18 Easy Pasta Dinners You Can Make on a Weeknight

Heat heavily salted water in a large pot until boiling vigorously.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions until perfectly al dente.

Melt four tablespoons of butter in a wide skillet over medium heat until foaming.

Drop minced garlic into the hot pan and sauté until fragrant.

Toss the peeled shrimp in the skillet until they turn pink and completely opaque.

Mix the cooked pasta and fresh lemon juice directly into the hot skillet.

Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley over the noodles before serving.

Warm olive oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium heat.

Sear diced chicken pieces until golden brown on all sides.

Stir sliced garlic into the hot oil for thirty seconds.

Pour four cups of chicken broth into the pan and heat until bubbling.

Drop dry spaghetti straight into the bubbling liquid.

Simmer until the pasta absorbs the liquid and becomes tender.

Toss the cooked chicken back into the skillet with fresh lemon juice and torn basil.

Boil a large pot of heavily salted water.

Cook penne pasta until perfectly tender.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan and sauté diced onions until soft.

Stir crushed tomatoes and garlic into the pan.

Simmer the red sauce over low heat for ten solid minutes.

Pour heavy cream into the sauce and stir until evenly colored.

Fold cooked penne and torn basil leaves into the hot, creamy sauce.

I have noticed that letting the tomato sauce simmer slowly before pouring in the cream prevents curdling and creates a much smoother texture.

Heat heavily salted water until boiling vigorously.

Boil rigatoni pasta for exactly twelve minutes.

Warm olive oil in your heavy cast-iron skillet.

Brown the ground sausage until crispy edges form all around the meat.

Sprinkle red pepper flakes over the crispy sausage pieces.

Pour marinara sauce into the skillet and stir well to combine.

Toss the cooked rigatoni in the hot meat sauce.

Boil a pot of water and cook fresh ravioli for three minutes.

Melt butter in a light-colored stainless steel pan over medium-low heat.

Watch the butter closely as it foams and turns golden brown.

Drop fresh sage leaves directly into the hot, foaming butter.

Fry the sage for thirty seconds until completely crisp.

Transfer cooked ravioli straight into the brown butter.

Squeeze lemon juice over the top to cut the heavy richness.

I ruined three batches of brown butter for a dinner party in 2022 by looking away for ten seconds. Always use a light-colored pan so you can see the milk solids changing color. Changing my pan dropped my failure rate to zero.

Cook fettuccine in a pot of boiling salted water.

Heat butter in a wide pan over medium-high heat until foaming.

Sear sliced mushrooms until deeply golden and fragrant without stirring too much.

Stir the minced garlic paste into the mushrooms for one minute.

Pour white wine into the pan to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom.

Fold fresh spinach into the hot pan until wilted.

Toss cooked pasta with the savory mushroom mixture.

Boil water and cook farfalle until perfectly tender.

Scoop one cup of hot pasta water into a ceramic mug before draining the pot.

Whisk ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice, and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.

Pour half a cup of the hot pasta water into the cheese mixture.

Whisk the cheese vigorously until it becomes a glossy, pourable sauce.

Drop the hot, drained pasta straight into the mixing bowl.

Toss aggressively until the white sauce coats every single bow tie.

A helpful trick is mixing the ricotta sauce in a cool bowl rather than a hot pan on the stove. Direct heat causes delicate ricotta to separate and turn unpleasantly grainy.

Boil macaroni in salted water until tender to the bite.

Place drained roasted peppers, garlic cloves, and heavy cream into a high-speed blender.

Blend the mixture until perfectly smooth and totally glossy.

Warm olive oil in a skillet over very low heat.

Pour the orange pepper purée into the skillet to heat through gently.

Stir in the parmesan cheese until completely melted.

Toss the cooked macaroni into the warm, smoky sauce.

Heat olive oil in a heavy Dutch oven over medium heat.

Sauté diced onions and carrots until they turn very soft and translucent.

Brown the ground beef in the pot, breaking it into tiny pieces with a wooden spoon.

Stir tomato paste directly into the meat and cook for two minutes.

Pour crushed tomatoes into the pot and stir everything well.

Simmer the meat sauce on low heat for thirty quiet minutes.

Toss hot tagliatelle into the rich, dark ragù before serving in bowls.

Cook fusilli in heavily salted boiling water until tender.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Sear diced chicken pieces until fully cooked and golden brown.

Remove the skillet from the heat source completely.

Drop the cooked pasta and halved tomatoes into the warm skillet.

Spoon the fresh pesto directly over the warm ingredients.

Toss gently and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

I have ruined fresh pesto by cooking it over a live flame. Always stir it into your pasta completely off the heat so the basil stays bright green and sweet.

Boil linguine until tender in heavily salted water.

Toss chicken strips with the fiery Cajun seasoning in a small bowl.

Melt butter in a large skillet over high heat.

Sear the seasoned chicken until deeply blackened on the outside.

Stir sliced bell peppers into the pan until they soften slightly.

Pour heavy cream directly over the chicken and peppers.

Simmer until the sauce thickens, then mix in the hot pasta.

Cook linguine in boiling salted water.

Drain two tablespoons of the flavor-packed tomato oil directly into a skillet.

Sauté sliced garlic and chopped sun-dried tomatoes in the hot oil.

Sprinkle crushed red pepper into the fragrant pan.

Drop fresh spinach into the skillet until just wilted.

Toss hot pasta directly into the garlic and tomato mixture.

Mix in the grated parmesan cheese right before serving.

Scrub the fresh clams thoroughly under cold running water.

Cook spaghetti in boiling water until slightly underdone.

Melt butter and sauté garlic in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid.

Place the clean clams gently into the pot.

Pour the white wine over the clams and cover tightly.

Steam for six minutes until the clam shells pop open.

Toss the undercooked spaghetti into the clam broth to finish cooking.

I always discard any clams that refuse to open after steaming. A closed shell means the clam died before cooking and is unsafe to eat.

Melt butter in a deep saucepan over medium heat.

Toast the dry orzo in the butter until it turns golden brown.

Stir minced garlic into the toasted pasta for thirty seconds.

Pour chicken broth into the pan and stir gently.

Simmer uncovered until the orzo absorbs most of the liquid.

Pour heavy cream into the pan.

Stir in grated parmesan until the mixture becomes totally creamy.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boil ziti for exactly six minutes so it remains very firm.

Brown the ground sausage in a skillet and stir in the marinara.

Mix the semi-cooked ziti completely into the hot meat sauce.

Spread half the pasta mixture into a large baking dish.

Drop small spoonfuls of ricotta over the pasta layer.

Cover with the remaining pasta, top with mozzarella, and bake for twenty minutes.

When feeding my son's baseball team last spring, I swapped standard baking dishes for disposable aluminum trays. Prepping this ziti ahead of time fed twelve hungry kids perfectly and left me with absolutely zero dishes to wash at 9:00 PM.

Roast the cubed squash with olive oil at 400 degrees until tender.

Boil the orecchiette pasta until al dente.

Fry the chopped bacon pieces in a large skillet until crispy.

Leave the rendered bacon fat in the hot pan.

Drop the roasted squash into the bacon fat and mash slightly with a fork.

Toss the hot pasta directly into the savory squash mixture.

Sprinkle a tiny pinch of nutmeg and parmesan cheese over the top.

I have noticed that mashing half of the roasted squash creates a thick, creamy sauce, while leaving the other half cubed provides a great texture contrast.

Boil pappardelle noodles in heavily salted water.

Heat butter in a wide skillet until foaming aggressively.

Sear the sliced wild mushrooms until deeply browned on the edges.

Stir minced garlic into the mushrooms.

Pour heavy cream into the pan and simmer for five minutes.

Mix the cooked noodles into the thick, dark mushroom cream.

Drizzle exactly one teaspoon of truffle oil over the dish right before serving.

Heavily salt the beef short ribs on all sides.

Sear the ribs in a hot Dutch oven until a dark crust forms.

Remove the beef and sauté the diced onions and carrots in the beef fat.

Pour the entire bottle of red wine into the pot to scrape the bottom clean.

Place the ribs back in, pour in beef broth, and cover with a heavy lid.

Braise in the oven at 325 degrees for three hours until the meat shreds easily.

Shred the beef, discard the bones, and toss the rich ragù with hot rigatoni.