Spaghetti, spaghetti alla chitarra, pici, bigoli, bucatini, and tagliolini are all long, rounded shapes that work well with a heavy meat sauce or ragu, Secchi said.
Tagliatelle, fettuccine, and pappardelle offer the same pile of twirlable pasta that the above strands bring to a dish, but they're flat in shape instead of rounded.
If you're looking for a tube pasta that can stand up to a meat base, rigatoni, penne, garganelli, and lumache will do the job.
Secchi says the ridges in lasagnette lend themselves well to ragus as well as a more simple tomato-based or vegetable sauce, similarly to how sheets of lasagne soak up traditional bolognese.
The crevices in noodles like the corkscrew-shaped fusilli, rolled-up cavatelli, and twisted gemelli are perfect for interacting with meat sauce, Secchi says.