Malloreddus
mal-loh-RED-doos
Small ridged shell, rolled over a basket or a ridged board, often saffron-yellow.
Name. Sardinian for little bulls or fat calves. Gnocchetti sardi is the mainland name.
What it is
Malloreddus are the small ridged shells of Sardinia, a piece of semolina dough rolled over a woven basket or a ridged paddle so it curls with lines on the outside. The dough is often tinted with saffron. Gnocchetti sardi is the dried commercial name.
The dish is malloreddus alla campidanese, with a sausage and saffron tomato sauce and grated pecorino.
How to cook malloreddus
10 to 13 minutes in boiling salted water. Take the shorter time for al dente, the longer time for fully cooked.
10:00
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 malloreddus. 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 ridged chewy shell, so it holds a sausage and tomato sauce, a meat ragu, or a pecorino dressing. The ridges hold the cheese.
Pairs with: Sausage ragu · Meat ragu · Pomodoro · Ricotta
Classic plates: Malloreddus alla campidanese, Malloreddus al sugo di salsiccia, Malloreddus con pecorino.
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 malloreddus? 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
Gnocchetti sardi, caidos, gnocchetti sardi, macarones cravaos, maccarones cravaos, maccaronis de orgiu, malloreddus sardi.
Sources
- Cook time: typical dried; fresh 6 to 8 min.
- Photograph: Malloredus2.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.
- Malloreddus, Wikipedia (names, origin), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Q3282218, Wikidata
- Dimensions: brand spec sheets and measured boxes. Blank fields are unmeasured, never guessed.