In traditional Southern Italian home cooking, the dough is rolled, then cut into cubes.

In Cisternino orecchiette are made with durum wheat; they are larger and take on a different shape, with deep internal ribs, very similar to an ear.

Cavatelli, strascinati (strascinate in the vernacular of Bari) and cencioni are made like orecchiette, without the final step of forming a concave shape.

In China, a similar type of pasta is called 猫耳朵 (māo ěr duǒ, lit.

The Italian cookbook Il cucchiaio d'argento[3] (The Silver Spoon)[4] suggests that orecchiette are ideal for vegetable sauces.