Rigatoni is a pasta tube that Italians use with all kinds of sauces, but particularly hearty meat sauces and ragu. It's also a very popular pasta for pasta bakes and pies. There are quite a few well-known traditional recipes for rigatoni. However, you can also use it for more or less any recipe that calls for pasta tubes.
What size is rigatoni pasta?
Rigatoni is a form of tube-shaped pasta of varying lengths and diameters. In fact, the size can vary from one pasta maker to another. But, in general, these pasta tubes are 4.5-6cm (1.8-2.3") in length.
Rigatoni pasta is larger than penne, sedani and short ziti and sometimes slightly curved, though nowhere near as curved as elbow macaroni.
It characteristically has ridges down its length, sometimes spiraling around the tube, like elicoidale. And unlike penne, rigatoni's ends are cut square to the tube walls instead of diagonally.
What does 'rigatoni' mean?
The word rigatoni comes from the Italian word 'rigate' which means ridged, grooved or lined. ‘Rigatoncini’ are a smaller version, more similar in size to penne. Mezzi rigatoni is half sized rigatoni.
Ridges or grooves in pasta is something that developed after industrialized pasta production started in the 19th century. Traditional homemade pasta, doesn’t have ridges. But, nowadays, it's possible to buy rigatoni dies for domestic pasta machines.
Many Italians believe that the ridges actually make a better surface for sauces and grated cheese to adhere to than smooth pasta like penne lisce. In fact, ridged tubular pasta like rigatoni is ideal with heartier meat sauces and so they are often the pasta used in timballo or classic baked pastas.
Recipes for rigatoni pasta from Rome and Sicily.
Rigatoni pasta is particularly popular in Lazio, especially Rome, where it is the traditional pasta partner for the Roman dish ‘la pagliata’, or 'pajata' in the local dialect. This very popular with Romans but not so popular with tourists recipe is made with the intestine of a milk fed calf.
I have eaten it and it is extremely good but I’m not so sure about cooking it!! Other more appealing Lazio pasta dishes usually made with rigatoni are the light and simple ‘alla burina’ and the more substantial ‘alla zozzona’.
However, rigatoni is also favorite pasta shape in the south of Italy, especially in Sicily. Sicilians use it in many typical dishes such as ‘alla Norma’ (named after Bellini’s opera Norma), pasta‘ncaciata alla siciliana’ (made famous by the books and TV series about Commissario Montalbano) and ‘Il Taganu or Tagano di Aragona’ from Agrigento, which is traditionally prepared on Easter Saturday and eaten on Easter Monday.
In the past, this interesting dish was cooked in a clay jar which was then broken at the end of cooking, to serve the dish. Today, this rich and super nutritious dish is cooked in a terracotta pan. I am waiting for some cooler weather to try this dish out, as it’s a bit heavy for the hot summer days we are experiencing now.
Rigatoni pasta recipes I want to try.
Another rigatoni dish which I am dying to make is ‘Il Vesuvio di Rigatoni’ created by Alfonso Laccarino, the chef at two Michelin star restaurant Don Alfonso 1890 on the Amalfi coast. ‘Il Vesuvio di Rigatoni’ has become a great classic of Mediterranean cuisine and is a classic example of the transformation of a traditional family dish, baked pasta, into haute cuisine. However, it’s quite complicated to make so I’m working my way up to it!
The first recipe I posted for rigatoni was ‘alla Norma’. The fact that my hubby is Sicilian made this a given. However, as I mentioned above, there are a number of delicious traditional recipes for this pasta. Below are links to some of the rigatoni recipes I have published so far. Of course, there are more to come!
Do check them out and let me know in the recipe comment section if you enjoyed them or post a comment on the Pasta Project Facebook page.
- Rigatoni with shallots and guanciale
- Pasta alla Zozzona from Rome
- Rigatoni pasta pie with pastry.
- Pasta alla Parmigiana
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Manuel Rebera says
Iam very old school when I was a kid my mom would make rigatoni,but the called them stove pipe they were a lot larger then th regular rigatoni I can’t seem to find them the one that I did was 10dollars shipping a little steep where can I find some
Jacqui says
Hi Manuel, thanks for your comment. Can you give me a rough estimate as to the size of the rigatoni your mom made? Plus let me know where you are from? There are some Italian pasta makers who produce 'rigatoni giganti', alternatively 'paccheri rigati' may be what you mean. However, I don't know if these shapes are available where you are.
Diane says
which is the larger rigatoni shell a 21 or 24?
Jacqui says
Hi Diane, thanks for your comment. Pasta makers don't all use the same number for their pastas. De Cecco have 24 for their rigatoni and Barilla has 89! But many companies, particularly artisan companies, have no numbers for pasta tubes. Some think the numbers refer to thickness which could be true for spaghetti. Some companies number the pasta according to when they started producing that shape. The standard size for rigatoni is 44mm x 11mm. But here in Italy we also have giant rigatoni which are bigger.