Wagon wheel pasta substitutes

The standard supermarket answer and the closest in spirit: another flat novelty shape of about the same size, and equally appealing to children.

Best for

pasta salad, tomato sauce, buttered pasta, creamy sauces, feeding kids

Cooks in a similar 9 to 11 minutes and reads as an equivalent shape on the plate. The difference is that farfalle has no holes, so small solids such as peas or ground beef sit against it rather than lodging in it and tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl. Farfalle also cooks unevenly by design, with soft wings and a firmer pinched center, where a wheel cooks fairly uniformly.

Short corkscrews, cheap and everywhere. Better than wheels at holding onto sauce and just as fun on a fork.

Best for

tomato and meat sauce, pasta salad, cheese sauces, pesto

Spirals hold more sauce than a flat wheel does, so the same quantity of sauce coats the pasta more heavily and the pan looks drier. The bite changes from the slightly crisp snap of a thin wheel rim to a springy chew. If the recipe was chosen for the wheel shape rather than for how it behaves, this swap works well but loses the novelty.

Ridged cupped shells. The best choice specifically when the sauce contains small solid pieces, which most wagon-wheel recipes do.

Best for

sauces with peas, corn, or ground beef, tuna pasta salad, cheese sauces, baked pasta

Shells scoop peas, corn, and small crumbles of meat right inside the cup, so the solids stay with the pasta far better than they do with wheels. That makes bites uneven in a good way: some are loaded and some lightly coated. Shells also hold cooking water, so drain them tilted and shake the colander, or a cold pasta salad will turn watery in the fridge.

Ridged hollow corkscrews. The sturdiest option on this list and the best pick for anything cheesy or baked.

Best for

macaroni and cheese, baked pasta, thick tomato sauce, pasta salad

Sauce collects in the ridges and inside the tube, so a cheese sauce clings dramatically better than it does to a flat wheel, where it simply coats the surface. The pieces are much longer and bouncier, so the dish takes up more volume in the bowl and eats less delicately. Cook it a minute past the point it looks done or the thick wall stays chalky at the center.

Short ruffled shapes, sometimes called radiator pasta. A specialty item, but if your shop stocked wheels it may well stock these too.

Best for

thick sauces, pasta salad, pesto, cheese sauces

The deep fins hold far more sauce than a wheel's spokes do, so the dish tastes more strongly sauced for the same amount. Radiatori is also solid and stubby where a wheel is flat and thin, so the pasta becomes a chewy component rather than a light one. Needs a couple of minutes longer than wheels because the core is thick.

The cupboard fallback. Smaller and plainer, but it does the job and children eat it.

Best for

macaroni and cheese, baked pasta, cold pasta salad, soups

Elbows are noticeably smaller and thinner-walled than wheels, so they absorb more sauce and cook softer, and a dish made with them eats denser and more casserole-like. Because the pieces are small, the same weight looks like a lot more pasta in the pan. Undercook by a minute if the dish will be baked, and hold back some of the sauce at first, since small pasta soaks up more than you expect.