Pasta Salads Get Better Flavor And Texture Thanks To One Pasta Shape

Picture a pasta salad, and you'll likely envision a springy corkscrew noodle like tightly wound fusilli or rotini as the star. That classic spiral is a staple for a reason: the winding coils catch more sauce or dressing than some other varieties, and more of that coating equals more flavor. However, the similarly shaped girelle can be even better in this crucial pasta salad regard because it has a quality those other corkscrew pastas don't have.

To the naked eye, girelle looks like a supersized fusilli, but slightly looser and wider. It can be about twice the size of fusilli, depending on the kind you buy, and usually has fewer curls, though the increased surface area makes up for fewer nooks and crannies. Girelle also has one critical characteristic that no standard fusilli or rotini does: its curled, semi-hollow shape creates an open channel that dressings and smaller mix-ins can catch in. That interior detail creates a wonderfully springy texture and makes even more space for flavor, so each bite of the pasta salad is ultimately more delightful. That makes girelle the ideal vehicle for showcasing your pasta salad components.

If this easy swap comes as a mild surprise, it's probably because girelle isn't exactly among the most common pasta shapes. I was only recently reminded of girelle's greatness during a visit to a charming little restaurant in my Brooklyn neighborhood. I've been using it for practically everything since then. And there are a few ways to really optimize its performance in a pasta salad.

You'll more or less boil the girelle according to its package instructions, but you do want to make sure that you cook it just past al dente, like you would for any other pasta salad pasta. Unlike a dish finished and served hot, you'll rinse pasta salad pasta in cold water once it's done to completely stop the cooking process, and you don't want to risk it finishing too firm. 

It's easy to assume you can just swap your regular noodles with girelle in any pasta salad recipe and call it a day. But you actually need to be extra attentive to your mix-ins to accommodate this heftier pasta shape. Pasta salads that include chunky ingredients like salami and provolone cheese may need those morsels cut smaller — about a quarter of an inch — to maintain a better balance in the overall dish. You want to get a taste of everything with each forkful. Cubes better suited to board games will just be too clunky to pair with girelle. The variety of shapes leads to a textural experience you won't soon forget. Give your pasta salad the girelle treatment even once, and you might find more excuses to use the delightful shape too.