How To Pick the Right Pasta for Your Sauce

Believe it or not, there are more than 500 pasta shapes. Kahit na lahat hindi naman available dito, sometimes choosing the right pasta shape for your sauce can be confusing. So let me share a simple guide on how to perfectly match each Al Dente pasta with the right sauce:

Spaghetti

Let start with everybody’s favorite: Spaghetti. Spaghetti is a versatile pasta that compliments silky sauces like Carbonara, Bolognese, and Alfredo – those that usually have tiny ingredients like meat or chopped herbs.

Spaghetti Puttanesca

Fettuccine

Fettuccine’s thick and long strands make it an ultimate choice for cream and ragùs (bolognaise). If making soupier and thicker sauces like Carbonara or Alfredo, its texture can stand up some serious tossing and stirring.

Spanish Sardines, Black Olives, & Capers Fettuccine

Penne Rigatte

Penne Rigatte’s cylinder shape and tiny holes make it home to small ingredients like green peas, nuts, and capers. The voids are also for trapping meaty sauces.

Baked Ziti

Fusilli

Fusilli’s twisted and spiral shape is perfectly suited for rich meats, chunky sauces like ricotta or arrabiata, or if you have larger ingredients tossed in such as beans, roasted vegetables, or olives. It also works well with fresh pasta salad dishes!

Chorizo Bacon Fusili

Lasagna

Lasagna is a type of broad pasta with sheets that are designed to be baked in the oven (al forno) between layers of thick sauce with warm and bubbly cheese on top.

Linguine

Linguine is traditionally served with oil or cream-based sauces and light meats like seafood, as its flat shape makes it easier for light sauces to adhere to it better.

Pasta lovers can now enjoy Al Dente pasta’s premium quality in another format, with the launch of its linguine variant. A versatile pasta cut that is well-loved worldwide, Al Dente Linguine is produced with the same quality standards as the rest of the Al Dente range.

Al Dente pasta is made with 100% durum wheat semolina or hard wheat, making it easy to achieve a perfectly al dente (firm to the bite) pasta dish.  But the big difference lies with its artisan quality. The traditional bronze die method used to make Al Dente produces pasta that is undeniably coarser and a little more porous in texture—thus, making your pasta dish more flavorful as the sauce clings better onto the pasta rather than sliding off.

It’s now easier to create perfect pasta meals at home with Al Dente pasta’s assortment of quality choices! The expanding range of Al Dente pasta also now comes in a new look that is invitingly fresh. Available at all leading groceries and supermarkets nationwide, you can also find cooking tips and recipe ideas on @doñaelenacuisineraclub Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Pages.