What to use instead of bucatini
The bore takes in sauce, so bucatini wants a sauce with more body than a strand normally takes: amatriciana, a gricia, a tomato with guanciale, a loose ragu. Thin oil sauces run straight through it.
The closest swap: spaghettoni
The same heft without the bore.
Bucatini is long strands, 250 to 260 mm long, 9 to 12 minutes in the pot. Spaghettoni sits in the long strands family and cooks in 12 to 15 minutes. Match the cook time first. A swap that is right in shape and wrong in time still ends up wrong on the plate.
Every swap for bucatini, ranked
A substitute must behave the same way with the sauce you are making. The ones marked as chosen are hand-picked. The rest score on family, cavity, surface, size, and shared sauces.
- 1
Spaghettoni
Long strands · Campania
The same heft without the bore (chosen)
- 2
Perciatelli
Long strands · Campania
The same shape under its Neapolitan name (chosen)
- 3
Spaghetti
Long strands · Campania
The standard strand, a lighter result (chosen)
- 4
Fusilli lunghi
Long strands · Campania
Same family, also hollow, also smooth, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 5
Capellini
Long strands · Campania
Same family, also smooth, shares 1 sauce, close in size
- 6
Fedelini
Long strands · Liguria
Same family, also smooth, shares 1 sauce, close in size
- 7
Spaghettini
Long strands · Campania
Same family, also smooth, shares 1 sauce, close in size
- 8
Tonnarelli
Long strands · Lazio
Same family, shares 3 sauces, close in size
Match the sauce, not the look
Bucatini is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for amatriciana: Guanciale, tomato, pecorino, chili. A short cooked sauce with pieces in it. Bucatini in Rome, spaghetti in Amatrice.
- Best pasta for gricia: Guanciale, pecorino, pepper. Carbonara without the egg. It wants a rough tube or a wide strand that holds the fat.
- Best pasta for cacio e pepe: Pecorino Romano and black pepper emulsified with starchy pasta water. A creamy film that clings to a rough long strand.
- Best pasta for pomodoro: Tomato, olive oil, garlic or onion, basil. Smooth and light. Almost any shape works; the classic is spaghetti or penne.
- Best pasta for carbonara: Egg yolk, pecorino, guanciale, pepper. A silky coating with crisp pieces of pork. Long strands or a ridged tube, both are Roman.
Side by side
The measured difference between bucatini and each swap.