Long pasta
Spaghetti
Quick answer
Spaghetti is long, round, solid pasta — the most popular shape in the world.
Spaghetti means "little strings" in Italian.
Best sauces: aglio e olio, carbonara, alle vongole, tomato sauces. Match the shape to the sauce — long thin pasta for oil and light sauces, tubes and ridges for chunky or meaty sauces, flat egg ribbons for rich ragù and butter.
- Type
- Long
- Origin
- Campania / southern Italy
- Best with
- aglio e olio, carbonara, alle vongole, tomato sauces
Related
More pasta shapes & the sauces they love
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Bread-flour dough with a little oil and sugar for browning in a home oven.
Try this recipe
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Eggs, pecorino, guanciale, pepper. No cream, ever.
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Quick answer
How do you make marinara sauce from scratch?
Sizzle sliced garlic in good olive oil for 60 seconds, add a 28-ounce can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes and a pinch of salt, and simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Finish with fresh basil off the heat. That is the whole recipe — marinara is a fast sauce, not an all-day one.