Difference between Macaroni and Pasta

Macaroni and pasta are popular food products among children. They are Italian foods that are consumed throughout the world. People often confuse macaroni with pasta as they share some feature and look alike from outside. Let us see how they differ from each other!

Macaroni:

Macaroni is a type of dry pasta that looks like narrow tubes. Although, it is an Italian cuisine, it is famous throughout the world. It is made from durum wheat and eggs are not used in its preparation. As macaroni is a type of pasta it is also made of the same dough of which the pasta is made. It comes in a specific shape: a C shaped narrow tube, the curved macaroni which is very popular among children and is known as elbow macaroni.

It is not made by hand as its specific shape cannot be created using hands. So, it is made with machines. Furthermore, as it is obtained from the pasta dough, all types of macaroni are pasta, but all pastas are not macaroni.

Pasta:

Pasta is an Italian cuisine that is popular all over the world. Although, the term pasta refers to the dough, which is made from wheat flour and water and sometimes eggs are also added, it can be used to refer to a wide range of pasta dishes. It is being consumed since ancient times.

Pasta comes in various shapes and can be cooked by boiling or baking. Its dough can be made with the flour of other grains. In East Asian cultures, the pasta dough is made with different ingredients that include rice, mung, buckwheat, egg and even Lye.

Basically, the pasta can be of two types: dried pasta and fresh pasta. Dried pasta is produced through extrusion process in factories and it has long shelf life and thus can be transported to distant places. Fresh pastas are also produced using large-scale machines and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Based on the above information, some of the key differences between macaroni and pasta are as follows: