Nope, it's not rice! Orzo is actually a rice-shaped pasta that gets its name from the Italian word for barley. This tiny ...

Instead, when you want a pasta that's a little thicker and works in the same kinds of recipes as gnocchi, you should turn to cavatelli, which is a small, ridged, shell-shaped pasta. Cavatelli won ...

Colorful bowl of pastina in broth with chicken and vegetables - Alleko/Getty Images Generally, pastina is any small shape of pasta -- and small means up to around 2 millimeters in diameter.

For thin soups, tiny pasta shapes or vermicelli are good. More robust soups like minestrone take pasta like macaroni or bits of spaghetti. Ravioli and tortellini are examples of stuffed pasta and ...