What to use instead of foglie d'ulivo

The closest swap: orecchiette

Every swap for foglie d'ulivo, 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. 1
   

   Orecchiette

   Hand-formed · Puglia

   The Puglian cup, same dough (chosen)

2. 2
   

   Trofie

   Hand-formed · Liguria

   A Ligurian twist for pesto (chosen)

3. 3
   

   Farfalle

   Short shapes · Lombardy

   A flat shape for light sauces (chosen)

4. 4
   

   Fusilli

   Short shapes · Campania

   Same family, also solid, shares 3 sauces, close in size

5. 5
   

   Rotini

   Short shapes · United States

   Same family, also solid, shares 3 sauces, close in size

6. 6
   

   Gnocchetti sardi

   Short shapes · Sardinia

   Same family, also solid, shares 2 sauces, close in size

7. 7
   

   Strozzapreti

   Short shapes · Emilia-Romagna

   Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 2 sauces

8. 8
   

   Casarecce

   Short shapes · Sicily

   Same family, also solid, also rough, shares 1 sauce

Match the sauce, not the look

Foglie d'ulivo is listed against 4 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 pomodoro: Tomato, olive oil, garlic or onion, basil. Smooth and light. Almost any shape works; the classic is spaghetti or penne.
• Best pasta for vegetable ragu: Diced vegetables cooked slowly in tomato or oil. Zucchini, peppers, eggplant. Short shapes with folds.
• Best pasta for aglio e olio: Garlic, olive oil, chili, parsley. The thinnest sauce there is. It needs a strand that it can coat, with nothing to hide in.

Side by side

The measured difference between foglie d'ulivo and each swap.