What to use instead of chifferi
Curved and ridged, it holds a cheese sauce or a dressing in the bend and on the grooves. Soups, cold salads, and simple tomato or cream sauces.
The closest swap: macaroni
The smooth elbow.
Chifferi is tubes, 15 to 25 mm long, 8 to 10 minutes in the pot. Macaroni sits in the tubes family and cooks in 7 to 10 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 chifferi, 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
Macaroni
Tubes · Campania
The smooth elbow (chosen)
- 2
Ditali
Tubes · Campania
A straight short tube (chosen)
- 3
Pipe rigate
Tubes · All of Italy
A wider curved ridged tube (chosen)
- 4
Cavatappi
Tubes · All of Italy
Same family, also hollow, also ridged, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 5
Pennette
Tubes · All of Italy
Same family, also hollow, also ridged, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 6
Penne
Tubes · Liguria
Same family, also hollow, also ridged, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 7
Sedani
Tubes · All of Italy
Same family, also hollow, also ridged, shares 1 sauce, close in size
- 8
Tubetti
Tubes · Campania
Same family, also hollow, shares 2 sauces, close in size
Match the sauce, not the look
Chifferi is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for mac and cheese: A cheddar or American cheese sauce, often baked. Elbows are traditional. Shells and cavatappi hold more sauce.
- Best pasta for pasta salad: Cooked, cooled pasta dressed with oil or mayonnaise and mixed with vegetables. Short shapes with folds that hold dressing.
- Best pasta for minestrone: A thick vegetable soup with beans and a small pasta added at the end. Ditalini, conchigliette, or anellini.
- Best pasta for pasta e fagioli: Beans, soffritto, a little tomato, and small pasta cooked in the soup. Ditalini, tubetti, or broken spaghetti.
- Best pasta for cream sauce: Panna with cheese, mushrooms, ham, or peas. Heavy and clinging. Ridges and cups keep it on the pasta.
Side by side
The measured difference between chifferi and each swap.