‘Honeycomb pasta’ is the latest viral food trend

Trigger warning: If you have trypophobia (fear of clustered holes) this viral TikTok recipe may not be for you.

One of the trending TikTok recipe sensations to emerge recently is “honeycomb pasta.” If you’re thinking this is a gooey, honey dessert, you’re wrong. The baked pasta pie is gooey, but it gets its name from the honeycomb pattern formed from tubular pasta packed together upright in a springform pan.

The honeycomb pasta is then stuffed with cheese, covered in sauce, meat and more cheese, and then baked. After popping it out of the oven, the honeycomb pasta is released from the springform pan to reveal a congealed noodle pie.

Variations on this stuffed pasta bake or pasta pie have been around for a while. But the so-called honeycomb pasta seems to have started trending on TikTok in the last few months.

Sweet Portfolio’s Valentina Mussi posted her version on Instagram in December 2018, reposting it in April 2020. She revived it for TikTok in February, adding more cheese along the way. Mussi calls it “honeycomb rigatoni pasta cake” but penne and ziti can be swapped in as the tube pasta.

@sweetportfolio

My kind of cake🥰🍝 #dinnerwithme #pasta #cake #foodtiktok

♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) – Danilo Stankovic

After TikToker Anna Rothfuss (@bananalovesyoutoo) posted her take on the recipe on March 29, honeycomb pasta really seemed to take off. This might be because her recipe was controversial for using string cheese and Prego sauce (two things that riled up Italian food traditionalists).

@bananalovesyoutoo

This honeycomb pasta is so good!! 🍝 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #pasta #cookinghacks #yum

♬ original sound – Anna Rothfuss

Some commenters on Rothfuss’ video called this “vertical manicotti,” “tubular lasagna” or a spin on baked ziti. Others offered suggestions on how to improve the dish like adding spinach, ricotta, chicken or fresh tomato sauce.

There are lots of variations on the honeycomb pasta dish already posted on TikTok.

DeLallo Foods made a spicier version using Italian sausage, extra sauce, mozzarella and red pepper flakes.

@delallofoods

We SPICED up the Honeycomb Pasta Cake #fyp #honeycombpasta #rigatoni #pastatiktok #GoForTheHandful #italianfood #delallo #learnontiktok

♬ Adventure – André Branney

HelloWonderful’s honeycomb pasta cake puts the sauce on top of the noodles before various cheeses, which seems like it would save a lot of time you’d otherwise spend stuffing the individual pasta tubes.

@hellowonderful_co

Honeycomb Pasta Cake 🍝 🎂 #pastacake #honeycomb #pasta #honeycombpastacake #pastarecipe #kidsfood #foodhack #homechef

♬ cooking video – cooking

YWM Family stuffed their rigatoni with basil and mozzarella, which looks pretty tasty.

@ywmfamily

This is so yummy! #honeycombpasta #pasta #dinnerparty #tiktokcook #tiktokrecipes #foryou #fyp #basil #mozzarella #pastacake #foodie

♬ Maniac (Flashdance Version) (Re-Recorded / Remastered) – Michael Sembello

Matt Ramsey (@cookerofdeliciousness) layered pepperoni and halved meatballs on top of his string cheese-stuffed noodles plus sauce. He then put dollops of ricotta and mozzarella above that.

@cookerofdeliciousness

Honeycomb Pasta… #fyp #homecook #learnwithme #foodontiktok #dinnerparty #honeycombpasta #AerieREAL #GetCrocd #GoForTheHandful

♬ Way down We Go – Kaleo

The Hunger Diaries made a fancy Greek “pasticcio” twist on the honeycomb pasta dish that looks pretty complicated but so creamy and decadent.

@thehungerdiaries

#Pasticcio #Honeycomb #Pasta 🇬🇷 Inspo by @akis_petretzikis + @sweetportfolio ❤️ #foodontiktok #pastatiktok #homecook #greek #lasagna #foryou #fyp

♬ original sound – The Hunger Diaries

One of The Hunger Diaries’ commenters suggested she make a dessert version of this with chocolate pasta stuffed with strawberries and chocolate, and the social media chef thought it was a great idea.

Whether you think putting string cheese and premade pasta sauce in honeycomb pasta is an offense to Italian cooking or a creative take on the dish, it’s fun to see all the spins on yummy comfort food.

As Food52 put it, “This pasta cake proves that though bucking convention might leave some a bit bewildered, there’s always room for a little experimentation.”

What would be your spin on this honeycomb pasta dish?

Food, Viral
,

Related posts

side by side images of a woman getting ready for the day
Moms reveal their messy homes in viral trend, hoping to normalize reality
Judi Dench TikTok
Watch Judi Dench join her grandson on TikTok in heartwarming reels
Billy Joel sits at a piano
Listen to Billy Joel's first new music in nearly 20 years
Abigail Oviedo's parents open the Christmas gifts they wanted as children
Parents have delightful reaction as daughter gives them Christmas gifts they'd wanted as kids

About the Author
Anna Weaver
Anna Weaver is a writer and multimedia journalist from Hawaii. Her two young kids keep her on her toes and hooked on online shopping. Anna’s also a fan of movies, reading, photography, and sharing far too many IG stories about cute dogs and capybaras.

From our partners