Lumache

loo-MAH-keh

Tubes All of Italy

Snail-shell tube, curved and pinched at one end.

Cut end, to scale.
14 mm across, 1.1 mm wall

Name. Snails.

How to cook lumache: 10 to 13 minutes, with a timer

What it is

Lumache are snail-shaped tubes: a ridged curved tube pinched closed at one end so the piece becomes a shell. It is the same shape sold as pipe rigate, and lumaconi is the jumbo grade for stuffing and baking.

The closed end holds sauce like a shell does.

How to cook lumache

10 to 13 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.

Custom, minutes

10:00

Start when the water returns to the boil.

Water and salt

People

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 lumache. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
Bite a piece at 9 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

A cup and a tube in one piece. Cream, cheese, sausage, a chunky vegetable sauce. Lumaconi take a ricotta filling and the oven.

Pairs with: Cream sauce · Sausage ragu · Vegetable ragu · Baked (al forno)

Classic plates: Lumache alla salsiccia, Lumaconi ripieni al forno.

By brand: numbers, cook times, spec sheets

4 brands, 7 product pages. Cook times run from 7 to 14 minutes across brands, so read the box, not a rule. A blank cell is a figure the brand does not state.

Brand	Product	No.	Cook	Length	Width or Ø	Wall	Notes
Rummo	Lumachine	39	7 min	12.5 mm		1.25 mm
Garofalo	Lumachine	56	7 min				Gragnano PGI · 454 g box
Mancini	Lumache Rigate		10 min, al dente 8	25 mm	15 mm		dried 22 h at 36 to 55 °C
La Molisana	Lumachine	53	8 min
La Molisana	Lumache Rigate	54	12 min
La Molisana	Lumache Rigate Biologicheorganic	54	8 min
La Molisana	Lumaconiartisan line	307	14 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.

No lumache? Use these

Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look. Full substitute list.

Pipe rigate

Tubes · All of Italy

The same shape

Conchiglie

Short shapes · All of Italy

Shells

Conchiglioni

Short shapes · All of Italy

For the stuffed jumbo version

Side by side

Easy to confuse with

Pipe rigate

Tubes · All of Italy

curved ridged tube pinched at one end, like a snail shell

Conchiglie

Short shapes · All of Italy

cupped shell with ridges on the outside

Conchiglioni

Short shapes · All of Italy

jumbo shell for stuffing

Other names

Lumachelle, chifferini, ciocchiolette, cirillini, gomitini, gozziti, lumachelle, lumachette, lumachine, lumachoni, lumaconi, pipe, pipe rigate, pipette, tofarelle.

Sources

Lumachine, Rummo (cook time, catalogue number, spec sheet dimensions, from the brand's own product page)
Lumachine, Garofalo (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
Lumache Rigate, Mancini (cook time, spec sheet dimensions, from the brand's own product page)
Lumachine, La Molisana (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
Lumache Rigate, La Molisana (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
Lumache Rigate Biologiche (organic), La Molisana (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
Lumaconi (artisan), La Molisana (cook time, catalogue number, from the brand's own product page)
Cook time: typical dried, brand pages.
Photograph: Lumachoni.jpg, Popo le Chien, CC0.
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.
Lumache, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Q109313007, Wikidata
Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.