These 15 Penne Pasta Recipes Will Become Weeknight Dinner Staples
Cook your way through these fan-favorites made in a casserole, skillet, or Instant Pot!
These easy penne pasta recipes prove that short-cut noodles can pack a big flavor punch. Whether you’re in the mood for a cheesy penne pasta casserole, a semi-homemade penne pasta salad, or a restaurant-style penne pasta recipe, we have a penne creation that will please a crowd.
Italian Style Turkey and Penne Toss
If you, too, despise doing dishes, your search for the best penne pasta recipe stops here. It’s a one-pot pasta recipe! Overflowing with flavor from your spice cabinet and packed with protein and vitamins via ground turkey, tomato sauce, and fresh spinach, the penne cooks in the same Dutch oven you use to brown the meat.
Cheesy Bacon and Leek Pasta Bake
We love a “project recipe” that pushes our culinary skills to the next level and teaches us something new, but let’s be real. Some days (okay, most weekdays), we only have the time and energy to toss together a reliable staple without a novel-sized list of ingredients. This bacon-studded baked pasta is the penne pasta recipe we crave when we want comfort food without an extra shopping trip. Beyond the penne (or rigatoni), you only need 5 ingredients
Multicooker Beef, Mushroom, and Caramelized Onion Penne
Caramelized onions lend such a luxurious, naturally sweet element to a dish. Here, we coach you through how to make a big batch in your pressure cooker to infuse even more flavor into the hearty roast beef and mushroom pasta. Another secret that makes this one of our best pasta recipes ever? Instead of boiling the penne in water, the vegetables, meat, and pasta all cook together in a savory beef broth.
Chicken Taco Pasta
On those days when you can’t quite decide between taking your menu to Mexico or Italy, we suggest diving into a dish that offers the best of both worlds. Bonus: This serves 8 from a single pan. Tomatoes and noodles bring some Mediterranean energy, while taco seasoning-dusted chicken, black beans, and corn offer some Tex-Mex flair.
Pesto Pasta with Charred Radicchio
Whether you start with rigatoni, ziti, cavatappi, or stick to our theme and enjoy this as a penne pasta recipe, you’ll want this pesto pasta in your repertoire all summer—and year—long. When your herb garden is exploding, choose any tender leaves to toss into our easy homemade pesto recipe. Other times of year, feel free to opt for store-bought pesto. Either way, the bright, punchy sauce helps coat the noodles inside and out.
Test Kitchen Tip: Roasting the radicchio until slightly charred around the edges might sound like a mistake, but trust the process. This strategy helps tame the vegetable’s natural bitterness and ushers in a pleasant smoky quality.
Chicken, Spinach, and Pasta Salad
Freshen up your pasta salad routine with this ultra-summery and healthy penne pasta recipe. In addition to being mayo-free, this 30-minute meal is also a solid choice if you’re seeking a balanced meal that’s not too high in carbs. With fresh spinach, chicken, mushrooms, basil, tomatoes, and a bright balsamic dressing in the mix, no one will even notice there’s just 1 ½ ounce of pasta per person. After trying it at home, one BHG reader deems it, “delicious! I didn't miss the mayo at all.”
Pesto Penne with Deli-Roasted Chicken
Refresh leftover or rotisserie chicken into a potluck-perfect recipe that will have everyone asking you for your secrets. We’ll spill those now: purchased basil pesto and roasted red pepper perk up the penne pasta recipe. Those store-bought shortcuts and boiling broccoli with the noodles during the last 2 minutes of cooking time means that this healthy pasta dinner can be on the table in 20 minutes.
Shrimp and Roasted Red Peppers
We’re always tempted to order the shrimp or seafood pasta entrées on restaurant menus, but often find ourselves steering clear due to the fear of the mess from long, sauce-splattering noodles. There’s far less risk to your wardrobe—and a much smaller impact on your bank account—when you whip up this quick shrimp recipe with penne at home. Although it only takes 25 minutes, it tastes surprisingly similar to a gourmet dish thanks to a splash of white wine and cream in the roasted red pepper sauce.
Cheesy Italian Meatball Casserole
It will be our little secret that this company-worthy casserole involves next-to-no prep. Simply boil the penne, toss that with store-bought sauce and meatballs, and give this a headstart in the oven. As that bakes, mix ricotta and Parmesan to dollop on top and melt into the easy meatball dinner during its final 15 minutes. Just add a salad and you have a Sunday dinner-worthy feast.
Buffalo "Chicken" Pasta
Think of this Buffalo chicken remix as a choose-your-own-adventure game. Opt for penne or farfalle, then pump up the protein with chicken breasts or plant-based “chicken” strips. Any and every way, those ingredients will shine in the spicy cream sauce that’s stoked with Alfredo sauce, blue cheese, and cayenne pepper hot sauce. It’s amazing as-is, but even better served alongside carrots, celery, and extra blue cheese to complete the pub-like experience.
Italian Pot Roast with Penne
Slow cooker pot roast is quite possibly our favorite home fragrance. But why stop at the beef alone? To recreate this hearty dinner idea, you’ll cook the spice-rubbed roast and aromatic vegetables low and slow in a pool of tomato-basil pasta sauce. Come dinnertime, shred the tender, saucy meat and pile that and the vegetables over a bed of penne pasta for a crowd-pleasing riff on roast that you’ll return to again and again.
Pasta with Chicken, Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta Cheese
While a healthy chicken breast and penne pasta recipe might not sound all that exciting, we’ll let BHG home cooks who have tried it speak for us. They describe the Mediterranean-style meal as a “nice light meal” and “perhaps the nicest dish I have ever cooked in my 53 years of marriage.” It’s all about the sautéed garlicky tomatoes, fresh spinach, and the punchy sweet-tart honey mustard dressing.
Asparagus-Tuna Casserole
Combine a just-like-grandma-made comfort food classic, tuna casserole, with a side of vegetables for a complete meal in a single casserole dish. Penne and new potatoes check the carb box, asparagus and olives sneak in the produce, and canned tuna acts as the affordable protein source. All of those transform into a dinner that’s creamy on the inside, crunchy on the outside (hat tip to the breadcrumbs!), and brightened up beautifully with lemon zest.
Roasted Tomato and Artichoke Pasta
Make the most of your time in the kitchen by multitasking. As the penne pasta cooks on the stove, roast the Mediterranean-inspired “sauce” ingredients on a sheet pan in the oven. By doing double duty, this 7-ingredient dinner can be on the table in a mere 25 minutes. No one will ever guess this was a quick and easy dinner recipe, though; verdant thyme and oregano and briny olives and marinated artichokes make this taste like a fancy, restaurant-quality meal.
Ham and Spinach Two-Cheese Pasta
Here’s a pasta dinner that will help keep the peace! No one will need to fight over the largest scoop when you serve penne pasta casserole in single-serving ramekins. You won’t want to sacrifice a single bite of this cozy dinner; the mustard-infused cheese sauce swims into and around every noodle, leaf of spinach, and cube of leftover ham.
Test Kitchen Tip: This same penne pasta recipe base would also be brilliant with diced chicken or drained and rinsed white beans if ham's not your jam.
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