What to use instead of pizzoccheri
Buckwheat is crumbly and earthy, so the shape is built for one thing: butter, melting alpine cheese, and vegetables cooked in the same pot. It does not take tomato or oil sauces.
The closest swap: tagliatelle
A wheat ribbon; the dish changes.
Pizzoccheri is ribbons, 60 to 80 mm long, 8 to 12 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 pizzoccheri, 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
A wheat ribbon; the dish changes (chosen)
- 2
Maltagliati
Ribbons · Emilia-Romagna
Irregular short pieces in the same width (chosen)
- 3
Mafaldine
Ribbons · Campania
Same family, also solid, close in size
- 4
Scialatielli
Ribbons · Campania
Same family, also solid, also rough
- 5
Stringozzi
Ribbons · Umbria
Same family, also solid, also rough
- 6
Fettuccine
Ribbons · Lazio
Same family, also solid, shares 1 sauce
- 7
Maccheroncini di Campofilone
Ribbons · Marche
Same family, also solid, shares 1 sauce
- 8
Tagliolini
Ribbons · Piedmont
Same family, also solid, shares 1 sauce
Match the sauce, not the look
Pizzoccheri is listed against 2 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- 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 four cheese: Gorgonzola, fontina, parmesan, and one more, melted into cream. Heavy. Gnocchi, penne, or a baked shape.
Side by side
The measured difference between pizzoccheri and each swap.