42 Perfect Pasta Recipes You’ll Want to Make for Dinner Tonight (and Every Night)

Broccoli pesto is a great way to use up a whole head of broccoli. Roasting broccoli stalks and florets brings out all of its best qualities. Most of it gets pureed into a nutty and cheesy pesto, but some florets remain to bulk up this green and vibrant pasta. Healthy pasta recipes don’t get better than this.

Pasta primavera recipes can get fancier or simpler, depending on your preference, but nothing beats the classic. This basic, easy pasta primavera recipe takes only a few minutes, and it’s a shrimp pasta recipe, too: Shrimp, goat cheese, salsa, and asparagus make it a well-rounded, quick-cooking pasta dish.

Few pasta recipes are as iconic as lasagna. It combines some of the best features of comfort food: cheesiness, creaminess, and ease of preparation. This classic lasagna recipe should be a staple for every home cook and is an excellent addition to any casserole rotation.

Zucchini is the star of this luscious, creamy, and healthy pasta recipe show. This recipe is easy, too: All it takes is cooking down grated zucchini with garlic, shallots, olive oil, salt, and pepper until it’s spreadably smooth.

Lasagnas may be the tried-and-true pasta casserole (along with baked ziti, of course), but don’t be afraid to add a new pasta casserole to your rotation: This chicken pasta recipe is like a baked fettucine alfredo, with a decadent sauce and creamy cheese topping.

Trendy pasta recipes may come and go, but pasta carbonara recipes—and fresh interpretations of it—are forever. This classic pasta carbonara uses bacon, egg yolks, and Parmesan to create that classic carbonara dish at home.

While technically a soup, this chicken pasta recipe uses gnocchi—a delightful noodle dumpling—with chicken and chard for a well-rounded pasta dish. Think of it as a grown-up chicken noodle soup, with plenty of pasta to go around.

Eight ingredients is all it takes to make this creamy and garlicky pasta. Greek yogurt adds protein and creates a luscious sauce when combined with pasta water and a little garlic. Cherry tomatoes roast in the oven until they just burst for the perfect hint of sweetness. Consider this a healthy alternative to your regular dinner pasta recipe.

Using multigrain or whole-wheat pasta helps make this macaroni and cheese recipe a little healthier, but never fear: It still has plenty of butter, cheese, and cream to satisfy your comfort-food craving. This cheesy pasta recipe is pretty simple and straightforward. Serve it on its own, or add a side salad or steamed veggie to round out the meal.

This take on pasta carbonara has all the flavors you know and love, just with some cauliflower to change it up a bit. Ready in just 30 minutes, this is an all-in-one, easy pasta recipe you can rely on for weeknight dinners (and you’ll have leftovers for the next day, too).

This is a Spanish-style shrimp pasta dish with a bit of a kick thanks to the addition of dry-cured chorizo. It uses three cloves of garlic, dry white wine, and lemon zest for even more of a flavor boost, promising a delicious explosion of taste with every noodle. With such hearty toppings and flavors, the pasta in this dish—linguine—is more of a vehicle for the other ingredients, but you’ll still love every bite.

You probably know and love a jarred pesto (or even a homemade version), but the version in this pesto pasta recipe might just blow those out of the water. Made with zucchini and cashews, it’s a little nutty and a lot unique. Toss with spaghetti for a vegetarian pasta dish that’s actually healthy and filled with vegetables, thanks to the zucchini sauce.

As far as shrimp pasta recipes go, this one is a classic. Simple and quick—it’s ready in only 15 minutes!—it uses the natural flavors of shrimp, garlic, olive oil, and white wine for a delicious, rich pasta dish.

This pesto pasta recipe uses a store-bought pesto, so you can enjoy your favorite jarred option. Paired with chicken sausage for a little protein and peas and green beans for veggie-power, it’s a great weeknight dinner that’s ready quickly. Plus, if your household can’t decide between chicken pasta recipes and those with pesto, this is a great compromise.

Yes, this is a delicious shrimp pasta recipe the whole family will love, but it’s also incredibly easy to make: You can make the whole dish with just one pot, so clean-up is easier and you don’t run the risk of multi-tasking with multiple pots and pans on the stove at once.

Fresh beets cooked until tender make the base for this colorful sauce. Richness and a cheese-like flavor come from miso and nutritional yeast, making this easy pasta recipe creamy, healthy, and effortlessly vegan.

Few pasta recipes or dishes are as beloved as lasagna. This lasagna recipe adds broccoli for a little variety, but it won’t venture too far from your favorite flavors: Ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese maintain that lasagna flavor you know and love. Best of all, this lasagna recipe is ready in just 15 minutes of hands-on time, so it’s easy enough to prepare and then put in the oven while you tackle other tasks.

Pappardelle is a long, flat pasta noodle that works well with light sauces. In this shrimp pasta recipe, it goes nicely with shrimp and asparagus, with only a handful of ingredients for seasoning, leaving the dish feeling light and fresh. Serve this pasta dish in the spring or summer.

This stunning pasta dish benefits from a few smart flavor-boosting techniques. Toasting the spaghetti adds nuttiness, and the acidity of the wine and lemon juice help cut the richness of the butter. Saffron offers subtle floral notes, but if you can't find it, substitute sweet paprika. By mealtime, you’ll have a light, refreshing, and healthy pasta primavera recipe to serve, share, and enjoy.

Cheesy pasta recipes are traditionally indulgent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add a little nutritional value to your next noodle-based comfort meal. This easy pasta recipe has artichoke hearts and frozen spinach for a small feel-good health boost, plus parmesan and mozzarella cheeses for the cheesy texture and flavor you know and love.

With the flavor of baked ziti but the texture and nuttiness of lasagna, this cheesy pasta recipe is sure to please the whole family. Prep time is pretty short—just 20 minutes—and the addition of lean ground beef and spinach helps this pasta dish offer some nutritional value.

A slow-cooker pasta recipe that will make everyone happy: What’s not to love? This slow-cooking but delicious pasta recipe cooks with minimal time and effort from you, so you can get on with other items on your to-do list and still have a rich, satisfying meal. Simply prepare your slow-cooker in a few minutes, and then let it work its magic.

If you don’t have time to make your own sweet potato gnocchi, you can get the next best thing: pillowy gnocchi with creamy pieces of sweet potato and a sprinkling of crunchy chopped hazelnuts. This dish looks simple—it comes together in just 20 minutes—but it still manages to be quite impressive if you need something you can cook to feed a friend, neighbor, or colleague in a hurry.

The yogurt in this pasta dish makes it just creamy enough to feel indulgent, but not too heavy. All the ingredients work beautifully together: lemon zest, Aleppo pepper, peppery arugula, nutty whole wheat pasta, and tangy yogurt sauce. It just might become your go-to warm weather pasta dish.

If you don’t already use this method for making pasta at home, it’s time to add it to your weeknight repertoire. It’s simple: Just save a cup of starchy pasta water, which you’ll use to thicken the vegetable pan sauce. The result is a creamy, restaurant-worthy sauce. And, while there are a lot of vegetables involved—a whole bunch of asparagus as well as chopped zucchini—this hearty dish will also satisfy your inner carb monster. To finish it off is a cornucopia of flavorful garnishes, including earthy pistachios, fragrant lemon zest, salty Parmesan, and peppery basil leaves. Time-saving tip: Start the pasta water right away, then chop the vegetables.

If you’re going to make mac and cheese from scratch, you might as well go all out. That means indulging in a super-creamy variety made with evaporated milk and six cups of freshly grated cheese. And yes, that includes American cheese: It adds irresistible gooey-ness.

Nothing’s better than a pasta you can whip up from ingredients you already have lying around. Ready in minutes, these “back-pocket pastas” are the best in our books. This recipe could easily become a go-to. It has a super short ingredient list because Italian chicken sausage adds a ton of savory flavor and spices. Plus it’s pre-cooked so you just need to heat it up. Find pre-cooked sausages near the bacon at your grocery store. Any sort of short pasta will work, although we love twisted shapes such as gemelli or casareche that catch sauce in their nooks and crannies.

This baked pasta dish (an elevated take on the classic stuffed shells) is hearty and satisfying, thanks to creamy, rich ricotta and meaty wild mushrooms. A quick homemade marinara sauce ties it all together, and the spinach and blanket of cheese keep the pasta shells from drying out as they bake.

This pasta dish is bright thanks to lemon zest, has a touch of heat from red pepper flakes, and is tied together with rich and creamy ricotta. Parmesan softens and gets trapped in the kale leaves, reminding us a bit of creamed kale. You can substitute spaghetti for bucatini, but we really love the way the hollow tubes soak up olive oil and extra flavor. Some quick tips: Run your fingers along both sides of the kale to remove the leaves from the stems quickly, and be sure to watch the pine nuts closely because they can burn quickly.

Who doesn’t love pasta salad? Salty olives and feta cheese combined with fresh tomatoes, chewy pasta, and tender cubes of roasted eggplant make this the perfect satisfying and healthy lunch or dinner. The longer it sits, the more the flavors meld together, so make extra and eat well all week long.

The secret ingredient to an amazing, restaurant-worthy pasta recipe like this one is shockingly simple. It’s just water! Pasta water, that is. Using just ½ cup of the leftover penne cooking liquid adds starchy body to the pan sauce, which helps the flavors to emulsify into a rich coating that’s full of flavor and body. The liquid pulls the salty pan drippings from the prosciutto and the garlicky oil and slicks it onto each tube of pasta. That’s why penne is great for a dish like this one—the ridges encourage sauce to stick and the tube traps delicious pockets of sauce.

Simmering a Parmesan rind directly in the broth deepens the flavor of this twist on chicken noodle, while the pesto adds a bright and fresh finishing touch. In fact, go ahead and double the pesto. Save the leftovers, then use later in the week on homemade pizza or bruschetta.

This pesto pasta idea is even better than the traditional variety, thanks to fried onions. Not only do you top the bowl of pasta with the onion, you’ll also use the cooking oil to flavor the pesto—infusing the taste of sautéed onions in the sauce.

Love gnocchi? Then you have to try your hand at gnudi—a lighter, fluffier, cheesier version of gnocchi. We serve our version with a simple pan sauce, vibrant spring peas, and fresh mint.

Spicy pasta lovers, this one’s for you—and it might just be the easiest one in the bunch. As the noodles cook, they release starches that thicken buttery, fiery sauce. Steaming the shrimp and asparagus with the pasta infuses them with the fragrant lemon and chiles.

This dish couldn't be easier: As your pasta boils, you’ll cook the soppressata until crisp, then add the garlic and red pepper. Stir in the sour cream, lemon juice, black pepper, cooking water, and salt. Add the pasta and toss to combine.

This easy pasta salad recipe makes a case for the long noodles to get top billing when paired with a tangy, no-cook dressing. To make the simple sauce, just blend up avocados, basil, and Greek yogurt plus apple cider vinegar for tart balance and honey to take the edge off raw ingredients. It makes the perfect coating for long swirls of spaghetti, which soak up every drop of the sauce. Chopped toasted almonds add crunch and cherry tomatoes add bursts of bright acidity. This makes a great casual weeknight dinner, and would pack particularly well for lunch on the go.

After you cook the delicious penne and simple red sauce, you’ll transfer to plates and top with walnuts and pecorino.

When doubled, this recipe makes enough for your Easter spread and lunch the next day (trust us, it’s that good: You’ll be craving the leftovers before you finish your first helping). Use fresh farmer’s market peas instead of edamame if you can find them.

Some say that there’s no such thing as an original recipe, but this pasta salad begs to differ. It’s the summertime staple of the 90s returned to modern dinner tables with this fresh take. Each perfect bite is made up of a short pasta shape, vibrant fresh herbs, crisp Persian cucumbers—famous for their good skin-to-flesh ratio—salty feta, and a mustardy garlic-lemon dressing. This portion is meant to serve as a side and would taste delicious alongside grilled chicken or steak, but it could also make a delicious dinner for four.

Instead of basil, sprinkle with fresh mint for an unexpected hint of cool, tingly flavor.

Pesto pasta is a lighter alternative to the richer, heavier tomato sauces often associated with pasta dishes. In this pesto pasta recipe, you’ll make a homemade spinach pesto by blending walnuts, garlic, spinach, olive oil, and parmesan. It’s incredibly easy with a food processor, and you’ll be amazed at how your homemade pesto tastes as good as any you’d get at a restaurant. With wide, flat fettuccine noodles to carry the sauce, you’ll delight in every bite.