Pasta Database

All of Italy · seafood · medium

Best pasta for tuna and tomato

Canned tuna, tomato, garlic, capers. A pantry sauce. Short shapes and small tubes.

Region
All of Italy
Base
Seafood
Texture
Medium
Shapes that hold it
5
Tuna and tomato, served on pasta

What it asks of a shape

Tuna and tomato is a medium seafood-based sauce. It wants a short shape, speared with the pieces on the same fork, and a tube, so the sauce rides inside as well as outside. 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
canned tuna in oil, canned tomatoes, garlic, capers, chilli, olive oil, parsley

Tuna and tomato is a quick sauce made from pantry goods. Garlic, or a little onion, softens in olive oil with chilli. Canned tomatoes or tomato pulp go in and reduce for 10 to 15 minutes. Capers add a salty note. Drained canned tuna joins at the end, broken up with a fork, so it stays moist. Some cooks deglaze with white wine first. Chopped parsley finishes the dish.

No source names a single region for the dish. Italian recipe sites present it as a national standby for a night when the fridge is empty. Every household keeps its own version: with or without tomato, with or without olives. The sauce suits short pasta such as tortiglioni or penne, and long shapes such as spaghetti or bavette. Paccheri can be stuffed with it and stood upright on the plate.

5 shapes that hold it

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.

Farfalle, uncooked, on linen

Farfalle

Short shapes · Lombardy

The wings are flat and the pinch is dense, so farfalle does best with sauces that coat rather than fill: cream with peas and salmon, a light tomato, pesto, a cold dressing.

Conchiglie, uncooked, on linen

Conchiglie

Short shapes · All of Italy

A cup fills with whatever is in the pan: cheese sauce, cream with peas, a sausage crumble, a chunky tomato.

Fusilli, uncooked, on linen

Fusilli

Short shapes · Campania

The spiral grooves trap sauce along their whole length, so fusilli takes chunky and creamy sauces that a smooth shape sheds: pesto, a vegetable ragu, tomato with ricotta, a cold dressing.

Penne, uncooked, on linen

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.

Sources