25 Easy Pasta Recipes (That Aren’t Boring!)

It’s no secret I’m a pasta-lovin’ girl and if I could have it my way I would eat it every night for dinner. It is my carb of choice. Maybe it’s yours, too? In that case, scroll through to see 25 easy pasta recipes that won’t stress you out with lots of work. Baked pasta, 5-ingredient pasta, pasta with creative sauces, and dressed up classics like Aglio e Olio and carbonara – there’s a little bit of everything. Be sure to click the photos or recipe links to get all the recipe details and save your favorites.

Enjoy!

25 Easy Pasta Recipes (That Aren’t Boring!)

One-Pan Baked Tortellini – Girl Gone Gourmet | It looks like it was slow-cooked, but this baked tortellini takes just 30 minutes start to finish. Store-bought cheese tortellini cooks in the meaty sauce made with ground beef and your favorite jarred tomato sauce. It’s a hearty dinner idea for cold weather weeknights.

Winter Spinach and Ricotta Pesto – Our Salty Kitchen | I love creative pesto recipes, especially ones that can be made year-round when basil isn’t available. This spinach and ricotta pesto is simple to make plus the recipe includes some tips on making it a meal with delicious add-ins like avocado oil and cauliflower. Rotini is a great pasta shape to use in this recipe because the pesto clings to it well and, well, it just looks pretty!

Fresh Grape Tomato Pasta – An Italian In My Kitchen | In Italy, simple is always better. Fresh ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, and herbs don’t need much time over the heat so in the time it takes to boil the pasta dinner is ready to go. The recipe calls for orecchiette pasta (also known as “little ears”), but any short pasta shape you have on hand will work.

One Pot Kale, Mushroom, and Garlic Spaghetti – Lauren Caris Cooks |  One pot and 6 ingredients (plus salt and pepper) is all you need for this easy pasta recipe. I love those caramelized mushrooms with the garlicky spaghetti. I’d love to get my fork tangled up in that plate of pasta.

Dump-and-Bake 3-Cheese Baked Ziti – The Seasoned Mom | The title doesn’t lie – this is a seriously easy dinner. If you’ve ever labored over a baked ziti give this one a try. All of the ingredients are mixed together in a baking dish – including uncooked ziti! – and baked until hot and bubbling.

Balsamic Mushroom Pasta – Girl Gone Gourmet | Mushrooms and balsamic vinegar are a match made in heaven and when combined with a little cream and fettuccine you might think you’ve died and gone to heaven. This has been a go-to recipe in my house for the last few years and I never get tired of it. I love the ribbony fettuccine, but spaghetti or bucatini work great, too. Use what you got!

Instant Microwave Macaroni and Cheese in a Mug – The View From Great Island | In my experience, macaroni and cheese cravings strike at the most inopportune times when turning on the oven is just too much to bear. Like, at ten o’clock at night while knee-deep in a Netflix binge session. It is at these critical times you can have your pasta and Netflix, too, thanks to a microwave and a mug. Seriously, creamy macaroni and cheese is just five minutes away.

Garlic Parmesan Cheese Tortellini – Butter Your Biscuit | Bacon, asparagus, peas, and cheese. Just with those ingredients, you’re already winning at dinner, but add some tortellini and you’ve got a creamy, cheesy pasta dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes. Plus, with so many tortellini options to choose from (have you checked at your store lately?) you can switch up the pasta every time you make it.

Bucatini with Roasted Eggplant and Cherry Tomato Sauce – Striped Spatula | Confession: This recipe isn’t quick, but it is easy because if you’ve ever roasted vegetables you know it takes little effort to toss them in oil and pop them in the oven. While the eggplant is roasting the simple sauce comes together fast while the pasta boils in a pot. So, I’ll file this one away in my easy weekend dinner idea folder because while it might take some time there’s no stress required. Also, bucatini! Have you tried it? It’s thicker than spaghetti and hollowed out in the center so the sauce can sneak in. So good.

Lemon Asparagus Pasta – Dinner at the Zoo | Here’s what I recommend: The next time you grill chicken grill a few extra (seasoned just with salt and pepper) and pop them in the fridge. The next day make this lemon asparagus pasta – the sauce has only four ingredients! – and feel good about life.

Fettuccine Alfredo – Girl Gone Gourmet | I like to joke that fettuccine Alfredo is my diet food because I make it on those nights when dialing-up some take-out is tempting. A plate of cheesy pasta has way fewer calories than an order of crab rangoons, sesame chicken, and chicken lo mein. For that reason, I always have the ingredients on hand. Plus, it takes all of 15 minutes to make.

Easy Lemon Tuna Pasta -The Cook’s Pyjamas | I have to admit when I think of canned tuna two things come to mind: boring tuna sandwiches and gloppy tuna noodle casserole. Turns out there’s a delicious way to use up those cans hiding in the back of the pantry and it takes less than 30 minutes. Lemon, capers and sour cream make a simple sauce that coats the rotini. It’s one of those not-sad pantry dinner recipes for those nights when you want something fast and satisfying.

Mushroom Spaghetti Aglio e Olio – My Food Story | Aglio e Olio is a classic Italian dish with three simple ingredients: pasta, olive oil, and garlic. As is, it’s a wonderfully easy way to get a carb fix, but adding other ingredients like earthy mushrooms takes it to a more substantial dinner level.

Spicy Shrimp Spaghetti – Happy Foods Tube | More spaghetti! This time with shrimp and a spicy choose-your-own-chili sauce. Buy shrimp already peeled and deveined and this easy pasta dinner will be on the table in about 30 minutes.

Tagliatelle Pasta with Black Truffle Sauce – Travelling Oven | You don’t need to take out a loan to make this pasta, I promise. While black truffles are insanely expensive, you can find black truffle products that are a little easier on the wallet. This recipe calls for black truffle meal, which I don’t believe is available in the US, but a quick scan of the Williams Sonoma site offered up a few substitutes including black truffle pasta.

15-Minute Carbonara – Girl Gone Gourmet | This carbonara is another go-to I-don’t-have-time-to-cook dinner idea. It starts with bacon and finishes with an egg that cooks as it’s tossed with hot pasta. The result is a creamy rich plate of pasta that you’ll want to make again and again. Any long pasta works great – spaghetti, fettuccine, bucatini, or linguine – the choice is yours.

Pea & Bacon Pasta – Platings and Pairings | Sweet peas, smoky bacon, a creamy sauce, fresh basil, and a pile of tender linguine. Not sure I need to say much more about this recipe except hello, delicious! Oh, and – bonus! – it all comes together in 20 minutes.

15-Minute Mediterranean Pasta – Girl Gone Gourmet | This is another pantry dinner wonder. While the pasta boils chop the olives, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomatoes. The sauce is a simple lemon and olive oil affair and some crumbled feta cheese finishes it off.

Roasted Tomato and Chicken Sausage Pasta – Salt and Lavender | Delicious looking, yes, but there’s something about that plate of pasta that just makes me happy. Maybe it’s the vibrant burst tomatoes, or the bites of savory chicken sausage, or the ribbons of pappardelle weaving in and out of all of it.  It just looks like a happy dinner, doesn’t it?

One Pot Broccoli and 3 Cheese Pasta – My Kitchen Love | When I was a kid broccoli on its own was evil, but broccoli drowning in cheese was a treat. Not much has changed now that I’m an adult and – unless my broccoli is roasted, which turns it into vegetable candy – I still like some cheese with my greens. This one pot broccoli pasta with plenty of creamy cheese makes eating your vegetables a whole lot more fun.

30 Minute One Pan Beef Penne – Girl Gone Gourmet | Dinner in one pan! This hearty beef penne doesn’t require a lot of prep time and is on the table in thirty minutes.

Mushroom Prosciutto Fettuccine – Garden in the Kitchen | The prosciutto and mushrooms sound delicious, but it’s the shallot oil wine sauce that caught my attention when I read through this recipe. Clocking in at 28 minutes start to finish (I love the specificity) I can see making this easy pasta recipe on a Monday night.

Cauliflower Scampi in Lemon Garlic White Wine Sauce – Veggie Inspired | Roasted cauliflower takes the place of shrimp in this twist on traditional scampi. I love the light and lemony garlic wine sauce and, with some easy multitasking, everything is ready to go to the table in about 30 minutes.

5-Ingredient Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo – Girl Gone Gourmet | Oh, the places you’ll go with some sun-dried tomatoes. First stop, creamy fettuccine Alfredo. You only need five ingredients and about 20 minutes for a first class ticket to pasta heaven.

Simple Artichoke Angel Hair Carbonara – Dishes Delish | And speaking of heaven, doesn’t a plate of wispy delicate angel hair pasta with pancetta and peas sound good? This recipe calls for artichoke pasta, but you can use regular pasta if you can’t find it. Either way, this simple dinner is full of flavor.