What Is Radiatore and How Can I Use It?
Radiatore is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 1 recipe to get you started.
Key Points
- Radiatore is a short dried pasta shaped like a radiator, all ruffles and ridges.
- Those folds grab thick sauce, so use it with ragu, pesto, and cheese sauces.
- Thin broths and oil dressings run straight through and leave it tasting plain.
- Overcooking blurs the ruffles; pull it al dente, around 9 to 11 minutes.
- Fusilli or rotini are the closest swaps since their spirals trap sauce the same way.
What is radiatore?
Radiatore is a short, chunky dried pasta shaped like a little radiator, with rows of wavy ruffles running around a stubby core. The name is Italian for "radiators," and the design copies the old cast-iron heating kind: all those fins exist to multiply surface area.
On a radiator that surface sheds heat. On the pasta it grabs sauce. Every ridge and fold gives thick sauce something to cling to, so each piece carries far more than a smooth shape would.
It is one of the more playful pasta shapes, popular with kids for the same reason it works in the kitchen: the ruffles are fun to eat and they hold onto whatever you toss them in.
How to Use Radiatore
Radiatore is built for thick, clingy sauces and for dishes where you want the pasta to trap small bits. A chunky tomato sauce, a meat ragu, pesto, or a cheese sauce all settle into the ruffles instead of sliding off.
It works well in a simple tossed dish like Pasta with Fresh Basil, Tomato & Parmesan, where the folds catch the chopped tomato and grated cheese.
Cold, it makes a sturdy pasta salad that holds its shape and grips dressing for days. It also bakes well, since the open shape stays distinct under a blanket of cheese rather than matting down.
Boil it to al dente, usually 9 to 11 minutes; taste at 9. The general boiling method is in the pasta guide.
Pairing and Common Mistakes
The whole point is texture, so match it to sauces with body. A thin broth or a light oil-and-herb dressing runs straight through the ruffles and leaves them tasting of plain pasta.
The common mistake is overcooking. Pushed past al dente, the ruffles go soft and lose the spring that makes radiatore worth using, and the sauce no longer has crisp edges to grab.
Pull it a minute early when it is headed into a bake, since it cooks further in the oven.
Substitutes
Fusilli is the closest swap, since its corkscrew spirals trap sauce the same way. Rotini works just as well and is often the easier shape to find.
Cavatappi, the hollow corkscrew, is another good match for chunky and creamy sauces. For pasta salad or baked dishes, medium shells or campanelle stand in cleanly, since both have folds and cups that hold dressing and cheese.
Buying and Storage
Radiatore is sold dried in boxes near other short shapes, though it is less common than fusilli or penne, so a well-stocked supermarket or an Italian grocer is the place to look.
Sealed and dry, it keeps for a year or more in a cool, dark cupboard away from heat and humidity. Look for a rough, matte surface; bronze-die pasta has more grip for sauce than the slick, glossy kind.
Once the box is open, fold the bag closed or move the pasta to a jar so it stays dry.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- radiatore
- British (UK) term
- Radiatore
- en français
- radiatore
- en español
- radiatore
Recipes using radiatore
There are 1 recipe that contain this ingredient.
Pasta Wit Fresh Basil, Tomato & Parmesan
Pasta salad with fresh basil, ripe Roma tomatoes, parmesan, and a lemon-olive oil toss. A summer-ready cold pasta that lets a handful of garden ingredients shine.
