Italians take their pasta and their complementing sauces very seriously. And so, should you.

With almost as many as 600 types of pasta available in the market today, it becomes very difficult to make out which sauce goes best with what. If you unfold the mystery to the perfect complementing sauce to your pasta, you can present delicious and satisfying pasta dishes in a jiffy. To understand science better, here are some types of pasta and sauces they go best with.

1. Penne

One of the most popular is the Penne. It is made from the Italian word “pens”. Like other cylindrical and tube-shaped pasta, Penne goes very well with thick sauces. It can be a tomato-based sauce, cream sauce or even buttered veggie sauce. That is because the tube-shaped pasta suck in the sauce and you get that juicy taste of rich sauce in every bite.

2. Noodle pasta (Angel hair, Spaghetti, Capellini)

For the noodle shaped pasta, don’t pick thick sauces, instead, go for very light sauces. It can be anything from light tomato sauce or a fragrant olive and garlic oil seasoning. The light sauce would coat the strands of pasta and won’t be weighed down when eaten with a fork. You can put on some additional seasoning as well. Something like fresh herbs, parmesan cheese and even diced tomato heightens the flavour to several notches.

3. Small tube-shaped pasta like Macaroni

Try to pair your Macaroni with cheese. It tastes best with loads of cheese and then baked to perfection. That is the reason why Mac n Cheese is a holy grail of comfort foods. Macaroni goes well with soup and salads as well. Just avoid heavy, thick sauces for Macaroni.

4. Short-shaped pasta (Farfalle, Fusilli, Conchiglie)

This short-shaped pasta comes in various shapes and structures. Because of their unique shapes, they are quite a mouthful. Because of that, it is best that they are paired with the hearty, thick and juicy sauce. You can even add a variety of veggies to go with sauces for that sumptuous pasta experience.

5. Ravioli

Two sheets of freshly made pasta are stuffed with cheese or other delicious filling made with different veggies. Any butter, cheese or even tomato-based sauce goes well with this pasta. Just keep in mind that ravioli is quite flavourful on its own, so your sauce should not overpower or overwhelm the taste of pasta.

Ultimately secret lies in experimenting with pasta and try your own versions of sauce. Because in cooking there are no fixed rules about anything.