If alphabet pasta has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 2 recipes to try it in.

What is alphabet pasta?

Alphabet pasta is a tiny dried pasta stamped into the shapes of letters, each piece only a few millimeters across. It belongs to the pastina family, the category of very small pasta meant for soup and for small children rather than for a plate of noodles under sauce.

The letters are the whole appeal. They turn a bowl of soup into something kids will actually eat, and plenty of adults have a soft spot for them too.

Past the novelty, the shape behaves like any small soup pasta: it cooks fast and thickens broth slightly as its starch leaches out.

How to Use Alphabet Pasta

Alphabet pasta lives in soup. Stir it into a simmering broth and it is done in 5 to 7 minutes, the classic move in a bowl like Alphabet Noodle Soup. It also works as a quick starchy filler in a brothy vegetable or chicken soup for a weeknight.

Beyond soup, the little letters scatter through a cold salad, the way Pine Nut Salad uses them as a soft, chewy bead among the crunchier ingredients. Cooked plain and tossed with butter and a little cheese, it makes a gentle side or a first solid pasta for a toddler.

Because the pieces are so small, drain them in a fine mesh sieve. A regular colander lets most of the alphabet wash down the drain. See the pasta guide for the general boiling method.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Alphabet pasta belongs with thin, brothy bases and soft companions: a clear soup, a light tomato broth, butter and grated parmesan. Heavy, chunky sauces overwhelm the tiny shape, which is built to float in liquid rather than carry a thick coating.

The biggest mistake is cooking it directly in the soup too early. The pasta keeps drinking liquid and swelling, so a pot left on the stove turns thick and gluey, and leftovers set into a solid mass overnight.

For soup you plan to store, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl.

Substitutes

Any small soup pasta swaps in directly. Stelline (little stars) and acini di pepe are the obvious choices, with orzo or plain pastina close behind. All cook in roughly the same few minutes and play the same role in a bowl.

For a salad or a buttered side, orzo is the closest stand-in, since it is small but a touch more substantial. In a pinch, broken-up angel hair or vermicelli gives a similar tender, quick-cooking bite, though without the letters.

Buying and Storage

Alphabet pasta is sold dried in small boxes or bags, usually near the soup pasta or the kids' food. Look for clean, distinct letter shapes; cheaper versions can come half-broken, which matters less here than the fun of recognizable letters.

Sealed and dry, it keeps for a year or more in a cool, dark cupboard. Because the pieces are small and easy to spill, transfer an open box to a jar with a tight lid so the letters stay dry and contained.

Quick facts

Where to find alphabet pasta: Alphabet pasta is usually found in the pasta section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

In Chinese

字母表意大利面

British (UK) term

Alphabet pasta

en français

pâtes alphabet

en español

pastas alfabeto

Recipes using alphabet pasta

There are 2 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 2 recipes