It’s Pasta Night! 12 Easy Pasta Recipes

This spaghetti and meatball recipe is easy enough for a busy weeknight — and it’s a family favorite, too!

Loaded with Italian sausage, this baked ziti is similar to meat lasagna but without the fuss. It’s easy enough for a weeknight but also special enough for a weekend family dinner, and it also makes a great prep-ahead potluck dish.

This pasta dish is adapted from Lidia’s Italian Table by Lidia Bastianich. Not only is it quick and easy to make — 25 minutes tops — the whole family gobbles it up, broccoli and all.

From my cookbook, this winter-friendly twist on pesto pasta is one of my go-to weeknight dinner recipes. I can get it on the table in 25 minutes max, and it’s a great way to sneak in some healthy greens.

Quick, simple, and family-approved — this pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto and fresh mozzarella pearls is almost as easy as opening a jar of tomato sauce and pouring it over noodles, yet so much more special.

This lasagna comes from Julia Turshen’s lovely cookbook, Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs (Chronicle Books, 2016). Not only is it the simplest lasagna you’ll ever make, it’s also the lightest and most elegant.

The name “wedding soup” comes from the Italian language phrase minestra maritata – or married soup — which is a reference to the way the flavors combine, like a happy marriage. To save time, I use a combination of store bought chicken and beef broths fortified with wine and lots of vegetables.

Here’s a quick and easy riff on spinach and ricotta cannelloni. Instead of stuffing pasta shells with the classic spinach and ricotta filling, you toss penne pasta in a creamy spinach, basil and ricotta sauce, top it with cheese, and then bake it until golden brown.

I find most homemade mac and cheese recipes to be a bit dry, so I developed this version to be ultra-creamy. The crispy panko-Herbes de Provence topping absolutely makes the dish!

With roasted tomatoes, zucchini, and corn, this pasta primavera is an ode to summer.

Linguine with clams in a garlicky white wine sauce makes an easy and elegant Italian pasta dinner.

Simple yet spectacular, this fusilli alla Caprese requires just a handful of ingredients, comes together quickly, and is delicious hot or cold.