Pasta comes in an awful lot of shapes and sizes. But how many types of pasta are there actually? There are an awful lot of them, so in this blog we will try to give you an idea of how many types of pasta exist.
How many types of pasta exist?
It is estimated that there are more than 700 different types of pasta worldwide. The 700 types of pasta are divided into dried pasta, fresh pasta, long pasta, short pasta, stuffed pasta and many more categories. So there are an awful lot of types of pasta.
There are more than 700 different types of pasta
So there are more than 700 different types of pasta worldwide. These are an awful lot and it is almost impossible to try all types of pasta once. But hey, I’m sure someone is working on becoming the first person to have eaten them all!
There are, of course, types of pasta that you are familiar with. Think of the well-known spaghetti, penne, fusilli, tagliatelle, fettuccine and lasagna. Maybe you know a few more but these are the most famous types of pasta there are. And that is actually not so surprising. These types of pasta go with most pasta dishes. They are incredibly diverse and versatile and therefore so popular.
But these are only 6 types of pasta. So what types of pasta are the other 694? To answer this question, we must first describe all categories of pasta. This is because all these 700 types of pasta fall into different categories. In the next paragraph we will tell you what different categories of pasta there are.
Pasta divided into categories
Because those 700 different types of pasta fall into all sorts of different categories, we have done our best to give you some idea of what categories exist.
The main distinction we make in the pasta world is between dried and fresh pasta. Dried pasta is simply put, pasta that is dried after the products. Fresh pasta is pasta that is not dried before it is packaged. This is actually the biggest difference between these two categories. Therefore, we will start with these two.
But of course there are many more categories that fall under both dried pasta and fresh pasta. Consider spaghetti, for example. You can buy dried spaghetti but also fresh spaghetti. So here we are talking about 1 type of pasta, which nevertheless falls under two categories.
The same can apply to spaghetti and whole wheat spaghetti. Also in this case the type of pasta is “spaghetti” but one is regular and the other is whole wheat. For this reason, there are also so many different types of pasta in the world.
So as not to make things too complicated, we have listed below all the categories that exist in the pasta world. Both fresh and dried pasta types.
Categories of pasta:
- Long pasta
- Short pasta
- Stuffed pasta
- Pasta with eggs
- Whole wheat pasta
- Spelt pasta
- Colored pasta
- Gluten-free pasta
- Flavored pasta
So all these 700 different types of pasta fall (broadly speaking) within these above categories. So within these categories you have all kinds of different shapes. Think of spaghetti, penne, fusilli and tagliatelle. These types of pasta can fall into several categories, which means that there are many different types of pasta.
The best known types of pasta
Out of all the 700 types of pasta that exist worldwide, there are some that are by far the most widely eaten. I’m sure you recognize some of the pasta types. Maybe you can’t quite place the shape, but you will surely have seen the name come along once.
The most familiar types of long pasta are:
- Spaghetti
- Tagliatelle
- Pappadelle
- Fettuccine
- Linguine
The most well-known types of short pasta are:
- Penne
- Fusilli
- Farfalle
- Macaroni
- Casarecce
One of these names will surely seem familiar to you. In fact, you’ll probably have eaten it at some point. In addition to these well-known types of pasta, there are many that you will never have heard of. We cannot list all 700 types of pasta because, take it from us, it would make you dizzy.
The best way to get an impression of how many types of pasta there are is to take a look at our pasta shop. Here you will find more than 150 types of pasta. The advantage is that you also see a picture of the pasta, so you know exactly what the type looks like.
In our pasta shop you will find by far the most widely eaten types of pasta. The other types of pasta that are not present in our pasta shop are mostly local Italian types of pasta. Each region in Italy has its own types of pasta which are well known locally, but not at all internationally.