Pizzoccheri substitute

Best substitute

Homemade Buckwheat Pasta

300 g flour total and about 150 ml water serves 3 to 4

Best for pizzoccheri alla valtellinese

Close match

This is the real answer, and it is much less work than it sounds. Mix 200 g buckwheat flour with 100 g plain flour and a good pinch of salt, add roughly 150 ml warm water a little at a time until you have a firm dough, knead for five minutes, rest for thirty, roll to two or three millimetres and cut into short half-inch ribbons. Buckwheat has no gluten so the dough is crumbly and short rather than stretchy, which is normal.

Other pizzoccheri substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Dried Soba Noodles, Snapped Short
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The only widely sold pasta that actually tastes of buckwheat, which is the flavour that makes pizzoccheri taste like pizzoccheri rather than like buttered noodles.
What changes
Snap the bundles into two-inch pieces before boiling. What changes: soba is a thin round strand, not a wide flat ribbon, so the eating texture is softer and more slippery, and Japanese soba is usually a higher proportion of buckwheat so the earthy, slightly bitter note is stronger.
Best for
pizzoccheri alla valtellinese, any dish where the buckwheat flavour is the point
Soba goes from firm to falling apart in about ninety seconds, so boil it separately for four minutes, drain and rinse briefly to wash off the gluey surface starch, then combine with the cabbage, potato, butter and cheese. Do not boil it in the vegetable water like real pizzoccheri or it will disintegrate. Buy juwari or 80 percent soba if you can; cheap soba is mostly wheat with colouring.
3Whole-Wheat Tagliatelle or Pappardelle, Cut Short
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Right shape, right sturdy chew, wrong flavour.
What changes
Cut the ribbons across into two-inch lengths with scissors before cooking. Whole-wheat pasta brings a nutty, faintly bitter background that is the nearest thing wheat can do to buckwheat, but it reads distinctly wheaty, so the finished dish tastes rich and cheesy rather than earthy.
Best for
pizzoccheri alla valtellinese, cabbage, potato and cheese pasta bakes
Because it is a flat sturdy ribbon, this one can be boiled right in the pot with the potatoes and cabbage the traditional way, which is a real advantage over soba. Add it so it finishes at the same time as the vegetables.
4Buckwheat Flour Blended into Fresh Egg Pasta
Close match
Replace up to half the flour in a fresh pasta recipe with buckwheat flour
If you have buckwheat flour but do not want to make a water dough, swap half the flour in your usual fresh egg pasta for buckwheat.
What changes
The egg gives you a more forgiving, more elastic dough than the traditional recipe, so it rolls easily, and you still get most of the grey colour and earthy flavour. It is slightly richer and more tender than authentic pizzoccheri.
Best for
pizzoccheri alla valtellinese, buckwheat ribbons for cabbage and butter
Going above half buckwheat with eggs makes the dough fragile. Cut the ribbons short and wide, and dust them well with buckwheat flour so they do not stick together while you work.
5Plain Egg Tagliatelle or Fettuccine, Cut Short
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The least-bad pantry option, and worth naming plainly: this makes a good dinner but not pizzoccheri.
What changes
Without buckwheat you lose the earthy, slightly bitter, almost tea-like flavour that balances all the butter and cheese, and the result can taste heavy and one-note because nothing is cutting the fat.
Best for
a cabbage, potato, butter and cheese pasta when you have no buckwheat at all
Compensate for the missing bitterness: brown the butter properly with the sage and garlic until it smells nutty, add a good amount of black pepper, and use a sharp mountain cheese rather than a mild one. A handful of toasted chopped walnuts also stands in for some of the earthiness.
6Buckwheat Pasta from a Gluten-Free Range
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Health-food ranges sell 100 percent buckwheat penne, fusilli and spirals.
What changes
The flavour is dead on, better than soba in some cases, and the shape is wrong in a way that matters less than you would think once everything is mixed with potato and melted cheese. The texture is the weak point: pure buckwheat extrusions can be slightly grainy and they turn soft abruptly.
Best for
gluten-free pizzoccheri, buckwheat flavour when ribbons are unavailable
Cook these in plenty of water on their own and drain carefully, since they are fragile. Note that traditional pizzoccheri contains wheat flour and is not gluten free, so if you need it to be, this is the route to take.

What is Pizzoccheri?

Pizzoccheri is a short, flat, grey-brown buckwheat ribbon pasta from the Valtellina valley in northern Lombardy, cut about half an inch wide from roughly two parts buckwheat flour to one part wheat, and its earthy, faintly bitter flavour is the whole point of the dish it names, layered with cabbage, potato and melting Valtellina cheese.

Cooking tips

Pizzoccheri is a flavour ingredient, not just a shape. Buckwheat is earthy, faintly bitter and slightly tannic, and that bitterness is what stops a dish of butter, potato, cabbage and half a pound of melted cheese from tasting like nothing but fat. Any substitute that does not taste of buckwheat needs help in that direction: browned butter, plenty of black pepper, a sharper cheese, or toasted walnuts.
The traditional method boils everything in one pot: potato chunks go in first, then the cabbage or savoy or chard, then the pasta, so they all finish together and the starch from the pasta thickens what clings to the vegetables. Sturdy wheat ribbons can follow that method. Soba and pure buckwheat pasta cannot, and must be cooked separately.
Layer, do not stir. Authentic pizzoccheri alla valtellinese is built in the serving dish in layers of drained pasta and vegetables with grated Valtellina Casera or a young alpine cheese between them, then the sizzling butter with garlic and sage is poured over the top and it is tossed once at the table. Stirring cheese into a hot pan instead gives you stringy clumps.
If you cannot get Valtellina Casera, fontina, young Asiago, raclette or a mild Gruyere all melt the same way. Avoid anything pre-shredded, since the anti-caking starch on the surface makes the melted cheese grainy.
Buckwheat flour goes rancid faster than wheat flour because of its fat content. If you buy a bag to make your own, smell it first, and keep the rest in the freezer.

Frequently asked questions

Is there any dried supermarket pasta that is a true pizzoccheri substitute?

No, and it is worth saying so directly. Pizzoccheri is defined by two things at once, a buckwheat flavour and a short flat ribbon shape, and no ordinary supermarket carries a product with both. You have to choose which half matters more to you. Soba gives you the flavour with the wrong shape; whole-wheat tagliatelle cut short gives you the shape with the wrong flavour. A fifteen-minute homemade dough is the only way to get both, which is why it is the top recommendation here.

Can I use soba noodles for pizzoccheri?

Yes, and it is the best shop-bought option for flavour, but change the method. Snap the dry bundles into roughly two-inch lengths, boil them on their own for about four minutes, and rinse them briefly under warm water to wash off the surface starch, which is much gluier than Italian pasta starch. Then fold them into the separately cooked potato and cabbage with the butter and cheese. Boiling soba in the vegetable pot the traditional way will turn it into porridge.

Can I just leave the buckwheat out and use normal pasta?

You can, and you will eat well, but you will be eating a different dish. The buckwheat is not decorative. Its bitterness and earthiness are the counterweight to a very rich sauce of butter, potato and melted alpine cheese, and without it the plate tends to taste flat and heavy after a few forkfuls. If normal pasta is all you have, brown the butter hard with sage, be generous with black pepper, and choose the sharpest melting cheese you can get.

What actually is pizzoccheri alla valtellinese?

It is the classic dish of the Valtellina, in the Alps north of Milan: the buckwheat ribbons boiled together with cubed potato and shredded savoy cabbage or chard, then layered in a dish with grated Valtellina Casera cheese and finished with butter that has been sizzled with garlic and sage. It is mountain food, extremely rich, and traditionally eaten in winter. That context matters when you substitute, because the pasta is the only element bringing any bitterness or grain flavour to the plate.

Is pizzoccheri gluten free?

No. Traditional pizzoccheri is a blend of buckwheat and wheat flour, usually around two to one, because pure buckwheat dough is too crumbly to roll and cut easily. Buckwheat itself is not a wheat and contains no gluten, so if you need a gluten-free version, look for 100 percent buckwheat pasta in a gluten-free range, or make your own with buckwheat flour bound with egg or a little xanthan gum instead of the wheat flour. Certified gluten-free soba is also usually 100 percent buckwheat, but most ordinary soba contains wheat.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Pizzoccheri substitute

Other pizzoccheri substitutes

2Dried Soba Noodles, Snapped Short

3Whole-Wheat Tagliatelle or Pappardelle, Cut Short

4Buckwheat Flour Blended into Fresh Egg Pasta

5Plain Egg Tagliatelle or Fettuccine, Cut Short

6Buckwheat Pasta from a Gluten-Free Range