A lot of different things can be made with a pasta, and there are tons of different types that you can use! From a delicious casserole to a spaghetti dish, there are a lot of possibilities each night for dinner. If you’re interested in using pastas that are easy to find, then consider using the top 10 most popular. These are used most commonly in dishes and should be easy to find at your local grocery store. There are also a ton of different recipes online that you can use the pastas with, so try them out.

Check out the best book on homemade pasta
 or make your own pasta!

Fusilli

You may know this pasta by the name “corkscrew pasta”, but this is the official name for it! It’s identified by thick, long spirals that taste great with pretty much any type of sauce, but especially meat sauces. If you want to try this in a dish, use a good sausage with a spicy red sauce. The spirals are great because they hold onto the sauce and absorb the flavor from it.

Spaghetti

You’ve been avoiding carbs if you haven’t heard of spaghetti. It’s one of the most commonly used pastas in the entire world and is found at most restaurants. It’s easily identified by long strands of yellow pasta (or sometimes wheat) that can be combined with a variety of different sauces, meats and veggies. If you want to make something easy and popular, then go for spaghetti with a red sauce and meatballs. This is the most classic dish that everyone seems to enjoy!

Fettuccine

This long pasta is famous in Italian restaurants and is easily prepared at home. It’s great when paired with Alfredo sauce and chicken or seafood, but also tastes great with butter sauces. Thin sauces go well with this because it’s long and will soak in with the flavors.

Linguine

Linguine is like spaghetti, but it’s longer and narrower in appearance. It’s great with seafood and clam sauce, but it’s also excellent with a red sauce, like arrabiatta. You can find this at the grocery store in both fresh and dried varieties.

Penne

This is identified by small cylinder shapes, and it comes in a variety of flavors. Egg penne is the most popular, but there are also spinach and tomato flavors at grocery stores. This pasta is particular great in pasta salads, but you can also pour some olive oil on it with pepper and salt for a simple dish.

Cannelloni

Maybe you haven’t heard of this pasta name, but chances are you’ve tried it. This is a flat pasta that you roll into tubes and stuff with various ingredients of your choosing. If you want to make this, then try filling it with spinach and ricotta cheese. It’s also great with a light sauce, like a simple tomato.

Tagliatelle

This is a pasta that is similar to fettuccine and is long and flat. You will normally find it dried in small nests, making it easy to prepare small portions. If you are going to try this pasta, then use it with a thick meat sauce, like Bolognese. This will pair perfectly with the thickness of the pasta.

Farfalle

Otherwise known as bow-tie pasta, this is a fun and tasty pasta that tastes great inside of pasta salads. The “bows” hold sauce rather well, so it’s great for cream or tomato sauces that have a lot of flavor to them. It’s small, but does have a thick consistency that makes it filling. You can find this available in vegetable flavors in most grocery stores, if you want to try something different.

Tortellini

Tortellini is one of the most fun pastas because it comes in a lot of flavors (spinach, egg, tomato) and with a lot of different fillings. It’s a circular shape that generally has cheese or meat (or a combination of both) inside of it. It’s great with broth, but also tastes nice with a butter or oil based sauce.

Rigatoni

This is a thick tube-shaped pasta that is much larger and more circular than penne. You can’t stuff this with anything because of its size, but it’s great with a thick sauce that has meat or vegetables in it. Rigatoni also tastes really nice when used in baked dishes, like casseroles. If you’re looking for a strong pasta to put in a hearty dish, this is it.

Check out the best book on homemade pasta