campania
Treat Italian vermicelli as a slightly heavy spaghetti: clams, garlic and oil, tomato.
Fedelini
Long strands · Liguria
Light and fast, like spaghettini.
Pici
Long strands · Tuscany
Thick, rough, and chewy, pici needs a sauce with force: garlic and tomato, breadcrumbs fried in oil, a game ragu.
Trenette
Long strands · Liguria
Pesto.
Foglie d'ulivo
Short shapes · Puglia
A flat rough leaf coats well and takes light sauces: pesto, oil and cherry tomatoes, a vegetable sauce, a light seafood dressing.
Linguine
Long strands · Liguria
More surface, still no cavity.
Classic plates with aglio e olio
Every dish in the shape profiles that names this sauce, with the shape it is made on.
- Spaghetti aglio e olioSpaghetti
Sources
- The ranking and the sauce notes are our editorial judgement, from the traits in each shape record. See the method.
- Spaghetti aglio e olio, Wikipedia (summary, ingredients, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata Q1419233.