Pasta
Our 32 Most Popular Pasta Recipes for Anytime Comfort Cravings
The ones we're making over and over (and over!) again.
Oh, pasta. What would we do without you? You’re our last-minute workhorse, our surefire crowd-pleaser, our constant comfort companion. And, as our Food Editor extraordinaire, Emma Laperruque, is fond of saying: “I’m confident—nay, convinced—that no matter how bare your fridge and pantry, if you have a box of pasta, you have dinner.” See? You really can have it all.
But there are so many pastas to choose from! Maybe you’re a classic bolognese fan, or you favor creamy Alfredo or gnocchi stuffed with parmesan. (I’m always down to top noodles with goat cheese, myself).
There’s really no wrong way to pasta, but we wanted to help you find the best of the best: the recipes our millions of community members turn to time and time again. So we've combed through Food52's decade-old recipe box for the most cooked, most favorited pasta recipes ever. Check them out, and make sure to share your favorites in the comments below!
1. Martha Stewart's One-Pan Pasta
This pasta makes its own sauce, all in one pan, in 9 minutes. No wonder it took over the internet (and changed the way we think about cooking pasta).
2. Rhonda's Spaghetti with Fried Eggs & Pangrattato for One
Affordable and delicious, this simple pasta from community member Rhonda35 may or may not have inspired an intervention: “Living alone overseas while my husband was deployed with the USAF, I became a bit obsessed with this dish—to the point where my sister, Amanda, thought she might have to run an intervention! Ten years later, I’ve added to and changed this recipe to fit my own tastes.”
3. Victoria Granof’s Pasta con Ceci
A five-ingredient dinner of canned chickpeas, tiny pasta shapes, garlic, tomato paste, and olive oil —that’s truly all this one takes. (Yep, no stock.) Memorize now and make forever more.
4. Spicy Eggplant Pasta
The spicy eggplant sauce in Gena Hamshaw's recipe makes enough to cover a whole pound of linguine. Feed an army, eat for days, and pack it for lunch (it reheats well, too).
5. White Pasta with Garlic Parmigiano Breadcrumbs
Community member sdebrango introduced us to this quick dinner formula back in 2012: “Pasta of your choice (I use linguine) with ricotta and milk, plus a topping of bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, butter, and Parmigiano.” Perfetto!
6. Ina Garten's Pasta alla Vecchia Bettola
The secret to Ina Garten's version of Pasta alla Vecchia Bettola? Roast perfectly fine sauce in the oven for an hour and a half, and you’ll get a concentrated, caramelized, almost-jammy masterpiece. How easy is that?
7. Bucatini Pasta With Pork Ragu
This is the kind of pasta that begs to star in a big Sunday dinner. Sure, it takes a decent amount of time to pull together, but a couple of hours simmering results a sauce with such rich, deep flavor, you’ll float on cloud nine all week long.
8. Creamy Mushroom Pasta
Also goes by the name “No Regrets Pasta.”
9. Grandma DiLaura's Italian Ricotta Gnocchi
It took about 20 years before cdilaura finally pinned down her grandma (okay, figuratively) and made her write down the recipe that had always been made by memory and feel. We’re so thankful she did.
10. Martha Stewart's Macaroni & Cheese
Martha strikes again! This time with a genius recipe for perfectly creamy baked macaroni and cheese.
11. Sue Kreitzman’s Lemon Butter Angel Hair Pasta
When it comes to pasta, it doesn't get simpler or more satisfying than Sue Kreitzman's angel hair pasta, which pretty much has every ingredient you'll need in the recipe title.
12. Craig Claiborne's Pasta con Asparagi
Take three of the world's best pasta sauces—tomato, asparagus, and carbonara—and mash them up for a surprisingly harmonious (and delicious, duh) result.
13. Miso-Mushroom Pasta
Miso meets mushroom, falls in love, makes this earthy, umami, can't-put-it-down pasta dish—a romance for the ages.
14. Diane Kochilas' Pasta With Yogurt & Caramelized Onions
Caramelized onions are the secret weapon ingredient your pastas have been missing, and this creamy-sweet-savory dish is proof. (So is this braised onion sauce with pappardelle.)
15. Pasta with Cabbage, Winter Squash & Walnuts
The secret to this winter-ready pasta's flavor, according to Dorie Greenspan: vinegar. Oh, and sweet-tart dried cranberries.
16. Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage
Keep this supremely comforting baked pasta with a hearty sausage ragu is on heavy rotation during the chillier months—taking a bite is the equivalent of wrapping yourself in a cozy blanket.
17. Pasta Piselli
This contest-winning pasta comes from community member, sdebrango, and unapologetically leans in to its brothy, almost soup-like base.
18. Pasta with Slow-Cooked Cauliflower, Anchovies & Garlic
Slow-cooked cauliflower makes a lovely blank canvas for the other bold flavors in this pasta, like anchovies, garlic, and a dash of rosemary.
19. Zuni's Pasta with Preserved Tuna
Adapted from the Zuni Cafe cookbook, this preserved tuna pasta is guaranteed to be your new go-to pantry dish—most everything you need to make it comes from a box, can, or jar.
20. Pasta Al Forno with Pumpkin & Pancetta
The second October rolls around you can catch us making this creamy, cheesy (and yes, pumkin-y) baked pasta from our co-founder Merrill Stubbs on repeat.
21. Andy Bennett's Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Carbonara
The carbonara sauce in this creamy cauliflower pasta doesn't have any egg at all, but actually uses stock-simmered cauliflower blended with olive oil.
22. Swiss Chard & Lemon Ricotta Pasta
Swiss chard (or in a pinch, kale) and lemon make bright, bitter complements to all the cheese and bacon in this easy, last-minute dish.
23. Pasta e Fagioli
True story: When this recipe's author came home from studying abroad in Rome, she ate this dish so often her friends started calling her Pasta Fa-Julie.
24. Fall Weeknight Pasta
Consider Food52 contributor Eric Kim's ode to fall, complete with guanciale, seasonal butternut squash, and hearty Tuscan kale.
25. Pasta with Prosciutto, Snap Peas, Mint & Cream
Perfect for spring, this light and fresh pasta calls on a very-green mix of snap peas and mint, along with a bit of prosciutto and cream.
26. Summer Weekend Pasta
Our favorite way to kick off summer in the kitchen: make our co-founder Amanda Hesser's Summer Weekend Pasta using all the vibrant farmer's market produce.
27. Pasta Puttanesca
Pasta puttanesca is a classic, and this version from community member snafu06 is the one we turn to most often.
28. Pasta with Green Pea Sauce & Lots of Pecorino
If the cheerful green color doesn't make you want to eat this pasta, maybe the promise of a silky-smooth, herbaceous green pea sauce—naturally, topped with a whole lot of cheese—will do the trick. Either way, don't sleep on making this.
29. First Night Pasta From Sam Sifton
This recipe is not so much a recipe as an idea...or, at least, so says Sam Sifton, legendary New York Times food editor. Here, tomato paste, ground beef and sweet sausage, and a smattering of dried herbs and spices make a really special connection, then bring all that goodness to a heaping plate of pasta. Recipe or idea, doesn't matter to us—all we know is that it's a brilliant one regardless.
30. Rendang Rigatoni
This is not your favorite old-world Italian ragù—it's a dazzling showcase of Southeast Asian flavors and ingredients. However, very much like the Italian classic you know and love, this collection of meat, aromatics, and spices tastes even better the second day.
31. Greens Mac 'n' Cheese From Jamie Oliver
More green pasta plus cheese! We truly can't get enough. Here, spinach, broccolini, and a fragrant leak lend a delightful hue to the cheesy casserole (two kinds of cheese, if you please!), and it's all topped with crunchy-toasty almonds.
32. Our Best Baked Ziti
Nobody can resist a big pile of ziti—oozing with sauce and cheese and bits of browned meat. One reader raved that it was "Among the best baked pasta dishes that I’ve had, I wouldn’t change a thing!" Another: "This is some of the best pasta I've ever had. It's so good!" We're blushing, but also nodding in agreement.
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Katie Macdonald
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