Farfalline
far-fal-LEE-neh
Tiny bow ties for soup.
Name. Little butterflies.
What it is
Farfalline are farfalle shrunk to soup size, a centimetre across. They go into minestrone and clear broths, and are a favourite for children because of the shape.
Some brands also sell fiocchetti, little bows, which are the same idea.
How to cook farfalline
6 to 9 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
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 farfalline. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Or cook it in the broth it will be served in, and do not drain it.
- 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
Soup, or a simple tomato for a child. The pinch stays firm.
Pairs with: Minestrone · In brodo · Pomodoro
Classic plates: Farfalline in brodo, Minestrone con farfalline.
By brand: numbers, cook times, spec sheets
4 brands, 4 product pages. Cook times run from 5 to 9 minutes across brands, so read the box, not a rule.
| Brand | Product | No. | Cook | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Cecco | Farfalline no. 95 | 95 | 6 min | |
| Garofalo | Farfalline | 23 | 9 min | 454 g box |
| Barilla | Mini Farfalle | 8 min, al dente 7 | ||
| La Molisana | Farfalline N.208 All'Uovoextra di lusso | 208 | 5 min |
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 farfalline
3 farfalline products are catalogued, most of them sold in United States.
Brands: De Cecco (1), F Lli de Cecco di Filippo Fara S Martino S P A (1), F Lli de Cecco di Filippo Fara San Martino Spa (1), Garofalo (1), Torino (1).
No farfalline? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.
Side by side
Easy to confuse with
Other names
fiocchetti, fiocchi, mini farfalle, tripolini.
Sources
- Farfalline no. 95, De Cecco (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
- Farfalline, Garofalo (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
- Mini Farfalle, Barilla (cook time, from the brand's own product page)
- Farfalline N.208 All'Uovo (extra di lusso), La Molisana (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
- Cook time: De Cecco no. 95: 8 min.
- Photograph: Farfalloni.jpg, Elcochan (talk) (Uploads), 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.
- Farfalline, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.