20 Easy Bucatini Recipes to Devour on Pasta Night

Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta commonly found in Italian recipes that hail from Rome. What makes it unique is the small hole running through its center. To the untrained eye, bucatini is easily mistaken for spaghetti, but upon further inspection, you’ll notice that not only does it have a hole through the center but it’s also a bit thicker than traditional spaghetti.

It's that hollow center that makes bucatini so fantastic. Whereas spaghetti or linguine get coated with sauce, bucatini gets coated and filled with sauce. It’s the ultimate delivery vehicle for velvety sauces like cacio e pepe or carbonara.

Here are 20 easy bucatini recipes to try the next time you're craving pasta. There's everything from Bucatini Pasta With Chanterelle Mushrooms and Prosciutto and Red Wine Garlic Bucatini, to Cacio e Pepe Bucatini and Bucatini With Mixed Seafood.

Related: 101 Best Pasta Recipes 

How to Make Bucatini

Because it is a hollow pasta, bucatini needs to be extruded through a machine rather than rolled. The pasta dough is fed through a perforated disk, producing long, circular, hollow strands. Most at-home pasta machines come with an extruder attachment for making bucatini.

How to Cook Bucatini

To cook dried or fresh bucatini pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt to taste. For dried bucatini, add the pasta to the boiling water and stir. Cook for 8 to 12 minutes depending on the brand of pasta and the desired doneness, stirring occasionally to keep the strands from sticking together. Drain well and use immediately. Fresh bucatini needs to boil just 3 to 5 minutes before draining.

Bucatini should be cooked to al dente and finished briefly in the pan with your sauce. This ensures that the pasta gets well-coated with the sauce and tastes extra flavorful.

Related: How Much Pasta Do You Need Per Person for Dinner?

When to Use Dried or Fresh Bucatini

Deciding when to use fresh or dried bucatini usually comes down to the type of sauce you are using. A good rule of thumb is to use fresh pasta for any sauce that is creamy or milk-based, such as carbonara. Because dry pasta has a bit of a bite, it can stand up better to thick, meaty sauces.

20 Easy Bucatini Recipes

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