Pasta Database

All of Italy · broth · soup

Best pasta for minestrone

A thick vegetable soup with beans and a small pasta added at the end. Ditalini, conchigliette, or anellini.

Region
All of Italy
Base
Broth
Texture
Soup
Shapes that hold it
16
Classic plates
2
Minestrone, served on pasta

What it asks of a shape

Minestrone is a soup broth-based sauce. It wants a small shape that sits on a spoon, and pastina, the smallest cuts, for a bowl of broth. 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
Minestrone di verdure
Type
Vegetable soup

Minestrone or minestrone di verdure is a thick vegetable soup of Italian origin. It typically includes onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, courgettes, often legumes, such as beans, chickpeas or fava beans, and sometimes pasta or rice, and is characterized by the mixture of different vegetables and not very fine pieces. Minestrone is traditionally made without meat, but it has no precise recipe and can be made with many different ingredients.

16 shapes that hold it

Farfalline, uncooked, on linen

Farfalline

Pastina · All of Italy

Soup, or a simple tomato for a child.

Acini di pepe, uncooked, on linen

Acini di pepe

Pastina · All of Italy

Cooked in the broth it is served in.

Alphabet pasta, uncooked, on linen

Alphabet pasta

Pastina · All of Italy

Broth and soup.

Anelli, uncooked, on linen

Anelli

Pastina · Sicily

Small rings hold a little sauce in the centre.

Orzo, uncooked, on linen

Orzo

Pastina · All of Italy

Small grains cook in broth or absorb a light dressing.

Pastina, uncooked, on linen

Pastina

Pastina · All of Italy

Broth, butter, and parmesan.

Semi di melone, uncooked, on linen

Semi di melone

Pastina · All of Italy

Broth and soup only.

Stelline, uncooked, on linen

Stelline

Pastina · All of Italy

Broth.

Tubetti, uncooked, on linen

Tubetti

Tubes · Campania

As ditali: soups, bean and potato stews, a thick tomato.

Chifferi, uncooked, on linen

Chifferi

Tubes · All of Italy

Curved and ridged, it holds a cheese sauce or a dressing in the bend and on the grooves.

Ditali, uncooked, on linen

Ditali

Tubes · Campania

Short and open at both ends, so they fill with soup and hold beans and vegetables.

Ditalini, uncooked, on linen

Ditalini

Pastina · Campania

A tiny tube cooks in the liquid it is served in and holds a bean or a pea in its bore.

Macaroni, uncooked, on linen

Macaroni

Tubes · Campania

A small smooth tube with a curve, so it holds a cheese sauce inside and a dressing in the bend.

Quadrucci, uncooked, on linen

Quadrucci

Pastina · Lazio

Soup.

Rotelle, uncooked, on linen

Rotelle

Short shapes · All of Italy

The spokes catch small pieces and a light sauce.

Pennette, uncooked, on linen

Pennette

Tubes · All of Italy

Small tubes take smooth and light sauces: tomato, a simple cream, pesto, an oil dressing for a cold salad.

Classic plates with minestrone

Every dish in the shape profiles that names this sauce, with the shape it is made on.

Every classic plate, by shape and sauce

Sources

  • The ranking and the sauce notes are our editorial judgement, from the traits in each shape record. See the method.
  • Minestrone, Wikipedia (summary, ingredients, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata Q581462.