Cavatelli Pasta
Cavatelli Pasta is one of the easiest and most versatile homemade kinds of pasta you’ll ever come across.
This is an eggless pasta recipe which uses just two ingredients and can be made in not much more than an hour, plus you won’t need any special equipment. That means no pasta machine or fancy cutters, just simple kitchen supplies and your hands!
Homemade Cavatelli Pasta is typical of many regions of southern Italy, where eggless pasta is common. Originally from Molise and Puglia, you’ll now find cavatelli pasta on the menu in Calabria, Campania, Sicily, Abruzzo, and Basilicata.
Cavatelli are a short pasta that looks a little bit like a shell. Each piece of pasta has a little indentation that perfectly fills with sauce. I gather my family together when we make Cavatelli Pasta because it does take time to make. We use this time for family connection, laughing together and catching up on each other’s busy lives. These occasions fill me up and I love it!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Simple: If you’ve never made fresh pasta, then this is the one for you because it is so easy.
- No Fancy Equipment: You won’t need any special equipment to make cavatelli pasta. Just mix up the dough and practice your techinique. Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
- Versatile: Homemade cavatelli pasta is so versatile. While often served with sausage and broccoli or broccoli rabe, it is also wonderful with authentic Bolognese Sauce, this San Marzano tomato sauce, pesto, or use it in my Bacon Asparagus Pasta. Make a batch today and see for yourself!
Ingredients
With just two ingredients in this cavatelli pasta recipe (if you don’t count the salt), you’ll find you always have what you need on hand. Being an eggless pasta, of course, means all that is needed is flour and water.
- Semolina: Use the fine semolina flour, not the coarse kind used for polenta. Fine semolina is similar to flour in texture but slightly coarser. The coarse variety won’t give you the right texture for cavatelli pasta. Look for “semolina flour” or “semola rimacinata” – it’s finely ground durum wheat. My favorite brand is Caputo, which you might find at Italian specialty stores. Other supermarket brands work well, too.
How To Make Cavatelli By Hand
Make a well in the flour, add salt, and gradually mix in warm water.
Combine the ingredient until they form a dough.
Knead until smooth and supple. Then allow to rest.
Roll out a portion of the dough into a long rope.
Cut the rope into short lengths.
Using two fingers, press and roll each piece of dough creating an indentation. This creates a curl in the pasta and makes it longer.
You can also roll pieces of pasta against the tines of a fork, pressing and curling the dough as you roll.
Alternatively, you may have a cavatelli board or a gnocchi board which can be used instead.
Making the dough for cavatelli pasta is just like any other pasta dough except the ingredients will vary. So once you’ve tried this pasta, you might like to move on to other shapes like busiate, tagliatelle, garganelli, tonnarelli, or ricotta cavatelli.
Substitutions
- Semolina flour: This is interchangeable with all-purpose, 00 flour, or even bread flour. In fact, a combination of semolina flour with either of the other flours provides excellent results.
Storage
It is best to cook this pasta immediately. Alternatively, arrange in a single layer on a nonstick parchment-lined baking sheet, covered with a kitchen towel, and keep in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days.
To freeze cavatelli pasta for future use, arrange shaped pieces on a baking sheet, freeze solid, then bag for up to 6 months. Cook frozen cavatelli pasta directly in boiling water, adding 1-2 minutes to cook time.
Top Tips
- Roll the dough rope out thinly, almost as thin as a pencil. Cavatelli pasta should be much thinner than gnocchi, so don’t be afraid to stretch it out.
- For a classic look, roll cavatelli pasta by hand. Cut the rope into small pieces and roll them against the tines of a fork, pressing and curling the dough to form the signature shape.
- If you have a cavatelli board or gnocchi board, you can use that instead for shaping.
- If the dough keeps resisting and shrinking back as you roll, set it aside for a few minutes. This allows the dough to relax and become more pliable for easier rolling. Just start rolling a fresh piece of dough while you wait.
- This cavatelli pasta is unlike egg pasta, which is silky and cooks quickly. Eggless pasta has more chew and can take longer to cook than you think, particularly because this shape is rather thick. Check doneness by tasting.
- Remember that being handmade, this cavatelli pasta will be uneven and rustic. The beauty of this pasta is that it isn’t all perfect and uniform like the commercially produced variety.
- This recipe can be doubled or tripled. Remember to allow extra time to shape the pasta by hand.
FAQ
This short, hand-shaped pasta looks a bit like a shell with a hollow for capturing all the sauce. Cavatelli pasta is an eggless, slightly chewy pasta made with only semolina (or other flour) and water.
You may think this pasta looks like gnocchi. However, gnocchi dough is made using potatoes or ricotta and flour while cavatelli pasta use just flour and water. While gnocchi are soft and pillow-like, cavatelli pasta is chewy, firm and dense.
Cavatelli are also very similar to gnocchetti both being made with the same dough though gnocchetti are smaller and slightly different in shape. These can can easily be confused for one another.
Actually, the name means “little hollows” in Italian and is derived from the Italian word for hollow, “incava‘. That hollow creates the perfect vessel for capturing and containing lots of tasty sauce. Ingenious, isn’t it? In America, this pasta is often known as Gavadeels. Another version of cavatelli pasta includes ricotta in the dough. Cavatelli and broccoli are a common and very delicious pairing!
Serving suggestions
Cavatelli Pasta is wonderful served with various sauces even with a simple Garlic Butter Sauce. If you love this, be sure to make my delectable Ricotta Cavatelli!
To mop up the sauce, you’ll want some bread, and this is made from scratch. Garlic bread is just the thing. To round off the meal, why not have a couple of salads on the side? Try my Pumpkin and Spinach salad or a Green Bean salad.
Related Recipes
Chicken and Vodka Pasta
Pangrattato
Pesto Trapanese
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Cavatelli Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (286 grams) finely ground semolina flour see notes
- ¾ cup warm water more or less as needed
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place the semolina flour on a work surface (or in a bowl), make a well in the middle, and sprinkle with salt.
- Add most of water into the well in the centre of the semolina flour.
- Start combining water with the semolina flour using your fingers or a fork, pulling in the flour and forming a dough. Add more water, if needed or more flour if the dough is too sticky. The dough should feel soft and supple, a bit like playdough.
- Knead well for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic then form into a ball. If you began the cavatelli dough in a bowl, scrape it out onto a work surface to knead.
- Wrap with plastic and set aside for 30 minutes to rest. This rest will make all the difference!
- After 30 minutes, cut off ¼ of the dough. Rewrap the remaining dough.
- Roll the cut off portion of dough into a sausage shape. You shouldn't need any extra semolina/flour but if you do, use it sparingly.
- Continue rolling until you have a long rope about ½ inch (or approximately 1cm) in diameter. Be sure to roll the rope as thin as this otherwise it will be too thick to cook properly. It may be easier to cut it in half and keep rolling to achieve this thickness.
- Cut the rope into ¾-1 inch (2-2.5cm) lengths.
- Using two fingers (the index and the middle finger), press firmly onto each piece of dough and drag towards you creating a curl and an indentation. It's important to press firmly enough to thin the dough and create a curled pasta. This might take a little practice.
- Place in a single layer and not touching on parchment paper that has been dusted with semolina.
- Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. When boiling, add one heaped tablespoon of salt.
- Add the cavatelli to the salted, boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes. This will depend on the size of the cavatelli. Taste after 5 minutes and cook longer if needed. Cooking may be even longer than 10 minutes if you have made larger cavatelli.
- Drain, reserving some of the pasta water, then combine and serve with your favorite sauce.
Notes
- Semolina flour is very finely ground durum wheat semolina also known as semolina rimacinata. The brand I prefer is Caputo which I find at my local Italian food store. There are other brands available at supermarkets which are also quite good. But be sure to use the correct semolina. It is very fine but not quite as fine as flour. The coarse variety (often used for polenta) won’t produce good cavatelli.
- Roll the rope thinly – almost as thin as a pencil. This isn’t like potato gnocchi. Cavatelli should be much thinner than gnocchi.
- For a different appearance, you can also roll pieces of dough against the tines of a fork, pressing and curling the dough as you roll. Alternatively, you may have a cavatelli board or gnocchi board which can be used instead.
- If the dough keeps shrinking back when rolling, set that piece aside and start rolling a fresh piece of dough. The dough set aside will rest and relax and roll out more easily.
- To freeze – Place the tray of pasta in the freezer. When frozen, transfer to a freezer bag and use within 6 months. Cook from frozen. Frozen pasta will take longer to cook.
Nutritional Estimate Per Serving
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.
First time I ever made cavatelli. I used the Caputo semolina. Absolutely delicious. I doubled the recipe and am freezing. Thank you Marcella
I’m so happy to hear that you loved this recipe!
Just what I was looking for
That’s great to hear!
Great recipe! The directions were understandable & easy to follow. And my homemade pasta tasted delicious!
That’s great feedback, Agnes! Thank you. I’m sohappy to hear that it was such a success for you.
NOICE DELICOUS.
Glad you loved this pasta, Alan!
Made these for the first time.
I used 00 flour. Did the well. Accidentally hit the side wall of the well and the water went all over the counter. I obviously need more practice at this part. I kept kneading to get that smooth consistency like play dough. I had to question myself a few times on the texture…. Glad I did, kept reminding myself I’m sure she means fresh out of the can play dough so I kept adding water and kneading. When I finally felt like the consistency was correct I was disappointed as it didn’t look silky smooth but had the elasticity. But I continued with the rest period. To my surprise after the rest period it was silky smooth. Yeah. My rolling of the dough and pressing to look like cavatelli was not consistent nor perfect in any way. But I continued on and boiled the 8 minutes. To my surprise they came out rather well! Thanks for the recipe. Will try again in future. Hope to get better and better each time.
That’s great feedback! I’m so glad you persisted and yes, practice makes perfect but this is a delicious first handmade pasta to begin with.
when you say finely ground semolina, are you referring to semola rimacinato or duron wheat semolina which is a little more yellow.
Please use semola rimacinato for this recipe. It is ground more finely than durum wheat semolina.
Hello, Marcellina ~
Can this recipe used with a cavatelli machine? I have a board as well as my mom’s cavatelli maker.
Ciao Jo! Yes, while I don’t own a cavatelli maker, I’ve been told that my recipe works in the machine by other readers who have one.
I haven’t made this recipe yet, and I was just about to ask the same question. I have my mom’s cavatelli machine, and was wondering if this recipe will work in her machine. The recipe that came with the cavatelli maker includes adding shortening to the recipe. I wonder if this added ingredient assures that the dough will not stick?
I have enjoyed all of your recipes I have tried. Truly authentic!
I’m so happy that you enjoy my recipes, Jo! While I don’t use a cavatelli machine, I have had readers tell me that they’ve used my recipe with theirs and had great success. I’m not sure why the shortening would be added to the machine recipe. You could be right. I think it may depend on the rollers that your machine has – whether they are wooden or nylon.
Thank you for the advice on the cavatelli machine! 🙂
One more question; will using OO Flour create the same result as Semolina?
No, 00 flour is very different to Semolina. 00 flour is milled finely while semolina is milled more coarsely.
True Cavatelli, flour, water and a little salt. Excellent.
And so delicious!
Buonissimi!
So happy that you loved the cavatelli recipe!
I made it, and they were okay, a bit hard. I cooked them for 12 minutes because mine came out a bit thicker. Should I had cook them longer or is possible something wrong with the dough?
It could be possible that the dough was a bit too hard with not enough water added. As I say the dough should be soft, like playdough. Also it’s important to press firmly on the dough when forming the cavatelli, as I say in the recipe. Take care with these to issues and I’m sure you will have success.
Is this really 3 servings? I’m making it for 4, should I double the recipe?
Yes, it is for 3 servings unless you’re having it as a starter or you’re not very hungry. Also a lot depends on what sauce you are serving with it. If it’s a ragu or other meat sauce, this would probably be enough for 4. In any case, you don’t have to double the recipe just increase the serving using the up and down arrows beside the servings box to how many serving you want to make and the measurements will adjust. Like all pasta recipes, this cavatelli recipe is easily adjustable and often the amount of water/liquid you need will be dependant on the weather ie drier weather, you need more liquid; humid weather, you need less. Hope that helps.
Can this dough be made the day before?
Yes, you probably could – I never have. It’s such a simple dough that it’s easy enough to make it as you need it.
Can this freshly made cavatelli be dried?
Yes, you would be able to dry these cavatelli though they may not dry out completely and therefore would need to be frozen to keep fresh.