Linguine substitute

Best substitute

Spaghetti

Use the same amount by weight as the linguine you are replacing

Best for clam sauce

Close match

Spaghetti and fettuccine are the two substitutes for linguine you almost certainly already have, both used one for one by weight. Spaghetti is the same length but round, so a garlic-and-oil or clam sauce clings a little less; fettuccine is flat like linguine but twice as wide, so each bite carries more sauce and the dish feels richer. The job linguine does is a compromise between the two: it has enough flat surface for an oily clam or scampi sauce to grab, while staying fine enough to twirl. If you have no long pasta, any short ridged shape will hold the sauce, but you lose the twirl entirely.

Other linguine substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fettuccine
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
A flat ribbon about twice the width of linguine.
What changes
Best for
cream sauces, butter and garlic, shrimp dishes, mushroom sauce
Flat like linguine, so sauces cling properly, but each ribbon carries more, which makes a rich sauce taste richer and a delicate clam broth taste unbalanced. There are fewer strands per forkful, so the dish eats heavier. Fettuccine also usually needs a minute or two longer in the water than linguine.
3Bavette or trenette
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Ligurian names for a narrow flat strand that is essentially the same pasta as linguine.
What changes
Best for
pesto, seafood sauces, garlic and oil, light tomato sauce
If you can find either, it is a true one-for-one match rather than a compromise; bavette is sometimes very slightly convex and trenette is the classic pesto pasta of Genoa. The only practical difference is that these are often better-quality bronze-cut brands, which have a rougher surface and hold sauce even better.
4Bucatini
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
A thick spaghetti-like strand with a hole running through the middle.
What changes
Best for
clam sauce, amatriciana, buttery sauces, thin tomato sauce
Round rather than flat, but the hollow center draws thin sauce inside, so a garlic, wine and clam sauce still ends up in every bite. The chew is much heavier and springier than linguine and it takes longer to cook, so a light seafood dish becomes a substantial one. Watch it closely, as the hollow strands go from firm to soft quickly.
5Thin spaghetti or spaghettini
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
A finer round strand, one step down from spaghetti.
What changes
Best for
garlic and oil, light seafood sauces, brothy sauces
A close match for the delicacy of linguine and a good choice for anything with white wine and shellfish, since the strands are fine enough that the sauce coats them thoroughly. They cook two to three minutes faster than linguine and overcook in the time it takes to answer the door, so drain them at the early end and sauce immediately.
6Angel hair or capellini
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The least-bad option if very fine strands are all you have.
What changes
Best for
very light oil sauces, brothy sauces
Honest answer: this is the wrong pasta for most linguine recipes. It cooks in about three minutes, so it is already overdone by the time you have tossed it in the clam pan, and it mats into clumps that trap sauce in the middle and leave the rest bare. If you must, undercook it by a full minute, drain it and put it straight into a sauce that is already finished, then serve at once.

What is Linguine?

Linguine is a long dried wheat pasta whose name means little tongues, flattened into a narrow ribbon about an eighth of an inch wide so that its flat faces grip thin oil, wine and seafood sauces better than a round strand can.

Cooking tips

Linguine and linguini are spellings of the same pasta, and bavette and trenette are regional Italian names for the same narrow ribbon. Any of them will work in a recipe that names the others.
For clam sauce or shrimp scampi, drain the linguine a minute early and finish it in the sauce pan with a ladle of pasta water. The starch in that water is what turns loose oil and wine into a sauce that actually clings to a flat strand.
Do not break the strands to fit the pot. Put one end in the boiling water, wait fifteen seconds, and press the rest down as it softens; broken linguine will not twirl and it turns a seafood pasta into a soupy mess.
Never rinse linguine. The surface starch is what makes an oil or cream sauce stay put, and rinsed pasta in a scampi tastes bland with all the butter at the bottom of the bowl.
Cook linguine in plenty of well-salted water and stir in the first thirty seconds. Flat strands stick to each other far more readily than tubes, and clumped strands cook unevenly.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use spaghetti instead of linguine?

Yes, it is the most common swap and works in almost every linguine recipe at the same weight. The only real difference is that a round strand holds slightly less sauce than a flat one, so toss the drained spaghetti in the sauce pan with a splash of pasta water to make the sauce grip.

What is the difference between linguine and fettuccine?

Width. Both are flat ribbons; linguine is about an eighth of an inch wide, fettuccine roughly a quarter of an inch. The wider ribbon carries more sauce per bite, which is why Alfredo is traditionally fettuccine and delicate clam or oil sauces are traditionally linguine.

What is the best pasta for linguine with clam sauce if I have no linguine?

Spaghetti or thin spaghetti first, bucatini if you want something chewier that pulls the sauce into the hollow center. Skip angel hair, which overcooks in the pan, and skip short shapes, since the sauce is thin and needs strands to cling to.

Can I just leave the pasta out?

Not really; the strands are the dish. A clam or scampi sauce is genuinely good spooned over crusty bread, rice or polenta, or tossed with spiralized zucchini for a lighter meal, but the sauce was built to be absorbed by pasta and will seem thin without it.

How much linguine should I cook per person?

Around three to four ounces of dried pasta each as a main course. Weigh it if you can, because long pasta is very hard to judge by eye; a common trick is that a bundle roughly the diameter of a US quarter is about one serving.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Linguine substitute

Other linguine substitutes

2Fettuccine

3Bavette or trenette

4Bucatini

5Thin spaghetti or spaghettini

6Angel hair or capellini