What to use instead of vermicelli
Treat Italian vermicelli as a slightly heavy spaghetti: clams, garlic and oil, tomato. Treat the thin export version as spaghettini and keep the sauce light.
The closest swap: spaghetti
The same strand under its modern name.
Vermicelli is long strands, 250 to 260 mm long, 7 to 11 minutes in the pot. Spaghetti sits in the long strands family and cooks in 9 to 12 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 vermicelli, 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
Spaghetti
Long strands · Campania
The same strand under its modern name (chosen)
- 2
Spaghettini
Long strands · Campania
For the thin export vermicelli (chosen)
- 3
Spaghettoni
Long strands · Campania
For the thick Neapolitan vermicelli (chosen)
- 4
Linguine
Long strands · Liguria
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 3 sauces, close in size
- 5
Capellini
Long strands · Campania
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 6
Fedelini
Long strands · Liguria
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 7
Trenette
Long strands · Liguria
Same family, also solid, also smooth, shares 2 sauces, close in size
- 8
Pici
Long strands · Tuscany
Same family, also solid, shares 2 sauces, close in size
Match the sauce, not the look
Vermicelli is listed against 5 sauces. Pick the swap that holds the one you are cooking.
- Best pasta for vongole: Clams, garlic, white wine, parsley, olive oil. Thin and briny. Spaghetti or linguine; nothing that competes with the shell.
- 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.
- Best pasta for marinara: A quick tomato sauce with garlic and oregano. Thinner than a ragu, faster than a pomodoro. Strands and small tubes.
- 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 puttanesca: Tomato, olives, capers, anchovy, chili. Salty and chunky. A strand or a tube that stands up to it.
Side by side
The measured difference between vermicelli and each swap.