50 Pasta Ideas for All Seasons
We've tested endless noodles and sauces to develop our best pasta recipes so you can try something new or perfect a go-to.
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Pappardelle! Spaghetti! Gnocchi! Whether you're looking for a one-pot dinner or a cozy baked macaroni and cheese, our best pasta recipes won't let you down. Some of our favorites include bright Summer Crab Carbonara with Lemons and Capers and Sicilian Baked Pasta loaded with cheese and eggplant. If you need a quick meal, Pulling-from-the-Pantry Puttanesca or Roy Choi's Pasta Aglio e Olio are good bets. Read on for those recipes and even more pasta dishes we love.
Pulling-from-the-Pantry Puttanesca
Chef Zoi Antonitsas is passionate about preserved fish. The salty, briny fillets are her favorite powerhouse pantry ingredient. They can make almost anything into a meal — and a delicious one at that. Use high-quality tins, like Matiz España brand, for the best results.
One-Pot White Wine Pasta with Mushrooms and Leeks
This creamy, savory pasta dish comes together in just one pot, no need to boil the pasta separately. A combination of savory sautéed mushrooms and gently sweet leeks combine with cream, lemon juice, and white wine to create the rich sauce. Feel free to switch up the flavor by adding tarragon instead of dill.
Spinach Lasagna
Robby Lozano / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
There are many iterations of spinach lasagna but this one is our favorite because of its simplicity and generous use of four cheeses: ricotta, Parmesan, Gruyère, and mozzarella. It's an incredibly delicious dish that even meat eaters will love.
Creamy Tomato Rigatoni
A judicious amount of heavy cream enriches this simple tomato sauce, producing a lush texture that clings to the pasta without blanketing richness. This recipe is inspired by sommelier Derrick C. Westbrook of 1340 Beer Wine Spirits in Chicago, who named it his ideal dish for pairing with wine.
Linguine with Frenched Green Beans and Parsley Pesto
In this classic recipe, 1988 F&W Best New Chef Johanne Killen employs starchy pasta water to thicken her fresh pesto into a sauce that clings to and flavors each strand of linguine, instead of pooling in the bowl. Thinly sliced green beans intertwine with the pasta, offering a refreshing crunch.
Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Capers
"For a crowd-pleaser at any party, I combine sheet pan–roasted cauliflower with pasta along with some crispy capers for salty crunch; anchovies (just a few) for umami depth; sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes for oomph, and lemon zest for brightness," food-lifestyle influencer Colu Henry writes. "This recipe calls for the standard white cauliflower, but if you happen to see the purple or orange 'cheddar' variety, by all means grab them for presentation's sake."
Pasta Aglio e Olio
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Amelia Rampe
This simple, garlicky pasta from chef Roy Choi uses pantry ingredients — the beauty comes from building out the flavor profile in the olive oil. Better yet, the whole thing comes together in the time it takes for the water to boil, making it the perfect back-pocket pasta to add to your weeknight rotation.
Creamy Vegan Pasta with Greens, Peas, and Lemon Zest
Quickly blanched greens and sizzling scallions and garlic meet in a surprisingly creamy vegan sauce for pasta, with a touch of white miso for added depth. Feel free to top with your favorite grated plant-based cheese, or just enjoy it all on its own.
Pasta Bolognese
Former F&W editor Grace Parisi features a traditional combination of ground beef, pork, veal, and tomato studded with salt-cured pancetta. It's tossed with penne rigate and served with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Farro Mafaldine with Black Truffle Butter and Mushrooms
Black truffle paste, available year-round, melts beautifully into the buttery sauce for this dish, but when they're in season (November through February), chef Karen Akunowicz recommends splurging for fresh black truffles. Use a rasp grater to get as much truffle goodness as possible into each perfect bite.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Make this restaurant-level Fettuccine Alfredo at home for an unforgettable meal. A generous layer of garlicky, cheesy breadcrumbs take the rich, creamy pasta over the top.
Lobster Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes
Food & Wine / Photo by Robby Lozano / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
Cracking open a whole lobster takes time and a lot of napkins, but this pasta skips straight to enjoying the best part: the lobster meat. Cooked with corn, juicy tomatoes, garlic, and wine, this beautiful summer pasta only needs a sprinkling of cheese and 25 minutes of your time for an elegant dinner.
Bucatini with Mushroom Ragù, Dandelion Greens, and Tarragon
This meatless ragù gets rich flavor from dried morel mushrooms in former F&W editor Mary-Frances Heck's first-course pasta that's hearty without being filling. Save time by chopping the vegetables in a food processor, but take care to not puree them.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
To create the classic ridges on each piece of gnocchi, use a paddle or fork to gently indent each side. Those grooves help the rich, buttery sauce cling to each tender bite.
Buttermilk Macaroni and Cheese with Baby Kale
A quick sauté renders baby kale leaves perfectly tender, allowing them to almost melt into the buttermilk-enriched bechamel in chef and cookbook author Alexander Smalls' version of mac and cheese. For a smooth sauce, make sure all of the dairy is at room temperature.
Pasta ’Ncasciata (Sicilian Baked Pasta)
Fred Hardy II / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
In Sicily, ’ncasciata has many variations; 2016 F&W Best New Chef Michael Gulotta’s version combines tender eggplant, buttery caciocavallo cheese, and crushed tomatoes with al dente rigatoni. Baking the eggplant rounds rather than frying them cuts down on the prep time.
Pasta with Pumpkin Brown Butter Sauce
A classic browned butter and sage sauce gets a boost of fall flavor from pumpkin butter. Be generous with the Parmigiano-Reggiano, as its salty, savory bite adds the perfect hit of umami flavor to this comforting pasta dish.
Après-Ski Lasagna
This hearty lasagna gets its heft from mild Italian sausage and cremini mushrooms, plus three kinds of cheese. It can be made ahead for a group and served with fresh basil for brightness.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
This simple pasta features a silky egg-based sauce, crispy guanciale, and a combination of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Once you've got the technique down, it's a quick and easy dish to prepare.
Pasta e Ceci (Pasta with Chickpeas)
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
Pasta e ceci (literally “pasta with chickpeas”) is a classic and comforting vegetarian Italian dish that comes together in one pot. The garlicky thyme- and rosemary-scented broth gets a subtle umami boost from tomato paste and bright acidity from white wine. This simple dish can range from brothy to creamy, and our version falls somewhere in between — mashing some of the chickpeas and stirring in nutty Parmigiano-Reggiano before serving adds some nice thickness.
Gnocchi Asparagi e Pancetta (Tuscan Gnocchi with Asparagus and Pancetta)
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
A stellar potato gnocchi starts with good potatoes. Cinzia Merli, proprietor of Le Macchiole vineyard and winery in Bolgheri, Italy, recommends potatoes with a good moisture content, like Yukon Golds or new potatoes. Tossed with delicate springtime asparagus and a savory, emulsified, pancetta-flavored pan sauce, this Tuscan gnocchi’s appeal lies in its simplicity.
Busiate with Pork Ragù
For his pork ragù, Copenhagen chef Christian F. Puglisi marinates the pork overnight for a meltingly tender meat sauce served with hand-rolled busiate.
Cheesy Baked Pasta with Radicchio
A splash of red wine vinegar balances the richness of this cheesy pasta and magnifies the pink color of the onions and radicchio. Omit the prosciutto to make this a vegetarian main dish.
Spicy Sausage Pasta with Tomatoes and Squash
Added just minutes before serving, thinly sliced squash melts into the pasta without losing its shape and texture. Use a mandoline to achieve wafer-thin slices.
Steak au Poivre Pasta
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Classic steak au poivre is a peppercorn-crusted tenderloin that’s pan-seared and topped with a creamy pan sauce made with cognac, shallots, stock, and cream. It’s often served with fries but we swap them for noodles, specifically mafalda corta, to soak up all the delicious sauce.
Kale-Artichoke Stuffed Shells
Cannellini beans add hearty creaminess to these stuffed shells, while mild heat from Calabrian chiles and earthy sweetness from fennel seeds amp up jarred marinara sauce. Cook a few extra pasta shells to have on hand in case some tear during boiling.
Creamy Baked Pasta with Gruyère and Prosciutto
For a simple and ultra-creamy baked pasta, take a cue from chef Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner: Trade the bechamel for this much easier sauce of heavy cream simmered with plenty of nutmeg and two kinds of cheese.
Rigatoni Amatriciana
Fatty pancetta comes together with tomatoes, Pecorino Romano cheese, sweet onion, and crushed red pepper to make a rich, jammy, pleasantly spicy sauce. This deeply flavorful dinner can be made in under an hour, making it a perfect weeknight recipe.
Creamy Lemon Pasta
Chef Andrew Zimmern mimics the sweet, fragrant lemons of Italy's Amalfi Coast with Meyer lemons in this beautifully bright and creamy pasta. The dish originated at L'Antica Trattoria in Sorrento, where lemon juice is tossed with just-cooked pasta until absorbed. Supremes of lemon add a juicy, tart pop that cuts through the cream in the sauce.
Spaghetti with Clams and Braised Greens
For her version of this classic dish, chef Ashley Christensen steams clams in wine, then purees the resulting broth with roasted red peppers to create a briny, rich, deeply flavorful sauce that clings to the pasta — no leaving any delicious sauce behind in the bowl. A hefty load of Swiss chard helps to amp up the flavor for a fabulously satisfying one-dish wonder.
Pasta with Sausage, Basil, and Mustard
Diana Chistruga
In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.
Raclette-Gruyère Mac and Cheese with Pickled Shallots
Inspired by älplermagronen, Alpine farmers' macaroni, this Swiss take on the classic gets rich flavor from Gruyère and a lush creaminess from Raclette. Traditional versions of this dish are served with applesauce; as a nod to that flavor play, we've added some shallots that are quickly pickled in apple cider vinegar to balance the cheesy richness.
Shrimp Scampi with Garlicky Miso Butter
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
This garlicky pasta includes a touch of miso added to the white wine base for extra-briny depth. The convenience factor goes way up if you keep a bag or two of peeled and deveined shrimp in the freezer for quick meals. There’s no searing the shrimp or other fuss: They cook to a lovely, delicate state in just a couple of minutes.
Garganelli with Speck, Peas, and Scallion Cream
Sweet spring peas and garlicky sauce flood the tubular garganelli pasta in this recipe, making each bite a surprise. Substitute penne if you can't find garganelli, and don't skip the lemon and mint at the end, which bring balance to the dish.
Three-Pepper Cacio e Pepe
A trio of peppercorns gives this pasta a subtle, floral heat. If you like, spice it up, swapping the Szechuan pepper with a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs
© Fredrika Stjärne
Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd-pleasing classic Italian-American dish. The mixture of beef, veal, and pork makes the meatballs especially flavorful.
Cheese Tortellini with Walnut Pesto
Here's one of the quickest pesto sauces you'll come across. It's a perfect match for cheese tortellini, but you can use other tortellini such as mushroom or meat instead. The pesto is also great with just about any plain pasta.
Crab Macaroni Gratin
"A glorious amount of crabmeat baked with shell-shaped pasta in a three-cheese cream sauce — tangy white cheddar, nutty Gruyère, and sharp Parmigiano-Reggiano — is no-joke delicious, and trés riche," cookbook author Andrea Slonecker writes.
Beef Brasato with Pappardelle and Mint
© Tina Rupp
Chef Chris Cosentino braises beef shank and oxtail in red wine to make a brasato he serves with housemade mint pappardelle. We simplify things by omitting the oxtail and using fresh store-bought pasta.
Pappardelle with Chicken and Pistachio-Mint Pesto
Former F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple makes a bright and nutty mint-pistachio pesto as the sauce for this fresh, summery warm pasta dish.
Mostaccioli
A hearty meat sauce, lots of melted cheese, and pasta make this dish a crowd-pleaser. Mostaccioli, a smooth, tube-shaped pasta with angled ends, is the go-to here, but penne also works well.
Summer Crab Carbonara with Lemons and Capers
Chef Douglass Williams' method for carbonara allows you to hold the cooked pasta before adding it to the garlic-oil-pasta cooking liquid emulsion. It makes for a simple, creamy carbonara without the stress.
Basil Three-Cheese Ravioli with No-Cook Fresh Tomato Sauce
Press and seal fresh basil leaves in homemade pasta dough to make three-cheese ravioli that are as beautiful as they are delicious, paired in this recipe from our test kitchen with a no-fuss, no-cook fresh tomato sauce that doesn't distract from the delicate pasta.
Spaghetti with Squash Blossom Butter and Summer Beans
2005 F&W Best New Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson adds a generous amount of crisp green and wax beans to this light summer pasta for crunch and body, so the dish uses fewer noodles.
Creamed Corn Pasta
Fresh corn melts into a creamy sauce that clings to every cranny of this pasta from Victor King of The Essential in Birmingham, Alabama. Any short noodle, like gemelli or casarecce, will work here. Using a vegetable peeler to shave the corn kernels is key to this summery dish. The peeler cuts juicy pieces of fresh corn while leaving rich and creamy corn milk behind to add body and flavor to the sauce.
Teff Tagliatelle with Niter Kibbeh
In traditional Ethiopian niter kebbeh (spiced clarified butter), whole spices, like nigella, coriander, and cardamom, are bloomed in clarified butter, or ghee, and then strained; here, chef Yohanis Gebreyesus leaves the toasted spices in to add texture to this simple but luxurious sauce for pasta made with earthy, fragrant teff . Don't skip on resting the dough — it prevents the pasta from cracking apart when rolling and boiling.
Pasta with Roasted Sun Gold Tomato Sauce
Cherry tomatoes are roasted on a sheet pan and then cooked down with garlic, a pinch of sugar, and olive oil until the liquid has thickened for this quick, fresh tomato sauce. Use Sun Gold tomatoes for a stunning orange sauce — if they're not available, use any small, sweet cherry tomatoes you can find.
Spaghetti with Mussels, Squid Ink, and Breadcrumbs
Commonly sold as squid ink, cuttlefish ink lends its signature deep black hue to this dish and coats every strand of spaghetti with its briny, mineral-rich taste. A simple mussel puree provides a mild, delicate seafood flavor and creamy richness.
Cacio e Plantain
Mildly sweet and super creamy, caramelized plantains and nutty Parmesan form a silky sauce that drapes over spaghetti in this recipe by game-changing chef Eric Rivera. Choose very ripe plantains, with a mostly or completely black peel. Cilantro stems add a pop of crunch and freshness along with their tender leaves.
Cold Crab Spaghetti
Late summer in Louisiana is boggy hot, but this refreshing dish from chef Isaac Toups comes to the rescue with sweet-tart segments of juicy tangerine; he uses just a teaspoon of Dijon to create a creamy, balanced sauce. Thai chile brings a touch of heat, while a flurry of mint, basil, and parsley highlights the natural sweetness of fresh crab.
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