Fregola
FREH-goh-lah
Irregular toasted semolina pearls, like a coarse couscous.
Name. From the Latin fricare, to rub, for the rolling of wet semolina between the hands. Fregula in Sardinian.
What it is
Fregola is the Sardinian pearl pasta: semolina sprinkled with salted water and rolled in a terracotta bowl until it forms irregular beads, then toasted in the oven so the pearls are nutty and golden. It is related to couscous across the water.
The classic dish is fregola con le arselle, with clams in a saffron tomato broth.
How to cook fregola
8 to 12 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
8:00
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 fregola. 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 7 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
Toasted pearls absorb liquid and stay firm, so they suit brothy dishes: clams and saffron, a seafood stew, a vegetable soup, or a cold salad with tomato and herbs.
Pairs with: Vongole · Frutti di mare · In brodo · Pasta salad · Bottarga
Classic plates: Fregola con le arselle, Fregola ai frutti di mare, Fregola salad, Fregola con bottarga.
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.
No fregola? 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
fregula, fregola sarda, Sardinian couscous, succu.
Sources
- Cook time: typical dried, Sardinian brands.
- 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.
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.