What to use instead of pappardelle
The broadest face of any ribbon, so it carries the heaviest sauces: wild boar, hare, duck, a mushroom sauce with body, a slow beef ragu. A light sauce leaves it bare.
The closest swap: tagliatelle
Narrower, for a finer ragu.
Pappardelle is ribbons, 250 to 300 mm long, 3 to 9 minutes in the pot. Tagliatelle sits in the ribbons family and cooks in 2 to 8 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 pappardelle, 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
Tagliatelle
Ribbons · Emilia-Romagna
Narrower, for a finer ragu (chosen)
- 2
Mafaldine
Ribbons · Campania
A dried wide ribbon with a wavy edge (chosen)
- 3
Lasagnette
Ribbons · All of Italy
A dried ribbon of similar width (chosen)
- 4
Fettuccine
Ribbons · Lazio
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 3 sauces
- 5
Maccheroncini di Campofilone
Ribbons · Marche
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
Caramelle
Stuffed · Emilia-Romagna
Also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces, close in size
Match the sauce, not the look
Pappardelle is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for wild boar ragu: Cinghiale braised with red wine, juniper, and tomato. Tuscan. Pappardelle or pici, the widest and the thickest.
- 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.
- Best pasta for porcini: Fresh or dried porcini with butter, garlic, parsley, sometimes cream. Egg ribbons, tajarin, pappardelle.
- Best pasta for ragu alla bolognese: A slow-cooked minced beef and pork sauce with soffritto, wine, milk, and a little tomato. Tagliatelle, never spaghetti, in Bologna.
- 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 pappardelle and each swap.