Macaroni: 6 minutes
Small wagon wheels: 7 minutes
Rotini: 7 minutes
Spaghetti: 10 minutes
Spaghetti is not thicker than the other pastas, but it takes longer to cook and this makes no sense to me. How does this work?
In: 4
A circle minimizes perimeter, and by extension, a cylinder will have minimal surface area. This lack of surface area will slow the conductance of heat and the penetration of moisture.
Pastas comes in various thicknesses too, so not all brands or sizes will have the same cook times you have listed above. In my cupboard I have 1 box of penne that lists 10-11 minutes, another that lists 6-8 minutes, a box of pastina that lists 4-6 minutes, and a box of spaghetti listing 8-9 minutes.
Also note that different pasta shapes may or may not be ideally fully cooked, as some are better served al dente, while others are not.
It’s not just thickness, it’s also surface area to thickness.
Wagon wheels are thinner than spaghetti and have more relative contact to water.
Fettuccine takes longer to cook than spaghetti because it is thicker. There are other types of pasta that take longer too. They will tend to be thicker shapes.
Let’s just look at the straight pastas.
**Barilla, classic blue box:**
*Angel Hair Spaghetti: 4 minutes (tender, 5 minutes)*
*Thin Spaghetti: 6 minutes (tender, 7 minutes)*
*Spaghetti Rigati (ridged): 6 minutes (tender, 7 minutes)*
*Spaghetti: 9 minutes (tender, 10 minutes)*
*Thick Spaghetti: 11 minutes (tender, 12 minutes)*
*Fettuccine: 12 minutes (tender, 13 minutes)*
You can see that the thicker the pasta, the more cook time required.
For the other shapes, consider that macaroni elbow pasta has hot water contacting both the inside and the outside of the pasta. The coarseness of the flour grind also affects the cooking quality.
I’ve never boiled spaghetti noodles for more than 7 minutes….and that’s living at a higher altitude where water boils at a slightly lower temperature (which means the noodles cook at a lower temperature so it actually takes longer than normal to cook).
That may be cause I use thin though…not the super thin kind (angel hair), just what I consider “regular” noodles, definitely not the thick ones though.
Latest Answers