Pasta, tricolor is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 5 recipes to get you started.

What is pasta, tricolor?

Tricolor pasta is a single box mixing three colors of the same shape, most often rotini or fusilli spirals. The plain pasta is gold, the green is tinted with spinach, and the red or orange comes from tomato or beet.

The colors are the whole point. All three pieces taste nearly the same, since the spinach and tomato are added in small amounts mostly for looks, with only the faintest vegetable note behind the wheat.

Treat it as plain pasta that happens to be three colors. It boils the same and pairs the same; the difference shows up on the plate, not on the palate.

How to Use It

Boil it like any pasta in well salted water, following the box time for the shape, usually 9 to 11 minutes for dried rotini. Taste a piece a minute early and pull it at al dente.

Where tricolor really earns its place is cold pasta salad. The mixed color makes a bowl look lively without any extra effort, which is why it is the default for a Herbed Tricolor Pasta Salad or a loaded Pepperoni, Cheddar, & Veggie Pasta Salad.

The spiral shape, common to most tricolor, has ridges and twists that grab dressing and cling to chopped vegetables. That is part of why it suits salads so well.

Sauces and Pairings

Light, bright dressings and sauces let the three colors stay visible, so vinaigrettes and chunky vegetable mixtures are the natural match. A Mexicali Pasta Salad plays the color against beans, corn, and peppers.

Warm dishes work too, especially lighter ones. A Spirelli, Bacon & Bell Pepper Sauce coats the spiral without hiding it.

The mistake is a thick, dark sauce. A heavy red or brown sauce coats every twist and erases the three colors, leaving you with what looks like ordinary pasta. If the color is why you bought it, keep the sauce light.

Substitutes

Plain rotini or fusilli is the direct swap whenever the color is not the point. It cooks identically and holds dressing just as well.

Any short ridged shape, such as penne or farfalle, works in a salad too, trading the spiral twist for a different way to catch dressing.

To get color back without a tricolor box, mix equal handfuls of the same shape in plain and spinach and tomato versions. You assemble the three-color effect yourself.

Buying and Storing

Dried tricolor pasta keeps a year or two in a sealed container kept cool and dry. The green and red fade with age and light, so a vivid box plates better than a washed-out one; keep it out of direct sun.

Cooked tricolor pasta keeps three or four days in the fridge and is best in salad, where it is meant to be served cold anyway. Toss leftover salad with a little extra dressing before serving, since the pasta drinks it up as it sits.

Quick facts

In Chinese

意大利面，三色

British (UK) term

Pasta, tricolor

en français

pâtes, tricolore

en español

pasta, tricolor

Recipes using pasta, tricolor

There are 5 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 5 recipes