ziti
A medium, tube-shaped pasta, usually smooth-surfaced (unlike ridged penne); a common choice for baked pasta dishes because its hollow shape traps sauce and cheese inside as well as around it.
Buying guidance
Any dry pasta brand works, though bronze-cut pasta (rougher, slightly matte surface, noted on the label) holds sauce better than a smooth, shiny extruded one. There's no need for fresh pasta -- ziti is meant to hold its shape through baking, and dried pasta does that more reliably than fresh.
Substitutions
- Penne -- nearly interchangeable; its ridges grip sauce slightly better, and its diagonal cut looks different in the pan.
- Rigatoni -- wider and more ridged, holds even more sauce and cheese, good for a heartier baked dish.
- Any other short tube pasta -- fine as long as it's cooked to al dente before baking so it doesn't turn mushy.
Tips & common mistakes
Its hollow tube shape traps pockets of water inside after draining, which keeps steaming the pasta and can leave a baked dish watery -- shake and drain it thoroughly, and boil it a little short of fully tender if it's going to finish cooking in the oven.