Pasta Bowls

Pasta Bowls: What You Need to Know

Designed to hold pasta, salad, and many other foods, most pasta bowls have a low-profile design, meaning they're much shallower than traditional bowls. Pasta bowls, however, can come in different styles – such as the cascading bowl, which has a unique slanted rim. White pasta bowls are the norm; however, they can also come in various designs and colors. Small and large pasta bowls are available depending on how much pasta you plan to serve your customers. They can also be made from a variety of materials, including ceramic, melamine, and porcelain.

Common Questions About Pasta Bowls

Are plates or bowls better for serving pasta?

There is some debate in the restaurant community regarding the use of plates or bowls when serving pasta. A pasta bowl can help enhance the presentation of a pasta dish by elevating the food and making it appear more full. Bowls also contain any sauce or juice the dish may have, preventing unnecessary spills. Wide-rimmed bowls also help with presentation by better highlighting the pasta inside. Using a plate for pasta will diminish the pasta's appearance by spreading it out too thin. Bowls can also make small portions seem larger than they are since they are piled up instead of spread out on a plate.

Why would you need an ovenproof pasta bowl?

An ovenproof pasta bowl is ideal if you need to prepare a meal in a hurry. By using an ovenproof bowl, you can quickly whip up a pasta dish and finish it off in an oven. You can also warm food in ovenproof bowls to prevent a customer's dish from getting cold while waiting for the rest of their party's entrées. Using a bowl that is not ovenproof leads to ruined meals and dinnerware. Therefore, if you want to heat your bowls and their contents while preserving the food's taste, you should look for pasta bowls that state they're ovenproof. You should never assume that a certain material can withstand oven temperatures, as that can lead to damage to your dinnerware and oven. When purchasing your pasta bowls, you should always check that the product clearly states it's an ovenproof bowl.

What are the benefits of getting a ceramic pasta bowl?

Made by taking a combination of ingredients that includes clay, water, and silicon dioxide, ceramic is exposed to a series of firings and molded into dinnerware by hand or machine. Ceramic is usually an inexpensive material, making it an ideal option for frugal shoppers. Ceramic is also an easy material to clean; however, it's more brittle than other materials and can break more easily. Ceramic pasta bowls may also be fired at high enough temperatures to become vitrified – meaning the material has been strengthened and given a crystalline structure that's less porous than ceramics that haven't been fully vitrified.