Flavor: Does the spaghetti have flavor on its own? Does it add or detract from the sauce? Does it have off notes?
Handling: Following the packaging instructions, does the spaghetti cook perfectly al dente? Do the noodles stick together or stay separate?
Texture: Is the spaghetti firm or tender? Does it have a distinct bite or chew, or bear no resistance? Is it pleasant to eat? Does the texture hold up off heat?
Sauce Cling: How well does the sauce cling to the spaghetti? Does the sauce coat or slip off?
Fine Print
The Lineup: We tested 15 local and imported dry spaghetti brands from the grocery. We focused strictly on spaghetti, excluding linguini and fettuccine (which some brands offer as their “basic” pasta shape) for the sake of fair comparison. We also prioritized brands commonly available in supermarkets.
Why We’re Doing This: Spaghetti seems simple, but your grocery’s pasta aisle says otherwise. Just count how many different brands are on the shelf—it gets overwhelming fast. Should you get a local or Italian brand? Does price always dictate quality? Does it matter, since all spaghetti tastes the same anyway? This taste test finds out, and ranks 15 brands top to bottom.
How We Tasted: Each brand was cooked to package instructions in boiling water at 2% salinity. After cooking, the spaghetti was drained and tossed in olive oil to prevent sticking. All brands were tested as is, and with bottled tomato sauce.
Blind Taste Test: All brands were removed from their packaging, labeled, and tasted blind to prevent brand bias.
How We Scored: Each product was evaluated across 4 criteria. Final placements reflect the Pepper team’s averaged impressions.
Transparency: No brand paid for inclusion in this taste test. RFM and Fly Ace are past advertising partners of Pepper, and we’ve excluded their products from this test to avoid any appearance of bias.
