Your Roadmap to Pasta Trends
At Barilla for Professionals, we keep a vigilant eye on pasta trends; from sauces to shapes and cuts, we’re always on the lookout for trends and changes to what’s on the menu. We took a mid-year look at the latest data and have your quick guide to the fastest growing pasta shapes and trending sauces. Plus, Datassential’s mid-year trend update has a few pasta-shaped tidbits we’d like to share.
Let’s start at the foundation, the pasta! When it comes to pasta shapes, a few “classics” are always the most common on menus – spaghetti, penne and elbows we’re looking at you! When operators need to differentiate, they turn to shapes or cuts that are widely available, but unique enough to stand out from the pack. Here are a few of the top growing shapes on menus, according to Datassential’s Menu Trends database:
Getting Sauced
A surprise mover in pasta sauce trends is vodka sauce - +29% in 4-year growth. Maybe Gigi Hadid and TikTok fame is behind the surge? Vodka sauce even showed up at Shake Shack...on a burrata Parm burger? Not every vodka sauce idea sticks but our Chef Lorenzo Boni shared his thoughts on this hot sauce:
“Some creative ways I've seen operators/chefs use vodka sauce include integrating fire-roasted tomatoes or sun-dried tomato paste for a more intense flavor, using crispy bacon as a topping, adding richness with truffle oil, or sprinkling on powdered pistachio for a nice color contrast.”
-Chef Lorenzo Boni, Barilla Executive
Rigatoni Alla Vodka
Black pepper also makes the list of top-growing sauces on menus at +20%. We’re betting that’s got a lot to do with the continued growth in popularity of Cacio e Pepe. Literally “cheese and pepper” this is a classic, simple pasta dish from the Lazio region that may be an early ancestor to today’s mac and cheese. Datassential predicts another 56% menu growth for Cacio e Pepe over the next 4 years.
In the Datassential 2024 mid-year trends update, Summer Squash shows up as a surprise winner among Q2 menu sightings. As a seasonal veggie, it’s having its day in the sun! Here are a couple of our favorite recipes with summer squashes:
Summer Vegetable Protein+® Cellentani
Cacio E Pepe with Char Grilled Mini Zucchini and Whole Tempura Fied Zucchini with Blossom
In the same report, takeout and delivery is the top format to see an increase in ordering frequency. While pizza is the number one “go-to” for off-premise consumers, pasta and Italian are also favorites.