Fettuccine substitutes

The near-identical Italian ribbon, usually a touch wider and normally sold coiled into nests.

Best for

Alfredo, cream sauces, ragu and meat sauce, mushroom sauce

The most invisible swap on this list. Most tagliatelle is made with egg, so it tastes slightly richer and looks more yellow, and it is a little more tender and porous, meaning it soaks up more sauce. Dried nests cook faster than dried fettuccine and fresh nests can be done in two to four minutes, so start tasting early.

A narrow flat strand, roughly half the width of fettuccine.

Best for

Alfredo, garlic butter, shrimp and cream, light tomato sauce

Still flat, so cream and butter sauces coat it properly, but you get more strands per forkful and the dish eats noticeably lighter. A heavy meat ragu can overwhelm it and slide off in clumps. It also cooks a minute or two faster, and it tangles more, so toss it with the sauce straight out of the water.

A much wider ribbon, roughly an inch across.

Best for

beef and pork ragu, mushroom cream sauce, braised meat sauces

A big change and often an upgrade: the wide sheets feel silky and luxurious and carry a chunky braise beautifully. They are also heavy enough to overpower a delicate lemon-cream or garlic-butter sauce, and they stick to each other badly, so use a wide pot, plenty of water and sauce them immediately.

Dried or fresh lasagna sheets sliced lengthwise into quarter-inch strips before boiling.

Best for

Alfredo, cream sauces, ragu, emergency fettuccine

The best trick if you have no long pasta at all, because it is the same dough at roughly the same thickness. Expect uneven widths and, if you have the curly-edged kind, one frilly edge per ribbon, which actually holds sauce well. Lasagna sheets are usually thicker than fettuccine, so allow a couple of extra minutes and taste before draining.

Short, curled American-style egg noodles from the soup aisle.

Best for

creamy chicken dishes, stroganoff-style sauces, casseroles

They are flat and eggy, so a cream sauce clings well, but they are distinctly softer with much less chew, and they are too short to twirl, so the dish reads as a comforting casserole rather than a plate of pasta. They cook fast; check them two minutes before the package time.

The least-bad option when a round strand is all there is.

Best for

tomato sauce, garlic and oil, thin cream sauces

Honest answer: it works, but a heavy Alfredo has nothing flat to hold on to, so it slides off and pools. Fix it mechanically rather than hoping: reserve a mug of pasta water, drain the spaghetti slightly early, then toss it with the sauce in the pan over low heat with a splash of that water and a handful of grated parmesan until the sauce visibly thickens and coats each strand.