All of Italy · baked · baked
Best pasta for baked (al forno)
Pasta finished in the oven with sauce and cheese, or stuffed and baked. It needs a sturdy shape that survives twice cooking.
- Region
- All of Italy
- Base
- Baked
- Texture
- Baked
- Shapes that hold it
- 22
- Classic plates
- 11
What it asks of a shape
Baked (al forno) is a baked baked sauce. It wants a tube, so the sauce rides inside as well as outside, a wide shape with mass, to stand up to a heavy sauce, a sheet, to layer with the sauce, and a sturdy shape that survives a second cooking in the oven. The ranking below scores every profiled shape on those traits, then the shape's own sauce notes break the ties.
What it is
- Place of origin
- Italy
- Also called
- Timballo di pasta
Pasta al forno, also known as timballo di pasta, is a typical dish of Italian cuisine, made of pasta covered with béchamel sauce, tomato sauce, and cheese, and cooked in the oven.
22 shapes that hold it
Cannelloni
Tubes · Campania
The tube is a container.
Conchiglioni
Short shapes · All of Italy
A container for a filling.
Lasagne
Sheets · Emilia-Romagna
A sheet is a layer.
Manicotti
Tubes · United States
A stuffed tube under the oven.
Mostaccioli
Tubes · United States
As penne lisce: tomato, meat sauce, and the oven.
Ziti
Tubes · Campania
A smooth tube holds sauce inside the bore rather than on the surface, so it wants a sauce with enough body to fill it: a slow ragu, the Neapolitan onion Genovese, a baked tomato and cheese.
Anelli
Pastina · Sicily
Small rings hold a little sauce in the centre.
Candele
Tubes · Campania
Broken into uneven lengths, the wide smooth tube fills with a slow sauce and holds it: the Neapolitan Genovese, a ragu napoletano, a baked dish.
Occhi di lupo
Tubes · Campania
As mezze maniche: sauces with pieces, a ragu, sausage, the oven.
Paccheri
Tubes · Campania
The huge bore traps whole pieces of squid, sausage, or braised meat and the flattened tube carries sauce on both faces.
Pennoni
Tubes · All of Italy
A wide bore and long ridges, so it takes ragu, sausage, cream with mushrooms, and the oven.
Creste di gallo
Short shapes · All of Italy
Tube, ridges, and a ruffle, so it takes cream, cheese, a sausage sauce, and a thick tomato.
Lasagnette
Ribbons · All of Italy
Wide and ruffled, so it wants weight: ragu, mushroom cream, a sausage sauce, or the oven.
Lumache
Tubes · All of Italy
A cup and a tube in one piece.
Mezzi rigatoni
Tubes · All of Italy
As rigatoni, with a shorter tube that fills more easily: sausage ragu, amatriciana, a chunky vegetable sauce, the oven.
Penne lisce
Tubes · Liguria
Without ridges, sauce clings less to the outside, so penne lisce suits smooth sauces that fill the bore: tomato, a light cream, the Sicilian Norma, or a baked dish where the cheese does the holding.
Tortiglioni
Tubes · Campania
Spiral ridges hold sauce the same way straight ones do, so it takes ragu, sausage, tomato with pieces, and baked dishes.
Mezze maniche
Tubes · All of Italy
Short and wide, so each piece fills with sauce: carbonara, gricia, amatriciana, a sausage ragu.
Sedani
Tubes · All of Italy
Ridged and curved, so it grips smooth and medium sauces: tomato, a light ragu, cream with vegetables.
Gnocchi
Hand-formed · All of Italy
Soft, absorbent, and heavy, gnocchi need a sauce that is rich but not chunky: butter and sage, gorgonzola cream, a smooth tomato, pesto, a fine ragu.
Penne
Tubes · Liguria
The bore carries sauce inside and the ridges hold it outside, so penne takes any sauce with body: arrabbiata, vodka sauce, a vegetable ragu, cream with peas and ham, and the oven.
Rigatoni
Tubes · Lazio
The widest bore of the everyday tubes, so pieces of sausage, eggplant, or braised meat ride inside it.
Classic plates with baked (al forno)
Every dish in the shape profiles that names this sauce, with the shape it is made on.
- Anelletti al forno alla palermitanaAnelli
- Conchiglioni al fornoConchiglioni
- Creste di gallo al fornoCreste di gallo
- Lumaconi ripieni al fornoLumache
- Mezzi rigatoni al fornoMezzi rigatoni
- Occhi di lupo al fornoOcchi di lupo
- Paccheri ripieni al fornoPaccheri
- Pasta al fornoPenne lisce
- Pennoni al fornoPennoni
- Rigatoni al fornoRigatoni
- Tortiglioni al fornoTortiglioni
Sources
- The ranking and the sauce notes are our editorial judgement, from the traits in each shape record. See the method.
- Pasta al forno, Wikipedia (summary, ingredients, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata Q3897485.