What to use instead of maltagliati
Thin irregular pieces with lots of edge, so they suit soups and loose sauces that they can float in: beans, chickpeas, a broth, a light tomato. They are too fragile for a heavy ragu.
The closest swap: quadrucci
Small egg squares for the same soups.
Maltagliati is ribbons, 30 to 60 mm long, 2 to 4 minutes in the pot. Quadrucci sits in the pastina family and cooks in 2 to 4 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 maltagliati, 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
Quadrucci
Pastina · Lazio
Small egg squares for the same soups (chosen)
- 2
Lasagne
Sheets · Emilia-Romagna
Tear a sheet into pieces (chosen)
- 3
Fazzoletti
Sheets · Liguria
Larger sheets of the same dough (chosen)
- 4
Maccheroncini di Campofilone
Ribbons · Marche
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 5
Mafaldine
Ribbons · Campania
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 6
Tagliolini
Ribbons · Piedmont
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 7
Tajarin
Ribbons · Piedmont
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 1 sauce
- 8
Fettuccine
Ribbons · Lazio
Same family, also solid, also smooth
Match the sauce, not the look
Maltagliati is listed against 4 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 in brodo: A clear meat or chicken broth. Pastina or filled pasta, cooked and served in the liquid.
- 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 maltagliati and each swap.