This is how you choose the right sauce for every type of pasta
When you are in the mood for a delicious pasta dish, it is important to know which sauce to serve with which type of pasta. After all, thin pasta simply calls for a different sauce than a hollow variety. This handy overview is a must-have in the kitchen of every pasta lover.
Just as every pot has a lid, every pasta deserves the perfect sauce. Of course, there are a thousand and one types of pasta. That is why we use three golden rules to determine which sauce tastes best with your type of pasta:
- With coarse, thicker pasta, serve a hearty meat sauce.
- Thin pasta is delicious with a light sauce based on oil or tomato.
- Combine hollow pasta with a sauce containing lots of chunks: vegetables and meat.
This is the best sauce for your pasta
- Tagliatelle, a wide type of pasta, pairs perfectly with a rich meat sauce such as bolognese or a light sauce with shellfish.
- Short ribbed pasta like penne rigate is served with a hearty sauce of vegetables and fish or meat. Thanks to the grooves, the sauce clings to the pasta.
- Thin pastas like spaghetti and linguine thrive best with a light oil-based sauce: a pesto, for example.
- The thinnest pasta – capellini – goes well with a light tomato sauce, cheese sauce, or a sauce based on seafood stock.
- Short pasta like farfalle is ideal for a pasta salad. You can easily toss them together with other ingredients without the pasta breaking.
- It is best to serve ragù or another red sauce with pasta shells.
- Orecchiette is served with vegetable-based sauces.
- Orzo is delicious in combination with broth-based sauces.
Do you want to save these recipes? You can do so with a single click of the button. Read here how to do it.




