The Best Pasta For Pesto

When eating pasta with pesto, our go-to shapes are fusilli, linguine, and farfalle. There are, however, plenty of other, more adventurous shapes that work just as well.

Why some pasta shapes suit pesto better than others

Some people get incredibly hung up about what pasta shapes you should pair with which sauces. We’re far more relaxed. If you want to pair pesto with orzo or ravioli, we’re not going to report you to the pesto police. Having said that, there are some very real reasons why different shapes suit different sauces.

Thick, meaty, ragù-type sauces generally need to be paired with big, hearty noodles such as pappardelle or with traditional tube shapes like rigatoni.

Pesto, on the other hand, flourishes best when paired with thinner noodles, such as spaghetti and linguine, and with shapes that have plenty of twists, grooves, curls, and troughs.

Our all-time favourite pasta shape to pair with pesto

Fusilli is not only one of the most well-known pasta shapes; it’s also the UK’s most popular and our ultimate shape to use with pesto. Many traditional pasta shapes, like orecchiette and casarecce, can now be found in some supermarkets, but for some of the lesser-known shapes, you're either going to have to take a trip to your nearest Italian deli or, better yet, make them yourself.

Other classic shapes to serve with pesto

Garganelli is basically penne's badass cousin because it shares the same tube shape but has lots of little grooves on the outside. That makes it perfect for attracting and holding onto a herby, oily basil pesto. Linguine or its flattened cousin, trenette, are both great with pesto, and on occasion you might find us tucking in to a ribbon-shaped pasta like mafaldine.

Ultimately, your dish will taste great regardless of your pairing choices, but experiment with pairing your sauce with different shapes and see how the dish is affected.