Radiatori substitute

Best substitute

Fusilli or Rotini

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

Best for pesto

Close match

Use fusilli or rotini for hot sauced dishes, farfalle for cold pasta salad, or cavatappi if you want the closest all-round match, all at 1:1 by weight. Radiatori adds no flavor of its own. Its only job is surface area: the ruffled fins hold onto thick sauces, pesto, and salad dressing that would slide off a smooth shape. Pick a substitute with crevices and you have kept the point of the recipe.

Other radiatori substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cavatappi or Cellentani
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Ridged hollow corkscrews.
What changes
The best single substitute if you can get it, because you get ridges on the outside and a tube through the middle, which together do what radiatori's fins do.
Best for
cheese sauces, baked pasta, thick tomato or meat sauce, pasta salad
Sauce ends up both on and inside the pasta, so each bite is at least as heavily sauced as with radiatori, sometimes more. The shape is longer and looser, so the dish looks airier in the bowl and takes up more volume for the same weight. Cook it a minute past the point where it looks done, because the thick wall stays chalky at the center otherwise.
3Farfalle (Bow Ties)
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The standard supermarket answer for anything cold, and the shape most pasta salad recipes assume in the first place.
What changes
Best for
pasta salad, creamy dressings, buffet dishes
Farfalle has flat wings and a pinched middle rather than crevices, so a thick sauce coats it instead of lodging in it. In a hot dish with a chunky sauce you will notice the difference: the sauce and the pasta stay slightly separate rather than clinging together. In a cold salad with a mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing, nobody can tell. The pinched center also stays firmer than the wings, which some people like and some do not.
4Campanelle or Gigli
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Small frilled cones with a ruffled edge.
What changes
The closest match on this list for the actual ruffle, and often shelved right next to radiatori in the specialty aisle.
Best for
pesto, cream sauces, vegetable sauces, pasta salad
Practically an even swap for sauce-holding, since the frilled lip catches sauce exactly the way radiatori's fins do. The difference is density: campanelle is thin and hollow where radiatori is solid and stumpy, so the finished dish eats more delicately and the pieces can crush under a heavy stir. Fold rather than stir once the sauce is on.
5Medium Shells (Conchiglie)
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Cupped ridged shells.
What changes
A different mechanism for the same result, since they scoop sauce rather than trapping it in ruffles.
Best for
chunky sauces with peas or small vegetables, pasta salad, ricotta sauces
Shells catch small solids inside the cup, so a sauce with peas, corn, ground meat, or diced vegetables ends up concentrated in pockets instead of spread evenly. Some bites are intensely sauced and others less so, which is a real change from radiatori's even coating. Shells also hold water, so drain them tilted and give the colander a shake.
6Gemelli
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Two short strands twisted around each other.
What changes
A quieter shape with less grip, but a good pick when the sauce is smooth rather than chunky.
Best for
smooth tomato sauce, butter and cheese, olive oil based sauces
The twist gives you one groove rather than a dozen fins, so a thick sauce coats the outside and slides more than it clings. With a chunky sauce written for radiatori, expect the solids to fall to the bottom of the bowl. With a smooth sauce, gemelli is arguably nicer, because the dense twist has a satisfying chew radiatori matches but does not beat.

What is Radiatori?

Radiatori is a short chunky pasta shape, sometimes written radiatore and nicknamed radiator or ruffle pasta, built as a solid core wrapped in deep frilled fins whose only job is to trap as much thick or chunky sauce as possible.

Cooking tips

Radiatori is the pasta equivalent of a sponge, and that cuts both ways. It grabs sauce beautifully, but it also grabs cooking water, so drain it well and give it a full ten seconds of shaking before it goes into the sauce or a cold salad, otherwise the dressing turns thin and gray.
Whatever shape you use in its place, the rule that matters is grip. Match crevices to chunky sauce and smooth shapes to smooth sauce. A ruffle shape is wasted on a butter sauce, and a smooth shape wastes a chunky one.
Radiatori is thicker at the core than it looks, so it needs longer than a spiral of the same size, usually 9 to 11 minutes. Taste the middle of a piece rather than the fin, because the fins soften long before the core does.
For a cold pasta salad, dress any of these shapes while the pasta is still warm. Warm pasta absorbs the vinaigrette instead of shedding it, which is how you avoid the puddle of dressing at the bottom of the bowl an hour later.
Radiatori is a specialty shape that goes in and out of stock, and different brands cut it very differently, from stumpy little rolls to broad open ruffles. If a recipe gives a cook time, treat it as a rough guide and test a piece rather than trusting the clock.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest substitute for radiatori?

Cavatappi if you can find it, because you get both external ridges and a hollow center, and campanelle if you want the ruffle itself. If neither is on the shelf, fusilli or rotini gets you most of the way there for a fraction of the trouble, and almost nobody will notice in a sauced dish.

Can I use radiatori and its substitutes interchangeably in pasta salad?

Yes, and pasta salad is the most forgiving use of all, because the dressing coats everything regardless of shape. Farfalle, fusilli, and shells all work at 1:1. The one thing to keep is a short sturdy shape that holds up after a night in the fridge; avoid anything thin and delicate, which goes limp.

Can I just leave it out and use any pasta I have?

Yes. Radiatori contributes no flavor, no thickening, and no structure the dish depends on, so nothing is truly lost. Use any short shape you have and adjust your expectations for sauce coverage: with a smooth shape like penne lisce or plain macaroni you may want to reduce the sauce a little longer so it clings rather than pools.

Is radiatore the same as radiatori?

Yes. Radiatori is the plural and radiatore the singular, and both spellings appear on boxes and in recipes. You will also see it called radiator pasta or ruffle pasta in English-language recipes. All refer to the same short frilled shape, and everything on this page applies to any of those names.

Is radiatori the same as rotelle or wagon wheels?

No, though they are often confused in recipe write-ups because both are small novelty shapes. Rotelle are flat wheels with spokes; radiatori are chunky solid rolls wrapped in fins. They are close enough to swap 1:1, but wheels hold less sauce than ruffles, so a thick sauce will coat the wheels rather than lodge in them.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Radiatori substitute

Other radiatori substitutes

2Cavatappi or Cellentani

3Farfalle (Bow Ties)

4Campanelle or Gigli

5Medium Shells (Conchiglie)

6Gemelli