Garofalo won a 9-brand boxed pasta blind test — and De Cecco is the budget pick

Garofalo just beat some far bigger shelf names in a blind test of nine store-bought dry pastas. Delish writer Francesca Zani boiled box after box of rigatoni and declared the Gragnano, Italy brand the best overall — while De Cecco took the budget crown and Rummo claimed the mid-tier title.

The field split into five pricier brands — Garofalo, Rummo, Sfoglini, Rao's and Colavita — and four budget picks: Ronzoni, Barilla, De Cecco and San Giorgio. Zani kept the water amount, quantity and pasta shape identical for every box, followed each package's al dente time and skipped the salt to keep the comparison fair.

The winners, tier by tier

De Cecco won the budget round, and it wasn't close in her notes. "It's bronze-cut (which helps it stick to sauce much better than Teflon-cut), easy on the wallet, and I'm convinced your favorite restaurants use it too," she wrote. Bronze dies leave a slightly rough surface that sauce clings to, unlike slicker Teflon-cut noodles.

Rummo took the mid-tier spot. Its noodles ran a touch thicker than the competition, with what Zani called a good, chewy texture and a slight crunch — and they hit al dente in exactly the time printed on the box. It's a bronze-cut, slow-dried import from Italy.

Garofalo took the top prize on the strength of a credential no one else on the shelf can match: it's the only certified al dente pasta. The brand's industry-first "Al Dente" certification measures how well the pasta holds its structure and consistency beyond the optimal cooking time, so it stays firm even if it cooks a little longer than it should.

That protocol was validated by Bureau Veritas, the group that handles food safety, traceability and organic certification. Garofalo also carries PGI status — a protected geographical indication guaranteeing that part of its production comes from Gragnano, Campania, the world's most famous pasta-making city.

The takeaway across all three winners is the same shopping shorthand: look for "bronze-cut" and "slow-dried" on the box. Zani says that combination produces a higher-quality product, helps sauce cling to the noodle and is more nutritious overall.