Maccheroncelli
Hollow tube-shaped pasta that is slightly smaller than a pencil in thickness.
5.7 mm across, 1.5 mm wall
Name. A diminutive of maccheroni: small maccheroni.
What it is
Maccheroncelli are short hollow tubes of dried semolina pasta. The tube is a little thinner than a pencil. Factories extrude the dough through a die and cut it to length. Rummo sells a ridged version, Maccheroncelli Rigati, as its shape number 7. That product is 37 mm long with a diameter of 5.72 mm. It cooks in 11 minutes.
No source names a single region for the shape. The name is a diminutive of maccheroni, the old southern Italian word for tube pasta. The small tube holds sauce inside and out. Rummo says it suits many sauces and casseroles. It also suggests the tubes cold, with sautéed vegetables.
How to cook maccheroncelli
11 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
11:00
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 maccheroncelli. Stir for the first minute so nothing sticks. Start the timer when the water returns to the boil.
- Bite a piece at 10 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.
What it is served with
Pairs with: Pomodoro · Meat ragu · Baked (al forno) · Pasta salad
By brand: numbers, cook times, spec sheets
1 brand, 2 product pages. Cook times run from 7 to 11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rummo | Maccheroncelli® Rigati | 7 | 11 min | 37 mm | 5.72 mm | 1.35 to 1.58 mm |
| Rummo | Maccheroncelli® Alle Lenticchielegume | 7 | 7 min | 45 mm | 6.45 mm | 1.05 to 1.35 mm |
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 maccheroncelli? Use these
Ranked by how they behave with sauce, not how they look.
Sources
- Maccheroncelli® Rigati, Rummo (cook time, catalogue number, spec sheet dimensions, from the brand's own product page)
- Maccheroncelli® Alle Lenticchie (legume), Rummo (cook time, catalogue number, spec sheet dimensions, from the brand's own product page)
- Rummo: Maccheroncelli Rigati (profile: origin, form, use)
- Wikipedia: List of pasta (profile: origin, form, use)
- Cook time: Rummo Maccheroncelli® Rigati: 11 min.
- Dimensions: the Rummo spec sheet, Maccheroncelli® Rigati. No box of ours has been measured yet.
- 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.
- Maccheroncelli, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.