What to use instead of ditali
Short and open at both ends, so they fill with soup and hold beans and vegetables. They also work in a thick tomato sauce for children and in a cold salad. Too small for a ragu.
The closest swap: ditalini
The small grade.
Ditali is tubes, 8 to 12 mm long, 8 to 11 minutes in the pot. Ditalini sits in the pastina 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 ditali, 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
Ditalini
Pastina · Campania
The small grade (chosen)
- 2
Tubetti
Tubes · Campania
The same shape under another name (chosen)
- 3
Macaroni
Tubes · Campania
Elbows, a touch longer (chosen)
- 4
Chifferi
Tubes · All of Italy
Same family, also hollow, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 5
Pennette
Tubes · All of Italy
Same family, also hollow, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 6
Calamarata
Tubes · Campania
Same family, also hollow, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 7
Candele
Tubes · Campania
Same family, also hollow, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 8
Cannelloni
Tubes · Campania
Same family, also hollow, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
Match the sauce, not the look
Ditali is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- 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 pasta e ceci: Chickpeas, rosemary, garlic, and a small pasta. Roman. Ditalini, quadrucci, or maltagliati.
- 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 pomodoro: Tomato, olive oil, garlic or onion, basil. Smooth and light. Almost any shape works; the classic is spaghetti or penne.
- Best pasta for pasta salad: Cooked, cooled pasta dressed with oil or mayonnaise and mixed with vegetables. Short shapes with folds that hold dressing.
Side by side
The measured difference between ditali and each swap.