The Best Pasta Bowls Work For More Than Just Pasta

The Bon Appétit team Slack channel is a place for big feelings, and last week, those feelings coalesced around plates. Namely, that we don’t like them! Sure, we will use them in a pinch, but most of us on staff agree that the premiere vessel for eating, the one we use in our homes for lunch and in the test kitchen for showing off our latest creations, is a pasta bowl.

Pasta bowls are wide, low, and shallow—essentially plates with high walls, boasting the best that both plates and bowls have to offer. The base of a pasta bowl is flat rather than curved, giving you ample surface area for spreading a dish out rather than up. But the walls (which can be gently sloped or more perpendicular to the base, depending on your aesthetic tastes) keep the contents of your meal corralled together, with no risk of spilling over the sides. Grains and other bitsy ingredients, sloshing sauces, meaty drippings, dip swooshes, even chunky soups and stews benefit from being served in a dish like this, improving both the presentation (it matters) and the eating experience. Once you go pasta bowl, you never go back.

Personally, I find that the perfect food for a shallow pasta bowl is a brothy, saucy something spooned over toast (see here and here). The base of the dish is wide enough to hold the full slice of bread, and the sides keep the liquid pooled, ready to be spooned into your mouth. Brothy toast needs walls to hem in all of its runny goodness, a little hug around the food that keeps it together. And couldn’t we all use a little hug these days? Below, hear from the Bon Appétit team about the best pasta bowls in the business—and what to serve in them.

When I moved into my first apartment in college, my mom handed me two pasta bowls with some advice: “These are better for Chinese food so that the sauces don’t spill. Do not get those American plates.” My mom was right. Shallow bowls are indeed ideal for a family-style meal where dishes may contain precious sauce that you’ll want to pour over rice. Since then, I’ve added many to my cabinets, including these pale pink Kaloh stoneware pasta bowls from West Elm. A collaboration with British designer Aaron Probyn, they add a pastel sophistication while maintaining a level of functionality. The bottoms are flat so that nobody has to hunt for their preferred ingredient in a stir-fry, yet a tall rim (these bowls are 2” high and 7.6” in diameter) means that sauces don’t slosh onto the table when passing a bowl to a guest. —Serena Dai, digital editorial director

I fell in love with East Fork Pottery a couple of years ago after seeing them pop up on some friends’ cooking videos. On a day when my impulse control was weak, I replaced all of the dinner plates and bowls in my cabinets with ones from East Fork, and I never looked back. The vessel I go to most often is, naturally, called the Everyday Bowl. Wide and shallow (8” x 2.25”), it’s my favorite bowl for pasta because the extra surface area gives me more space for freshly grated Parm. It’s great for mounding piles of rotini or penne, but immaculately twirled nests of spaghetti or tagliatelle also look right at home, making these some of the best pasta bowls out there. For something even wider and shallower, East Fork’s Coupe is 10.75” in diameter and 2 inches high, and—like all of East Fork’s pottery—it’s handmade in North Carolina with a lead-free glaze. —Jarrett Melendez, associate editor, Epicurious

These glass bowls are hardy, thick, and heavy in a way I wasn’t expecting when I ordered a set online. But they’re absolutely perfect for big pasta feasts (obviously), saucy mains, and any meal that has lots of disparate components, like a mezze spread or Thanksgiving dinner. Everything stays nicely nestled together in these wide mouth low bowls, but the flat base portion is big enough that nothing feels crowded. I have them in the largest size (9.25” x 2”) in minimalist “milk,” aka white, which I like for really highlighting the food, but if you’re a pastel pink, pale blue, or jadeite fan, the Ohio-based, family-owned company has you covered (p.s.—check out their cake stands too… swoon). —Kendra Vaculin, associate food editor

Mosser Glass Tinted Nesting Shallow Bowls

The antithesis to my Mosser Glass bowls, Mud’s porcelain pasta bowls are so thin and light that when I got my first one (from an old job’s prop closet giveaway), I almost didn’t take it for fear that I wasn’t responsible enough to own something so lovely and delicate. But for all their lack of heft, these off-white pasta bowls are actually pretty durable—the three I now own have survived years of stacking, washing, and clanking around in my sink. They are spendy, so I’ve added to my collection just one at a time; but I’m hoping one day to have a full set to put out for a dinner party. —K.V.

Mud Australia Pebble Bowl Set

There are many stackable bowls out there, but none with the same startlingly precise yet gentle curves of Hasami’s round bowls. Seeing a row of them marching up the shelf every time I open my cabinet is like ASMR for my eyes—it scratches an itch somewhere deep in my brain. The bowls are made in Nagasaki, Japan, a region renowned for its history of pottery dating back thousands of years. The 7” round bowls are versatile and sized just right. They’re not just pasta bowls—they’re cereal bowls, soup bowls, salad bowls, a bowl for a rushed scoop of baked oatmeal in the morning. They’re also dishwasher, microwave, and oven-safe. The super efficient nesting design means a small footprint on my shelves, which simply means more bowls to buy and fill my cabinets with. —Shilpa Uskokovic, food editor

Hasami Porcelain Round Bowl

From miso pesto ramen to XXL salads, the Bklyn Clay ceramic pasta bowl manages to be the perfect size for literally every meal. The basin-like shape leaves enough space for the optimal amount of noodles and a small pool of sauce. These 8” bowls are handmade stoneware, which means they’re relatively chip resistant and can stand up to frequent use—which is ideal since I reach for them all the time. The classic white glaze has a glossy finish that makes even my boring spaghetti look effortlessly professional. —Jillian Matt, programming manager

Whether it’s bright kimchi mac and cheese, ’shroom pappardelle, or buttery sage gnocchi, I turn to the easy, comforting weeknight staple that is pasta at least thrice a week. After all those meals (4,836 of them and counting), there is now only one way I want to eat saucy noodles: in beautiful, handmade ceramic Coupe Pasta Bowls from Jono Padolfi. They’re super study, microwave and dishwasher safe, and have an eight-inch wide basin that’s ideal for twirling bucatini around your fork. Matte brown on the outside and glossy white inside, she’s a real stunner that you’re going to want to keep on display. In those rare moments when I cheat on #PastaLife, the shallow bowl is also versatile enough to accommodate other food groups: a big hunk of miso-y salmon, a workday rice bowl, or a wedge of blueberry pie. I guess what I’m saying is get yourself a bowl that’s up for anything—and looks gorg doing it. —Ali Francis, associate editor

I never realized that “dark and mysterious” were qualities I needed or even wanted in my dinnerware until the Year & Day large pasta bowl set in midnight blue landed on my kitchen counter. Now, they have my whole heart. While these 8.25” x 2.1” bowls come in three other clean and beautiful colors—fog, daybreak, and moon—the deep, almost-black navy blue hue adds a touch of moody drama to my tableware. They’re also dishwasher and microwave safe, making them optimal for everyday use (and the copious amounts of pasta dishes I make on a weekly basis). —Megan Wahn, associate commerce editor

I’m always on the hunt for handmade ceramics—specifically dinner bowls—and this Everything pasta bowl from Era Ceramics is at the top of the list. It’s my favorite not just because it’s beautiful to look at, but also because it is the perfect vessel for all types of food (okay maybe not pizza, but pretty much everything else). The inside has layers of blush pink specks, while the outside is raw and coarse, which reinforces the uniqueness of each piece. With a diameter of 8.5” and a 2” height, this bowl is functional, elegant, and a great reminder of why we all should support creativity: I consider my hand-thrown coupes, plate sets, and serving bowls to be my art collection, and I try to grow it every year. —Rachel Gurjar, associate food editor

Let’s eat pasta already: