What Is Angel hair pasta and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with angel hair pasta? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 74 recipes to put it to work.

Key Points

Angel hair, or capellini d'angelo, is the thinnest long pasta strand, round and wire-fine.
Keep sauces light: garlic oil, light tomato, herbs, or seafood, never heavy meat or cream.
Dried cooks in just 3 to 4 minutes; pull it early and sauce it immediately.
Left sitting in the colander, the fine strands fuse into one solid clump.
Capellini is the same pasta; vermicelli or spaghettini step up slightly in thickness.

What is angel hair pasta?

Angel hair, known in Italian as capellini d'angelo, is the thinnest of the long pasta strands. Each round thread is barely thicker than a wire, which is exactly what makes it so quick to cook and so easy to overcook.

It is round in cross section like spaghetti, just spun far finer. That delicacy decides everything about how you sauce and serve it.

Light Sauces Only

The single rule with angel hair is to keep the sauce light. A thin strand cannot carry weight, so a heavy meat sauce or a thick cream mats the threads into a clump and buries them.

Go the other way. A simple garlic and olive oil, a light tomato, fresh herbs, or seafood let the pasta stay loose and separate.

It works beautifully with a light basil pesto, where the thin coating clings without dragging the strands down, and it carries a quick scallop sauce well, as in angel hair with tomato-scallop sauce.

Vegetables work too when they are cut fine, like the florets in broccoli and angel hair pasta.

Timing Is Everything

Angel hair cooks fast. Dried strands are done in about 3 to 4 minutes, fresh in well under 2, so it goes from raw to mushy in the blink of an eye.

Have the sauce finished and waiting before the pasta hits the water, not the other way around. Pull it a touch early, since the residual heat keeps cooking it.

Drain it the instant it turns tender and toss it with the sauce immediately. Let angel hair sit in the colander and it fuses into a solid mass.

Substitutes

The closest swap is capellini, which is effectively the same pasta under a different name. Vermicelli is the next step up, slightly thicker but still fine and quick.

Spaghettini, or thin spaghetti, works when you want a little more bite and a strand that forgives a heavier hand. Regular spaghetti will do in a pinch, though you lose the delicacy that is the whole reason to reach for angel hair.

Buying and Storing

Dried angel hair is usually sold coiled into nests rather than straight strands, which keeps the fragile threads from snapping in the box. It keeps a year or more sealed in a cool, dry cupboard.

Handle it gently. The strands break easily, and broken bits cook even faster than the rest, so a crushed nest gives you uneven results. Buy fresh angel hair only if you will use it within a couple of days.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 2 oz (57g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 211Calories from Fat 7

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0.9g 1%

Saturated Fat 0.2g 1%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 3mg 0%

Total Carbohydrate 42.6g 14%

Dietary Fiber 2g 7%

Sugars 1.5

Protein 7.4g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 1% • Iron 4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find angel hair pasta: Angel hair pasta is usually found in the pasta section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Angel hair pasta is a member of the Cereal Grains and Pasta US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 天使头发面食
British (UK) term: Angel hair pasta
en français: cheveux d'ange
en español: pasta cabello de ángel

How much does angel hair pasta weigh?

Amount	Weight
2 ounce	57 grams

Cereal Grains and Pasta

Amaranth flour 28 Arrowroot flour 91 Pearl barley 219 Buckwheat flour 37 Cracked wheat (bulgur) 179 Cornmeal 811 Cornstarch 2554 Couscous 155 Millet 62 Quinoa 111

Recipes using angel hair pasta

There are 74 recipes that contain this ingredient.

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