Penne substitutes
Penne substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Rigatoni
Same amount by weight as the penne
Swap penne for rigatoni, ziti or mostaccioli, measured one for one by weight. Penne is not adding any flavour to your dish; its whole job is structure and sauce delivery, so any medium tube of roughly the same size will hold a meat sauce, a vodka sauce or a cheesy bake the same way. Ridged shapes such as rigatoni, rotini and fusilli grip a thin sauce better than smooth ones, and you should always cook to the time printed on the box you are actually using, since it can differ from penne by three or four minutes.
- Verdict —
- Works
- Best for —
- baked pasta
Updated 19 Aug 2026 · no sponsored swaps
Every option, one card
Ranked| # | Substitute | Instead of penne | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rigatonibaked pasta | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 2 | Ziti or mostacciolibaked ziti | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 3 | Cavatappicream sauce | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 4 | Fusilli or rotinipesto | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 5 | Farfallecream sauce | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Long pasta such as spaghetti or linguinesmooth tomato sauce | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
Rigatoni
similar taste and texture
Wider, straight-cut ridged tubes that are the closest thing to penne on any supermarket shelf.
- Best for
- baked pasta, meat sauce, vodka sauce, sausage and greens
The bite is bigger and chewier and each piece holds more sauce inside, so the dish eats heartier and there are fewer pieces per serving. In a baked dish the tubes stay more distinct instead of melting into the cheese. Rigatoni usually needs one to two minutes longer in the water than penne.
Ziti or mostaccioli
similar taste and texture
Smooth medium tubes cut straight across; mostaccioli is the same shape as smooth penne lisce under an American name.
- Best for
- baked ziti, cheese-heavy casseroles, tomato sauce, pasta bakes
With no ridges a thin tomato or oil sauce slides off, so the dish tastes slightly less sauced than the same recipe made with penne rigate. That matters much less in a baked dish, where melted mozzarella and ricotta do the clinging anyway.
Cavatappi
similar taste and texture
Hollow ridged corkscrews, which is the one shape that gives you both the tube and the grooves.
- Best for
- cream sauce, baked pasta, pasta salad, vodka sauce
The best all-round stand-in. The chew is springier than penne and the corkscrew catches more sauce on the outside as well as inside, so a lightly sauced dish actually improves. Because the spirals pack tightly, the same weight fills a slightly smaller baking dish.
Fusilli or rotini
similar taste, different texture
Solid corkscrew spirals with deep grooves running along the twist.
- Best for
- pesto, pasta salad, chunky vegetable sauce, olive oil sauces
There is no hollow interior, so sauce sits on the outside instead of collecting inside the pasta. That is an advantage with pesto or an oily sauce and a small loss with a thin tomato sauce, where penne's tube would have trapped a little extra in every piece. Spirals pack denser in the pan, so a bake comes out less airy.
Farfalle
similar taste, different texture
Bow ties with thin wings and a thick pinched centre.
- Best for
- cream sauce, peas and ham, cold pasta salad, buttered vegetables
The bite is deliberately uneven: soft floppy edges and a firm chewy middle. That is pleasant with cream and vegetables but the flat wings carry very little sauce and can go mushy or separate during a long bake, so it is the weakest choice for baked penne recipes.
Long pasta such as spaghetti or linguine
similar taste, different texture
The least-bad option if a short shape is genuinely all you are missing.
- Best for
- smooth tomato sauce, cream sauce, garlic and oil
Honest answer: this works for smooth sauces and fails for the other two things penne is used for. Ground meat, sausage crumbles and diced vegetables slide off strands and collect at the bottom of the bowl, and a strand casserole bakes into a solid mat rather than a scoopable dish. If you go this route, reserve a mug of pasta water and toss the drained pasta with the sauce over heat so it actually coats.
Questions
5 questionsIs rigatoni the same as penne?
No, but it is the closest common swap. Penne is cut on a diagonal into a quill-like point and is narrower; rigatoni is cut straight across and is wider, so it holds more sauce and eats chunkier. Use either one for the other, one for one by weight, and check the cook time on the box.
Can I use spaghetti instead of penne?
For a smooth tomato, butter or cream sauce, yes. For a chunky meat sauce or a baked casserole it is a poor swap: the sauce solids fall off the strands and pool at the bottom of the bowl, and a baked strand dish sets into a mat you cannot serve neatly. Reach for any short shape first, even elbow macaroni.
Can I just leave the penne out?
Not really, because the pasta is the body of the dish rather than a seasoning. What you can do is serve the sauce over something else starchy: rice, polenta, mashed potato, gnocchi or even toasted bread all carry a tomato or meat sauce well. It is a different meal, but a good one.
How much of the substitute should I use?
The same weight, always. Eight ounces of penne equals eight ounces of rigatoni, ziti, fusilli or shells. Only the cook time changes, so set a timer from the substitute's own package instructions and taste a piece before draining.
Does the shape really change how the dish tastes?
The pasta itself tastes the same, since it is all durum wheat and water. What changes is how much sauce reaches your mouth in each bite and how the pasta chews. That is why the same sauce feels richer on ridged cavatappi than on smooth ziti, and why a shape swap in a lightly sauced dish is far more noticeable than in a heavily sauced one.
Tips for substituting penne
5 tips- Penne rigate (ridged) is the safer default for thin sauces because the grooves hold liquid; penne lisce (smooth) is slipperier and is best kept for baked dishes where cheese binds everything together.
- For any baked penne recipe, drain the pasta two to three minutes before it is al dente. It keeps cooking in the sauce in the oven, and fully cooked penne comes out soft and collapsed.
- Measure dry pasta by weight, not by cups. A cup of penne and a cup of jumbo shells are nowhere near the same amount of pasta, so a volume swap will leave you short or with a swimming pool of sauce.
- Mezze penne are simply half-length penne. Use them one for one, but they cook a couple of minutes faster and pack more densely, so the same weight fills a smaller dish.
- Salt the water properly. Pasta shape contributes no seasoning at all, and unsalted penne tastes flat no matter how good the sauce is.