Our gluten-free pastas are all traditional shapes designed to work best with specific recipes. Here’s how to pair them like a pro.

It’s no secret that our Giadzy gluten-free pasta is as good as any wheat-based pasta out there. It’s got a great al dente bite and clean flavor from Italian-grown, non-GMO corn and rice flour. And just like our Giadzy semolina pasta, each gluten-free pasta shape is a traditional favorite that was designed to pair with a different sauce or preparation. While we’d never stifle anyone’s creativity, we’ve found that it’s often best to follow tradition when choosing a pasta to make the most delicious meals. 

Here are our favorite gluten-free pastas to use for… 

Tossed Pasta: Caserecce 

In dishes like cacio e pepe, carbonara, or any pesto, you need a shape that can hold up to a lot of friction. Tossing the nearly cooked pasta and sauce together vigorously—usually with lots of pasta water to marry the ingredients together—is the key to getting creamy lusciousness instead of a clumpy mess. Caserecce’s thick, rustic shape is sturdy enough to toss without falling apart, and its twist creates nooks for delicious sauce to get trapped inside. Remember to drain your pasta a couple of minutes early, when it’s very al dente, when you’re finishing it in this way. It will continue to cook as you toss it in the hot pan.  

Simply Sauced Pasta: Mezzi Rigatoni

For a classic pomodoro or bolognese, the delicate hollows of our mezzi rigatoni are the right choice. A half-size take on the well-known shape, our rigatoni’s tubes are thinner than industrial pastas, giving them a more refined bite. This also means that they hold up best when they’re tossed lightly with a loose, tomato-based sauce, rather than the more athletic emulsifying called for in dishes like cacio e pepe.  

Soup: Stelline 

One of the most beloved Italian dishes, a go-to comfort food for kids and grownups alike, is pastina soup, starring teeny-tiny pasta like our Stelline. These little stars cook so quickly they can be tossed directly into a pot of hearty broth just a few minutes before you’re ready to eat. They’re also irresistibly easy to slurp up, either in a simple chicken soup or other classic soup recipes like pasta e fagioli. 

Baked Pasta: Ziti Corti Rigati

Few pasta shapes have a longer history than ziti, which has been the go-to shape to layer under melty cheese in baked dishes since the Middle Ages. Its name probably comes from the Sicilian for “wife,” as it was the shape of choice for baked pastas served at wedding celebrations! Ziti’s sturdy tubes give structure to casserole-dish classics like baked ziti with meatballs, and make a great choice for more modern baked pastas like Giada’s sheet pan pasta alla norma.