What to use instead of cavatelli
A dense chewy shell with a hollow, so it carries a ragu, broccoli or greens with garlic, a sausage sauce, and beans. The rough face holds oil and cheese.
The closest swap: orecchiette
The other Puglian hand shape.
Cavatelli is hand-formed, 20 to 30 mm long, 8 to 12 minutes in the pot. Orecchiette sits in the hand-formed family and cooks in 9 to 12 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 cavatelli, 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
Orecchiette
Hand-formed · Puglia
The other Puglian hand shape (chosen)
- 2
Malloreddus
Hand-formed · Sardinia
The ridged Sardinian version (chosen)
- 3
Gnocchetti sardi
Short shapes · Sardinia
The dried ridged shell (chosen)
- 4
Capunti
Hand-formed · Puglia
Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 5
Pizzarelle
Hand-formed · Lazio
Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 6
Sagne 'ncannulate
Hand-formed · Puglia
Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 7
Lorighittas
Hand-formed · Sardinia
Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 3 sauces
- 8
Strascinati
Hand-formed · Basilicata
Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 3 sauces
Match the sauce, not the look
Cavatelli is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for broccoli and anchovy: Broccoli or cauliflower cooked down with anchovy, garlic, raisins, and pine nuts. Short shapes and small tubes.
- Best pasta for sausage ragu: Crumbled sausage, often with fennel, cooked in tomato or white wine. Orecchiette in Puglia, rigatoni everywhere else.
- Best pasta for meat ragu: Any slow meat sauce with solids in it. It wants a shape with a cavity: a wide tube, a cup, or a broad ribbon.
- Best pasta for cime di rapa: Turnip greens with garlic, anchovy, and chili. The Puglian classic. Orecchiette, whose cups hold the greens.
- Best pasta for pomodoro: Tomato, olive oil, garlic or onion, basil. Smooth and light. Almost any shape works; the classic is spaghetti or penne.
Side by side
The measured difference between cavatelli and each swap.