An Incredible 45 Types of Pasta – Going Beyond Spaghetti

Gluten-haters, stay away! Anti-carbers, close your eyes. This is a strictly a pro-gluten, pro-carb post, aimed at readers who love pasta and want to find more ways to get it in their body.

Pasta is a wonderful thing, and sometimes spaghetti carbonara just isn't going to cut it. Some pasta's are filled like, tortellini, ravioli, and cannelloni. Some are layered like lasagne, or are variations on long noodles like tagliatelle or bucatini. To be Adding sauce variations like pesto, tomato, or cream based you could probably have pasta every day of the week and never run out of dishes.

I tried my best to find as many variations as possible, but I know I left some out. What did I miss, and what's your favorite type?

Angel Hair

You’ve probably seen angel hair pasta around before. It is an exceptionally thin type of long pasta, which makes it very fine and a little bit challenging to use. Of note, the pasta takes very little time to cook so care has to be taken not to overcook it. The fine nature of the pasta means that it works best in delicate sauces, including sauces that are tomato-based and those that are not.

Orecchiette

The name orecchiette comes from the meaning ‘small ear’, which really is a good description of this type of pasta. The ears have a variable texture, with the outside being chewy while the center of the ear is much softer. They are particularly good for saucy dishes, as the sauce will collect in the hollows.

Pappardelle

You can find the flat-cut ribbons of pappardelle either fresh or dried, and either variety is good. Often the noodle will be in the form of egg pasta, but this isn’t always the case. The wideness of the noodle makes this pasta great for grabbing onto sauce and the pasta is often paired with rich sauces. Bolognese sauce is one example of this, but the pasta is also commonly used with cream-based sauces.

Tortellini

Tortellini pasta is ring shaped and sometimes called belly button pasta because of this. The pasta comes in all different types, with the key difference being the stuffing. Traditionally, the pasta is stuffed with of meat and/or cheese. The stuffing means that the pasta can be used to make particularly filling dishes although the meat filled ones are unsuitable for vegetarians.