Tagliatelle substitute

Best substitute

Fettuccine

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

Best for ragu bolognese

Close match

Fettuccine is the substitute, one for one by weight, and it is so close that the two names are used interchangeably in most of the world. Pappardelle works just as well if you have it, simply wider. The best supermarket fallback is medium or wide egg noodles, because they share the thing that actually matters here, which is egg in the dough. Durum-wheat strands like linguine and spaghetti will absolutely do the job, but they behave differently and need a little help. Here is why: tagliatelle is made with egg rather than water, so the ribbon is tender, faintly rich and slightly porous, and a fine-textured meat sauce soaks into and grips that flat absorbent surface instead of sliding off it. A slippery round strand of durum spaghetti gives a bolognese nothing to hold, which is why the sauce ends up in a puddle at the bottom of the bowl. If you use one, finish the pasta in the pan with a knob of butter and a splash of pasta water and it will cling perfectly well.

Other tagliatelle substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Pappardelle
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The widest egg ribbon, cut two to three centimetres across.
What changes
Best for
braised and chunky ragu, short rib and duck sauces, mushroom sauces, when you want a more dramatic plate
The same dough, the same flavour, three times the width, and a completely legitimate swap. Broad sheets suit a chunky, slow-braised sauce even better than tagliatelle does, since they fold around pieces of meat. Where they are slightly less good is with a finely textured bolognese, because the sauce can slip off a big smooth sheet and the ratio of pasta to sauce in each mouthful goes up, making the dish feel more about the pasta. Loosen the sauce with a little pasta water or stock so it coats properly, and expect a longer cooking time by a minute or so.
3Medium or wide egg noodles
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Short curly egg-dough noodles sold in bags in the pasta or kosher aisle.
What changes
Best for
bolognese and meat sauces, stroganoff-style dishes, braises and gravies, weeknight cooking
The closest thing to tagliatelle in an ordinary supermarket, for the simple reason that both are wide flat noodles made with egg, so the richness and the sauce-gripping surface are both there. Two differences you will notice: they are short, so you twirl nothing and the dish eats like a comforting casserole rather than an Italian pasta course, and they are considerably softer, cooking in five to seven minutes and going flabby soon after. Pull them a minute early, drain gently, and toss them through the sauce rather than stirring, since they break easily.
4Linguine or bavette
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Long, narrow, slightly flattened durum-wheat strands with no egg in the dough.
What changes
Best for
bolognese, tomato and meat sauces, sausage ragu, seafood sauces
A perfectly good weeknight answer with one adjustment to make. Being flattened rather than round, linguine has more surface than spaghetti and holds a sauce reasonably well. What it lacks is the egg: durum dough is firmer, springier and less absorbent, so the pasta tastes cleaner and lighter and the sauce sits on it rather than soaking in, which makes a rich bolognese feel less unified. Fix it by finishing the drained pasta in the sauce for a full minute over low heat with a good knob of butter, a splash of starchy pasta water and a handful of grated parmesan, all of which help the sauce grip.
5Dried lasagne sheets cut into ribbons
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Flat lasagne sheets sliced lengthwise into strips roughly a centimetre wide.
What changes
Best for
ragu, mushroom and cream sauces, when there is no long pasta in the shop
A genuinely useful improvisation, since lasagne sheets are just very wide ribbons of the same shape family. Cut them with a sharp knife into strips about a centimetre wide, then boil in plenty of well-salted water, stirring early and often because flat pasta sticks to itself. The bite is a little firmer than tagliatelle and most dried lasagne contains no egg, so the pasta is less rich, and the strips end up shorter than a proper ribbon. Cooking takes a minute or two longer than the tagliatelle it is replacing.
6Fresh homemade egg ribbons
Close match
Use 100 g flour plus 1 egg for every person, replacing about 100 g dried
A two-ingredient egg dough rolled thin and cut into ribbons by hand.
What changes
Best for
ragu bolognese, butter and sage sauces, special occasions, when nothing in the shop is right
The reason tagliatelle is specified in Bolognese recipes at all is that in Bologna it is made fresh, and doing it yourself is genuinely straightforward: roughly one egg per hundred grams of 00 or plain flour, knead until smooth, rest half an hour, roll thin, flour well, roll the sheet loosely and slice into ribbons. It cooks in two to three minutes. Fresh dough is softer, more golden and much more absorbent than dried, so it drinks up sauce and the finished dish tastes noticeably more integrated and richer. Because it absorbs so much, keep the sauce a touch looser than you would otherwise.

What is Tagliatelle?

Tagliatelle is Tagliatelle is a flat egg-dough ribbon pasta from Emilia-Romagna, cut about six to eight millimetres wide and usually sold dried in coiled nests, and it is the pasta a proper ragu bolognese is traditionally served with.

Cooking tips

Do not break up the nests, and do not stir them for the first thirty seconds. Dried tagliatelle nests unfurl on their own once the outside softens, and prodding them straight away tears the ribbons into short pieces. Drop them in, wait half a minute, then stir gently to separate. The same applies to any wide flat substitute, which sticks together far more readily than a tube shape does.
Egg pasta cooks faster and overcooks faster than durum pasta. Dried egg ribbons are often done in six to eight minutes and fresh ones in two to three, and the window between properly cooked and disappointingly soft is short. Start tasting two minutes before the packet time, and pull the pasta while it still has a definite bite, because it will keep cooking in the sauce.
Always finish the pasta in the pan of sauce with a splash of the cooking water. Drain a minute early, keep a mug of that cloudy starchy water, and toss the pasta in the sauce over low heat for sixty seconds with a knob of butter. The starch and the fat emulsify into something that coats every ribbon, and this single step is the difference between sauce clinging to your substitute and sauce sitting underneath it.
Match the sauce to the shape you actually have. Tagliatelle suits a finely textured, meaty, slightly loose ragu, which is exactly what a real bolognese is. If you are substituting a narrow round strand, chop or shred the sauce finer and loosen it slightly. If you are substituting something wide like pappardelle or a cut lasagne sheet, you can leave the sauce chunkier and richer.
Never rinse the pasta and never add oil to the water. Both remove the surface starch that a sauce needs to adhere to, which matters most with the smoother, less absorbent durum substitutes. If you are worried about sticking, use more water and stir in the first minute, which is when pasta actually sticks.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between tagliatelle and fettuccine?

Very little, and they substitute for each other freely. Both are flat egg-dough ribbons, and the traditional distinction is regional: tagliatelle comes from Emilia-Romagna, is usually slightly wider and rolled thinner, and is sold in nests, while fettuccine is Roman and is a touch narrower and thicker. In practice, outside Italy the names are used almost interchangeably and the products are often identical. Fettuccine's slightly thicker ribbon stands up marginally better to heavy cream sauces; tagliatelle's thinner one absorbs a meat ragu slightly better.

Can I use spaghetti for bolognese instead of tagliatelle?

You can, and most of the world does, though Bologna would raise an eyebrow. The practical issue is not authenticity but physics: a round smooth durum strand offers very little for a meat sauce to grip, so the sauce tends to slide off and gather at the bottom of the bowl. Compensate by cooking the sauce a little looser, then finishing the drained spaghetti in the pan with the sauce, a splash of pasta water, a knob of butter and grated parmesan for a full minute. Tossed properly, it clings well and tastes excellent.

Can I use egg noodles instead of tagliatelle?

Yes, and they are the closest thing in an ordinary supermarket, because both are wide flat noodles made with egg, so you keep the richness and the broad sauce-holding surface. Use the same weight, choosing medium or wide rather than fine. The trade-offs are that they are short instead of long, so the dish feels more like a homely bake than a plate of Italian pasta, and they are much softer, so cook them a minute less than the packet says and toss rather than stir so they do not break up.

Can I just leave the tagliatelle out?

Not really, since the pasta is the substance of the dish rather than a flavouring, but a good ragu is happy in plenty of other homes. Serve it over soft polenta, spoon it onto mashed potato, use it to build a lasagne, fold it through gnocchi or serve it with rice or even baked potatoes. Wide egg noodles will feel closest to the original. Ragu over polenta is a traditional pairing in northern Italy rather than a compromise, so it is a genuine option rather than a rescue.

How much dried tagliatelle should I cook per person?

About eighty to a hundred grams of dried pasta per person for a main course, which is roughly one to one and a quarter of the standard nests, or a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty grams if you are using fresh pasta, which already contains water. Substitute by weight and not by cup measure, because ribbons and nests occupy far more volume than tubes and measuring by the cupful will leave you with far too much pasta and not enough sauce.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Tagliatelle substitute

Other tagliatelle substitutes

2Pappardelle

3Medium or wide egg noodles

4Linguine or bavette

5Dried lasagne sheets cut into ribbons

6Fresh homemade egg ribbons