Not glamorous, but hear me out
Right, nobody's getting excited about a bag of rigatoni. I get that. But Napolina has been sitting on British supermarket shelves since the 1960s and there's a reason it's still there. It's not the cheap nasty stuff that turns to paste the moment you look away.
I made a big batch of rigatoni al forno last Sunday, the kind where you bake it with bechamel and whatever cheese needs using up. The tubes held their shape properly, didn't go soggy in the oven, and had that slight bite through the middle that actually matters when everything else in the dish is soft and creamy. Cheap pasta often just doesn't do that.
Who this actually suits
This is staple-cupboard pasta. Bulk buyers, big families, anyone batch-cooking for the week. Rigatoni specifically is a solid shape because it works with chunky sauces, baked dishes, and even cold pasta salads where you need something substantial enough to hold dressing.
If you're a pasta snob hunting for bronze-die extruded stuff with serious texture, this isn't that. It's not trying to be. But for 74p, it does the job with no fuss.
Honestly, my only reservation is the 500g bag feels a bit small if you're feeding more than two. You'll want to grab a few. The community heat on this one is high for a reason, stock does move fast on deals like this.
- Holds shape well when baked
- Good size tubes for chunky sauces
- Cooks reliably without going mushy
