What to use instead of fazzoletti
A wide thin sheet with maximum surface. Pesto, a walnut sauce, butter and a light ragu, or a mushroom cream. Nothing heavy or chunky.
The closest swap: lasagne
Cut a fresh sheet into squares.
Fazzoletti is sheets, 80 to 120 mm long, 2 to 3 minutes in the pot. Lasagne sits in the sheets family and cooks in 30 to 45 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 fazzoletti, 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
Lasagne
Sheets · Emilia-Romagna
Cut a fresh sheet into squares (chosen)
- 2
Pappardelle
Ribbons · Tuscany
A wide ribbon for the same sauces (chosen)
- 3
Maltagliati
Ribbons · Emilia-Romagna
Smaller irregular pieces (chosen)
- 4
Fettuccine
Ribbons · Lazio
Also solid, also smooth, shares 3 sauces
- 5
Testaroli
Sheets · Tuscany
Same family, also solid, shares 1 sauce
- 6
Agnolotti
Stuffed · Piedmont
Also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces
- 7
Cappellacci
Stuffed · Emilia-Romagna
Also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces
- 8
Cappelletti
Stuffed · Emilia-Romagna
Also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces
Match the sauce, not the look
Fazzoletti is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for pesto alla genovese: Basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, pecorino, olive oil. Raw and oily. Trofie and trenette are the Ligurian pairings.
- Best pasta for walnut sauce: Salsa di noci: walnuts, bread, garlic, milk, marjoram. Ligurian. Pansotti is its pairing.
- Best pasta for butter and sage: Brown butter with crisped sage leaves. The filled-pasta sauce. It stays out of the way of the filling.
- Best pasta for porcini: Fresh or dried porcini with butter, garlic, parsley, sometimes cream. Egg ribbons, tajarin, pappardelle.
- 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.
Side by side
The measured difference between fazzoletti and each swap.