Cavatappi
kah-vah-TAP-pee
Hollow ridged tube wound into a corkscrew.
8 mm across, 1 mm wall
Name. Corkscrew. Barilla's trademark for the same shape is cellentani, after the singer Adriano Celentano.
What it is
Cavatappi is a hollow ridged tube twisted into a double spiral, a corkscrew about three and a half centimetres long. It is a modern industrial shape, and Barilla sells it as cellentani. Spirali, amori, and gemelli-style names get used for it on some shelves.
The spiral, the bore, and the ridges together give it more sauce-holding surface than almost any other short shape, which is why it has become a favourite for macaroni and cheese and pasta salad.
How to cook cavatappi
8 to 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Al dente at 6 minutes, fully cooked at 10.
6:00
Start when the water returns to the boil.
Water and salt
- Pasta, dry
- 400 g
- Water
- 4 L
- Salt
- 40 g
100 g per person as a main. A litre and 10 g of salt per 100 g. Adjust with the portion calculator.
The steps
- Bring 4 L of water to a full boil in a tall pot. Add 40 g of salt when it boils.
- Add the cavatappi. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Bite a piece at 5 minutes. A hairline of white at the centre is al dente.
- Scoop out a cup of the cooking water. Drain, or lift the pasta straight into the pan.
- Toss with the sauce over the heat for a minute. Add cooking water a splash at a time until it clings.
Read more: what al dente means and why the pasta water matters. Times for every shape are on the cook page.
How it holds sauce
Three ways to hold sauce at once, so it takes cheese sauces, cream, pesto, dressings, and a light ragu. It is the upgrade from elbows in mac and cheese and it stays springy when cold.
Pairs with: Mac and cheese · Pasta salad · Cream sauce · Pesto alla genovese · Four cheese · Vodka sauce
Classic plates: Cavatappi mac and cheese, Cavatappi salad, Cavatappi alla vodka.
By brand: numbers, cook times, spec sheets
3 brands, 4 product pages. Cook times run from 8 to 12 minutes across brands, so read the box, not a rule.
| Brand | Product | No. | Cook | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Cecco | Cavatappi no. 87 | 87 | 8 min, al dente 6 | |
| Garofalo | Cavatappi | 92 | 8 min | 454 g box |
| Barilla | Cellentani | 12 min, al dente 11 | ||
| Barilla | Cellentaniprotein | 10 min, al dente 8 |
Nutrition
Per 100 g of dry semolina pasta. The shape does not change these numbers. The dough does, so a whole wheat or egg version of this shape reads differently. See every dough.
| Per 100 g | Energy | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fibre | Fat | Sodium | Iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry | 371 kcal | 13.0 g | 74.7 g | 3.2 g | 1.5 g | 6 mg | 3.3 mg |
| Cooked | 158 kcal | 5.8 g | 30.9 g | 1.8 g | 0.9 g | 1 mg | 1.3 mg |
One portion. 100 g dry becomes about 235 g cooked, 371 kcal and 13 g of protein. Pasta takes on 2.3 times its weight in the pot.
Who makes cavatappi
43 cavatappi products are catalogued, most of them sold in United States, Germany, Vereinigte Staaten Von Amerika. Of those, 1 are whole grain, 4 are organic, 3 are made in Italy.
Brands: New World Pasta (3), DeLallo (2), Harris Teeter (1), Prince (1), Giant (1), Best Choice (1), Creamette (1), Nwpc (1), Ronzoni (1), Meijer (1).
No cavatappi? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Fusilli
Short shapes · Campania
short solid spiral, three blades twisted around a core
Gemelli
Short shapes · All of Italy
one strand folded and twisted on itself, like two strands entwined
Macaroni
Tubes · Campania
short narrow smooth tube, straight or curved into an elbow
Fusilli lunghi
Long strands · Campania
long hollow strand twisted into a loose spiral
Other names
Cellentani, amori, cellentani, curly mac, fusilli rigati, scoobi doo, spirali, tortiglione.
Sources
- Cavatappi no. 87, De Cecco (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
- Cavatappi, Garofalo (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
- Cellentani, Barilla (cook time, from the brand's own product page)
- Cellentani (protein), Barilla (cook time, from the brand's own product page)
- Cook time: De Cecco no. 87: 8 min, al dente 6.
- Photograph: Cavatappi2.jpg, Popo le Chien, CC0.
- Open Food Facts (products, brands, labels), Open Database License, read on 2026-08-25.
- USDA FoodData Central (nutrition per 100 g, by dough: FDC 169736, Pasta, dry, enriched; FDC 169737, Pasta, cooked, enriched, without added salt), public domain. The cooked yield is derived from the two energy figures.
- Cavatappi, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Q2578366, Wikidata
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.