Pasta

🇺🇸United States

Macaroni Salad

Cold elbow macaroni tossed with mayonnaise, celery, onion, and peppers — the picnic staple.

🇲🇰North Macedonia

Macedonian Jufki

Јуфки

Macedonian jufki are small flat squares of dried dough, boiled like pasta and served with butter, cheese or a meat sauce.

🇨🇾Cyprus

Magarına Bulli

Μακαρόνια με πουλλί

Bucatini boiled in chicken stock, topped with poached chicken, grated halloumi and dried mint.

🇨🇾Cyprus

Makaronia Tou Fournou

Μακαρόνια του φούρνου

Baked pasta with minced meat, béchamel and halloumi — Cyprus's answer to pastitsio.

🇹🇳Tunisia

Makarouna

مكرونة

A Tunisian pasta dish of macaroni or penne cooked in a spicy tomato sauce with meat, chickpeas and vegetables, a hearty everyday meal.

🇭🇹Haiti

Makawoni au Graten

Rigatoni baked with evaporated milk, butter and a great deal of processed and cheddar cheese until the top browns and the inside sets firm.

🇲🇱Mali

Malian Spaghetti

Katta pasta

A Malian spaghetti dish prepared with tomato sauce, vegetables, and meat; reflects Mali's colonial history and French influence; spaghetti is adapted to Malian tastes with spicy tomato sauce and local vegetables; widely available at restaurants and food markets; a fusion of African and European cuisine; a popular lunch dish.

🇮🇹Naples, Italy

Manfredi con la ricotta

Manfredi con la ricotta is a named Italian pasta from Naples, pairing its characteristic shape or filling with a defining sauce, broth, or seasoning; the form distinguishes it from a generic version.

🇱🇾Libya

Mathroda

A Libyan pasta dish of small hand-rolled pasta pieces simmered in a spiced tomato sauce.

🇯🇵Japan

Mentaiko Spaghetti

明太子スパゲッティ

Spaghetti tossed with spicy mentaiko roe, butter, and soy, a Japanese-Italian fusion classic.

🇩🇿Algeria

Mhamsa

An Algerian dish of large, hand-rolled pasta pearls simmered with meat and vegetables.

🇨🇭Switzerland

Mince with Macaroni

Ghackets mit Hörnli

Minced beef in gravy over small curved macaroni, served with apple sauce on the same plate.

🇭🇷Zagreb, Croatia

Mlinci

Traditional cross between pasta and flatbread, dried then soaked in meat drippings before serving, PGI protected, a Zagorje staple.

🇯🇵Japan

Naporitan

ナポリタン

Spaghetti with ketchup, wieners, onion, and green pepper, a Japanese-American-Italian invention.

🇸🇲San Marino

Nidi di Rondine

A baked pasta casserole of San Marino; fresh pasta sheets rolled with smoked ham, beef, cheese, and tomato sauce into cylinders, placed side by side in a dish coated with marinara and béchamel, then baked until golden; the name means 'swallow's nests' for the shape; a TasteAtlas-listed dish; a hearty Sammarinese comfort food.

🇭🇺Hungary

Nokedli

Nokedli is a small egg dumplings similar to spaetzle, served with stews and paprikash, light and fluffy.

🇹🇳Tunisia

Nwasser

نواصر

Squares of thin hand-cut pasta steamed like couscous and served with a chicken or lamb stew poured over.

🇮🇹Apulia, Italy

Orecchiette

Ear-shaped Apulian pasta, classic with cime di rapa.

🇮🇹Tuscany, Italy

Pappardelle al Cinghiale

Tuscan wide ribbon pasta with a slow-cooked wild boar ragù of red wine, rosemary, tomato, and juniper. A cold-weather icon of central Italy.

🇮🇹Sicily, Italy

Pasta 'ncasciata

Sicilian baked pasta—penne or rigatoni bound with ragù or tomato, fried eggplant, caciocavallo, and béchamel, molded and inverted onto a plate.

🇮🇹Italy

Pasta al mascarpone

Pasta al mascarpone is a named Italian pasta from Province of Lodi, pairing its characteristic shape or filling with a defining sauce, broth, or seasoning; the form distinguishes it from a generic version.

🇪🇷Asmara, Eritrea

Pasta al Sugo e Berbere

Pasta col Berbere

Eritrean-Italian fusion of pasta in tomato sauce spiced with berbere; a unique interpretation of Italian pasta born from colonial influence; served in Asmara's trattorias; neither fully Italian nor fully Eritrean, but distinctly both.

🇮🇹Rome, Italy

Pasta alla Gricia

The white ancestor of amatriciana: guanciale crisped in its own fat, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper—no tomato. Sometimes called amatriciana bianca.

🇮🇹Sicily, Italy

Pasta alla Norma

Sicilian pasta of maccheroni with fried eggplant, tomato, basil, and salted ricotta (ricotta salata). Named by a playwright after Bellini's opera Norma.

🇮🇹Sicily, Italy

Pasta alla Trapanese

Trapani's raw tomato, almond, basil, garlic, and olive oil pesto (pesto alla trapanese) tossed with busiate pasta. A Sicilian alternative to Genovese pesto.

🇮🇹Sicily, Italy

Pasta chî Sàrdi

Sicilian pasta with sardines, wild fennel, pine nuts, raisins, and saffron. A dish born of Arab influence, traditionally made in spring when wild fennel blooms.

🇮🇹Italy

Pasta e Fagioli

Pasta e fagioli is a named Italian soup form combining borlotti or cannellini beans, small pasta, soffritto, and a savoury broth; regional versions may add tomato, herbs, or a Parmigiano rind.

🇮🇹Naples, Italy

Pasta e Patate

Neapolitan comfort dish of small pasta, potatoes, tomato, and Pecorino or Provola, cooked into a thick stew. A primo that eats like a meal.

🇮🇹Naples, Italy

Pasta e Zucchine

Neapolitan summer pasta of small pasta, zucchini, garlic, olive oil, and Provola or ricotta. A lighter cousin of pasta e patate.

🇺🇸United States

Pasta Primavera

Pasta tossed with a medley of fresh spring vegetables in a light sauce — popularized in 1970s New York.

🇻🇪Venezuela

Pasticho Venezolano

Pasticho

Venezuelan layered lasagna with béchamel, meat sauce, and plenty of cheese.

🇬🇷Ionian Islands, Greece

Pastitsada

Παστιτσάδα

A Corfu dish of rooster (or beef) simmered in a spicy tomato-pasta sauce, served with thick pasta. A Venetian-origin island specialty, rich and aromatic, a Sunday and festive dish, a Corfiot classic.

🇬🇷Greece

Pastitsio

Παστίτσιο

Greek baked pasta dish: bucatini with a spiced meat tomato sauce, topped with béchamel and baked golden. A Sunday and taverna classic, rich and creamy, the Greek 'mac and cheese'.

🇭🇺Hungary

Pasztor Tarhonya

Pásztortarhonya

Shepherd egg barley with sausage and bacon.

🇲🇪Budva, Montenegro

Paštrovići Macaroni

Paštrovski makaruli

Hand-rolled hollow macaroni from the Paštrovići coast near Budva, dressed only with olive oil, hard cheese and sometimes a little honey.

🇺🇸United States

Penne alla Vodka

Penne in a creamy tomato sauce finished with vodka — an Italian-American restaurant staple.