What to use instead of spaghetti
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Long strands that a thin oil or tomato sauce clings to
A round smooth strand holds a film of sauce along its whole length, and the starch it sheds into the water is what emulsifies oil and water into a coating.
Linguine, spaghettini or bucatiniRan out
Match by weight, dry
Bucatini traps sauce in the hole and takes 2 to 3 minutes longer. Linguine holds more oil on its flat face and clumps if underdressed.
Fresh egg tagliatelleRan out
4 oz fresh per 3 oz dry
Cooks in 2 minutes and drinks the sauce rather than wearing it. The egg makes it rich, so cut the fat in the sauce back.
Short shapes such as penne or rigatoniRan out
Match by weight
The sauce falls to the bottom of the bowl unless you finish the pasta in the pan with a ladle of the cooking water.
Corn and rice gluten-free spaghettiGluten-free
Match by weight, cooked 1 minute under the packet time
Sheds so much starch the water goes gluey, and the strands firm up hard and snap when tossed once they cool.
What doesn't work: Rice noodles. There is no gluten network and no surface starch to grab, so the oil slides straight off and the strands weld into one clump the second they stop moving.
Nest that holds a heavy sauce ladled over the top
The strands tangle into a bed that keeps a chunky sauce up off the plate, and the pasta is dressed at the table rather than tossed in the pan.
Bucatini or thick spaghettoniRan out
Match by weight
Carries a heavier sauce without going limp under it, and it needs about 2 minutes more in the water.
Egg noodlesRan out
Match by weight
Softer and richer. They soak the sauce up and go slack within a few minutes of sitting on the plate.
Soft polentaGluten-free
1 cup dry polenta feeds the same four as 12 oz spaghetti
Nothing to twirl, so the sauce sits on top. Sweeter, heavier, and it sets firm if it waits.
Roasted spaghetti squashGluten-free
1 medium squash per 8 oz dry spaghetti
Watery strands with a faint sweetness. Drain them hard in a colander or the sauce thins out on the plate.
What doesn't work: Angel hair. It cooks in three minutes and has no firm core, so under a chunky meat sauce it goes to paste and the nest collapses before it reaches the table.
Pasta baked into a creamy casserole
Undercooked strands keep drinking sauce in the oven and set into a block you can cut, which is why the casserole holds together on the spoon.
Egg noodlesRan out
Match by weight, plus 1/2 cup extra liquid
They absorb more than spaghetti does and go soft, so the top layer dries out unless you add the extra sauce.
Ziti or penneRan out
Match by weight, boiled 2 minutes under
Holds its shape through the bake and serves in clean squares instead of pulling apart into strands.
Fettuccine snapped in halfRan out
Match by weight
Wider ribbons layer flat, so the casserole sets denser and the middle takes about 10 minutes longer to heat through.
What doesn't work: Fully cooked pasta. It has nothing left to absorb, so the sauce stays loose around it and the exposed strands on top bake into hard sticks. Pull it two minutes short of al dente.