Its length and curl perch perfectly on a fork, its ribbing is optimal for gripping luscious sauce, and its thickness (slightly thicker than elbows) decreases any risk of mushiness. (Like cutting a grilled cheese into triangles instead of rectangles, they may actually improve the taste of the finished product, if only in our heads.) Avoid long, thin shapes like spaghetti or linguine.Įlbow enthusiasts should also note that there’s a new kid in town: Cavatappi, a curly, ribbed noodle that’s longer than an elbow, may very well be the platonic ideal for baked macaroni and cheese.

But you will want to make sure you stay within the world of tiny, tube-like shapes, or those undeniably cute little shells. All this is to say that plenty of shapes are suitable for macaroni and cheese (many of which come gluten-free). This includes tubes like ziti, penne, rigatoni and, yes, elbows, as well as corkscrew shapes like fusilli.

Clockwise from top, shell pasta, cavatappi, elbow macaroni and penne cooked and coated in creamy sauces.īy definition, classic macaroni and cheese should be made with, well, macaroni, a style broadly defined as any short, cylindrical extruded pasta.

How to make a cheese sauce for noodles