Mostaccioli substitute

Best substitute

Penne Lisce (Smooth Penne)

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

Best for baked mostaccioli exactly as written

Close match

If you cannot find the box, you are not missing an ingredient, only a label: mostaccioli is smooth penne, sold in Italy as penne lisce. Penne swaps in 1:1 with nothing else changed, ziti is just as good and is smooth like real mostaccioli, and rigatoni is the sturdiest choice if the tray has to sit out on a buffet. The one thing worth knowing is that the ridges most American penne has are not a flaw here. Mostaccioli's smooth walls shed a thin sauce, which is why traditional baked mostaccioli leans on ricotta, sausage fat and melted cheese to make anything stick, so if you swap in ridged penne rigate the dish comes out slightly more strongly sauced, which is usually an improvement. Whatever tube you use, boil it three minutes short of the box time, because it keeps cooking in the oven.

Other mostaccioli substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Penne Rigate (Ridged Penne)
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The penne almost every shop actually stocks, cut the same way as mostaccioli but with grooves running along the outside.
What changes
Best for
baked mostaccioli, red sauce with sausage, thinner marinara sauces, weeknight versions
The practical answer, and in most kitchens the better one. The ridges grip sauce that would slide off a smooth tube, so a baked mostaccioli made with penne rigate tastes more strongly sauced and less slippery, and it is more forgiving if your sauce is on the thin side. It is a real difference you can see on the fork rather than a technicality, but it is a difference in the dish's favour. Nobody at a buffet has ever objected.
3Ziti
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Smooth tubes cut straight across rather than on the diagonal, slightly narrower and often a little longer.
What changes
Best for
baked mostaccioli, church supper and buffet trays, meat sauce, ricotta-heavy bakes
A truer match for real mostaccioli than ridged penne is, because the smooth surface is the same. The square-cut ends scoop marginally less sauce into each tube and the finished tray looks a little tidier and more uniform on the plate, but the bite is identical. Baked ziti and baked mostaccioli are honestly the same casserole under two regional names, so any baked ziti recipe will guide you if your mostaccioli recipe is vague.
4Rigatoni
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Wider, distinctly thicker-walled ridged tubes.
What changes
Best for
trays held warm on a buffet, large-batch cooking, chunky meat sauce, dishes that get reheated
The most forgiving option on this list and the one to choose if timing is uncertain. Thick walls mean it takes a couple of minutes longer to boil and holds its shape through a long bake, so a tray still has chew ninety minutes into a buffet instead of turning pasty. The trade-off is that the wider tubes fill with sauce and the dish eats heavier, with fewer pieces per serving, so it reads as a richer casserole than a classic mostaccioli.
5Medium Shells (Conchiglie)
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Curved shells with a deep cup and, usually, ridges on the outside.
What changes
Best for
ricotta-heavy baked mostaccioli, cheesy bakes, feeding children
Better in a ricotta bake than people expect, because each shell holds a spoonful of cheese and sauce in its cup rather than letting it run through an open tube. The dish comes out looking quite different, less neat and more rustic, and the bite is softer since shells are thinner-walled than rigatoni. Watch them closely in the water, as the thin edges soften well before the thicker spine does.
6Cavatappi or Cellentani
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Short hollow ridged corkscrews, a spiral and a tube at once.
What changes
Best for
baked mostaccioli, cheesy sauces, leftovers that get reheated
Not a tube in spirit, but a very good functional stand-in, because the hollow centre and the spiral grooves both trap sauce. It holds far more sauce per piece than a straight smooth tube, so the same quantity coats the pasta more heavily and the pan looks less wet while the dish tastes richer. Pieces are shorter, so a forkful has more of them and the texture reads bouncier rather than neat sliced tube.
7Elbow Macaroni
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Always in the cupboard, and it works, though it changes the character of the dish more than any other option here.
What changes
Best for
baked mostaccioli in a pinch, cheese-heavy versions, feeding children
Elbows are much smaller and thinner-walled, so they drink up more sauce and cook softer. The result comes out denser and more casserole-like, closer to a baked macaroni than to mostaccioli, and it will not hold up if the tray sits warm for long. Undercook by two full minutes and hold back a little sauce at first, because the smaller pieces absorb more than the recipe expects and a dish that looked wet going in can come out dry.

What is Mostaccioli?

Mostaccioli is a medium tube pasta roughly two inches long with smooth sides and ends cut on the diagonal, its name meaning little moustaches, and it is used almost entirely in Italian-American cooking, where baked mostaccioli is a Midwestern church supper and wedding buffet standard.

Cooking tips

The single most useful fact about mostaccioli is that it is not a special pasta. It is smooth penne, and the name survives mainly in Italian-American cooking across the Midwest and around Chicago. If the box is not on the shelf, buy penne or ziti and carry on; nothing is lost, because the shape contributes no flavour at all.
For any baked mostaccioli, boil the pasta three minutes short of the box time, not one. Tubes keep drinking sauce in the oven, and pasta cooked to al dente in the pot comes out of a forty-minute bake soft and blown open at the ends.
Smooth tubes need a sauce with fat or body to cling to. A thin watery marinara slides straight off mostaccioli and pools at the bottom of the pan, which is exactly why the traditional dish uses ricotta, browned Italian sausage and mozzarella. If your sauce is thin, either use ridged penne rigate instead or thicken it with ricotta, cream, browned meat or a longer simmer.
Wall thickness, not shape, decides whether the dish survives a buffet. If you are feeding a crowd from a tray that will sit out, choose rigatoni or ziti over thin-walled penne, and cover the tray for the first half of the bake so the tube ends do not dry hard.
Coat every piece in sauce before it goes in the oven. Any tube poking up out of the sauce turns leathery and chalky rather than tender, and no amount of cheese on top will fix it.
Salt the water hard, about a tablespoon of table salt per four quarts. Tube pasta is bland by design, and once it is in the sauce and in the oven there is no second chance to season the pasta itself.
Reserve a cup of the starchy pasta water. If the sauce tightens up in the oven, a splash stirred through before serving loosens the tray without watering the flavour down.

Frequently asked questions

What can I use instead of mostaccioli?

Penne or ziti, 1:1 by weight, with no other changes to the recipe. Penne is cut identically to mostaccioli and ziti matches its smooth surface, so either is effectively the same pasta. Rigatoni is the best pick if the dish has to hold on a buffet, and medium shells or cavatappi both work well in a ricotta-heavy bake.

Is mostaccioli the same as penne?

Effectively yes. Both are medium tubes cut on the diagonal at about the same length, and the traditional distinction is only the surface: mostaccioli is smooth, while the penne most American shops carry is ridged, sold as penne rigate. Swap either for the other 1:1. If you want the exact original texture, look for penne lisce, which is smooth penne and is mostaccioli in all but name.

Can I use ziti for baked mostaccioli?

Yes, and it is arguably the closest supermarket match, because ziti is smooth like real mostaccioli where standard penne is ridged. The tubes are cut straight rather than at an angle and run slightly narrower, so the tray looks a bit tidier and each piece holds marginally less sauce inside. Baked ziti and baked mostaccioli are the same dish under different regional names.

Does it matter whether the pasta is smooth or ridged?

It is the only thing that meaningfully distinguishes mostaccioli from penne, and it changes how much sauce sticks. Smooth walls shed a thin sauce, so the classic dish relies on ricotta, sausage fat and cheese for cohesion. Ridges hold sauce on the outside of the tube, so ridged penne gives a more strongly sauced result. For a bake, ridged is usually the safer choice.

How long does mostaccioli take to cook?

Dried mostaccioli usually needs 11 to 13 minutes to al dente, the same as penne. Rigatoni runs a minute or two longer because its walls are thicker, and elbows a couple of minutes shorter. For anything going into the oven, drain three minutes before the box time and start tasting early, since tube pasta goes from firm to floppy quickly.

Do I need a different amount if I switch shapes?

No, weigh rather than eyeball. A pound of mostaccioli and a pound of any substitute here feed the same number of people, even though the same weight fills a measuring cup very differently. Smaller shapes such as elbows absorb more sauce, so hold a little sauce back at first and add more if the pan looks dry going into the oven.

Can I use whatever pasta I have for baked mostaccioli?

Within limits. Any short sturdy shape works, including penne, ziti, rigatoni, shells, cavatappi and rotini. What does not work is long pasta such as spaghetti, because the strands mat into a solid layer and you cannot cut a clean square out of the tray, and very small shapes such as orzo or ditalini, which turn the bake into mush.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Mostaccioli substitute

Other mostaccioli substitutes

2Penne Rigate (Ridged Penne)

3Ziti

4Rigatoni

5Medium Shells (Conchiglie)

6Cavatappi or Cellentani

7Elbow Macaroni