Our 40 Best Pasta Recipes

By Bridget Hallinan
Updated February 14, 2020
Jennifer Causey
Tagliolini! Spaghetti! Gnocchi! We know we’re not supposed to pick favorite foods, but if we did, pasta would definitely be up there. In this roundup, we’re celebrating noodles in all their glory, from a delicious smoked gouda riff on carbonara to ravioli with no-cook fresh tomato sauce. With dozens to choose from, you’re bound to find a new favorite.
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Bucatini Amatriciana


© Abby Hocking
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Chef Hugh Acheson's amatriciana sauce strikes the perfect balance of porky (from the pancetta) and spicy.

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Fettuccine with Tomatoes and Crispy Capers

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Grace Parisi's fried capers add a delectable, salty crunch to pasta tossed with fresh tomatoes and prosciutto.

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Fusilli with Creamed Leek and Spinach

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This delicious pasta was the fastest and simplest to prepare of all the winners.

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Buckwheat Pasta Triangles with Lardo and Greens

John Kernick
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This hand-rolled pasta, made with a mix of buckwheat and all-purpose flours, is called blecs in Friuli. The name refers to the unconventional triangular shape, though the pasta can also be square

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Spicy Tonnarelli with Clams

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Pair this simple, flavorful pasta with a crisp Verdicchio.

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Pasta with Pancetta, Shallots and Sage

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La matricia, Salvatore Denaro claims, is Tuscan for "paunch" or "belly"—pancetta, in short, which plays an important role in this pasta sauce. Not to be confused with pasta all'amatriciana, a tomato-and-guanciale dish from the region of Lazio, Denaro's creation, which he calls La Matricianina, is entirely original, made with plenty of shallots and sage. It's wonderful served over spaghetti, or better yet, over short, stubby rigatoni.

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Penne Rigate with Brussels Sprouts and Gorgonzola

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This super simple recipe takes a quick 35 minutes to whip up.

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Cheesy Mixed Pasta Casserole with Mushrooms

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Melissa Rubel Jacobson created this recipe to use up extra dried mushrooms and odds and ends of pasta. While the different pasta shapes cook at different rates in the water, they all become tender once baked.

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Baked Four-Cheese Spaghetti

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Marc Murphy grew up eating this intensely cheesy baked spaghetti. "When I was young, we lived in Genoa, where spaghetti is the pasta of choice. This is my mother's version of macaroni and cheese," he says.

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Spaghetti with Sun-Dried-Tomato-Almond Pesto

JOHN KERNICK
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This Mediterranean dish from Marcie Turney is quick, simple and utterly delicious.

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Free-Form Sausage-and-Three-Cheese Lasagna

Quentin Bacon
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The judges applauded the rusticity of this gooey lasagna, packed with cheese and sausage. The style is called free-form because the pasta can be arranged in different ways—for instance, folded over the filling—instead of traditionally layered.

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Orecchiette with Veal, Capers and White Wine

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"The sauce fits the pasta," said Marc Vetri in praise of this tender veal ragù flavored with white wine, capers, thyme and rosemary, then tossed with the little ear-shaped orecchiette. "The meat, the capers—they hang on to the pasta when you lift up your fork."

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13 of 40

Potato Gnocchi with Butter and Cheese

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Grace Parisi shares a traditional recipe with three tasty variations: Carrot-Potato Gnocchi, Roasted Garlic-Potato Gnocchi and Rye-Potato Gnocchi.

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Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs

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Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd-pleasing classic Italian-American dish. The mixture of beef, veal and pork makes the meatballs really flavorful.

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Eggplant Ravioli with Gewürztraminer and Bacon

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Jean-Georges Vongerichten transforms Gewürztraminer, a fruity white wine, into a light syrup. After swirling it with extra-virgin olive oil, basil and bacon, he drizzles the dressing over eggplant ravioli. It would also be superb on a green salad.

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Orecchiette with Greens, Mozzarella and Chickpeas

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Try a fruit-forward Pinot Gris to pair with this dish.

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Baked Orecchiette with Pork Sugo

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In Italian cuisine, a sugo is a gravy or sauce. Here, Ethan Stowell prepares a pork sugo by braising pork shoulder until it almost falls apart, shredding it in a food processor and mixing it with a red-wine-and-tomato sauce; then he bakes it with orecchiette under a topping of Parmigiano cheese until crispy. The dish is an excellent alternative to the usual baked pasta, because it's not as heavy and cheesy but still delicious and satisfying.

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Cheese Tortellini with Walnut Pesto

Christina Holmes
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Here's one of the quickest pesto sauces you'll come across. It's a perfect match for cheese tortellini, but you can use other tortellini such as mushroom or meat instead. The pesto is also great with just about any plain pasta.

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Mostaccioli

© Abby Hocking
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A hearty meat sauce, lots of melted cheese and pasta make this dish a crowd-pleaser. Mostaccioli, a smooth, tube-shaped pasta with angled ends, is the go-to here, but penne also works well.

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Orecchiette with Broccoli and Tomatoes

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Balsamic vinegar adds a hint of sweetness to this savory sauce. If the slight sweet-and-sour effect isn't to your taste, either omit the vinegar completely or use wine vinegar instead. The effect will be different, but no less delicious.

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Beef Brasato with Pappardelle and Mint

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Chef Chris Cosentino braises beef shank and oxtail in red wine to make a brasato he serves with house-made mint pappardelle.

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Pasta with Marinated Grilled Eggplant, Burrata and Chiles

© Con Poulos
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Torn pieces of burrata are tossed into the orecchiette just after it's cooked so the cheese melts ever so slightly into the pasta, which is laced with chunks of tender, smoky eggplant.

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Chorizo-Poached 
Shrimp Pasta


John Kernick
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Food & Wine's Justin Chapple cooks chorizo in oil, then uses that oil to cook shrimp and garlic, infusing this entire dish with excellent smoky flavor.

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Pappardelle with Chicken and Pistachio-Mint Pesto


David Cicconi
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Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple makes a bright and nutty mint-and-pistachio pesto as the sauce for this fresh and summery warm pasta dish.

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Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms


Jennifer Causey
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Allowing the pasta dough to rise (just like a bread dough) before rolling and shaping gives the cecamariti in this dish its characteristic texture and flavor. Fine Italian 00 flour can be found at specialty food shops and amazon.com.

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Creamy Baked Pasta with Gruyère and Prosciutto

John Kernick
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For a simple and ultra-creamy baked pasta, take a cue from chef Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner: Trade the béchamel for this much easier sauce of heavy cream simmered with plenty of nutmeg and two kinds of cheese.

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Crab Macaroni Gratin

Jennifer Causey
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A glorious amount of crabmeat baked with shell-shaped pasta in a three-cheese cream sauce —tangy white cheddar, nutty Gruyère, and sharp Parmigiano-Reggiano—is no-joke delicious, and trés riche.

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28 of 40

White Truffle Tagliolini

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Generous portions of this pasta dish perfectly showcase the white truffle’s heady aroma. Use this tagliolini recipe, or purchase fresh spaghetti. Now is the time to break out a great bottle of wine to balance the creaminess of the dish with acid.

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Pasta with Sausage, Basil and Mustard

Greg DuPree
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In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.

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asta with Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Capers

Caitlin Bensel
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For a crowd-pleaser at any party, Colu Henry combines sheet pan-roasted cauliflower with pasta along with some crispy capers for salty crunch; anchovies (just a few) for umami depth; sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes for oomph, and lemon zest for brightness.

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Pasta with Pumpkin Brown Butter Sauce

Abby Hocking
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A classic browned butter and sage sauce gets a boost of fall flavor from pumpkin butter. Be generous with the Parmigiano-Reggiano, as its salty, savory bite adds the perfect hit of umami flavor to this decadent pasta dish.

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Niçoise Pasta

Chloe Crespi
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A deceptively simple recipe, chef Ludo Lefebvre’s Niçoise Pasta is an indulgent, creamy dish that comes together in the time it takes to boil pasta. The no-cook sauce relies on the cream emulsifying with fresh basil and garlic in the food processor to thicken into a rich sauce in minutes.

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Creamy Lemon Pasta

Victor Protasio
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Chef Andrew Zimmern mimics the sweet, fragrant lemons of Italy’s Amalfi Coast with Meyer lemons in this beautifully bright and creamy pasta. The dish originated at L’Antica Trattoria in Sorrento, where lemon juice is tossed with just-cooked pasta until absorbed. Supremes of lemon add a juicy, tart pop that cuts through the cream in the sauce.

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34 of 40

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Oriana Koren
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To create the classic ridges on each piece of gnocchi, use a paddle or fork to gently indent each side. Those grooves help the rich, buttery sauce cling to each tender bite.

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Ricotta Gnocchi with Eggplant and Peppers

Greg DuPree
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This ricotta gnocchi dough from 2019 Best New Chef Misti Norris is first gently cooked in a water bath, then sliced, and then, right before serving, seared to achieve a crispy-on-the-outside, custardy-on-the-inside texture. Accompanied by roasted eggplant sauce, vinegar-spiked eggplant and peppers, and a creamy, dreamy Parmesan mousse, all of the dish components can be made ahead and assembled at the last minute, making this dish dinner party gold.

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Caviar Carbonara

John Kernick
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For special occasions, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple makes beautiful, fresh pappardelle pasta, then tosses it with a quick and decadent carbonara sauce laced with briny pops of caviar and lemon zest. When he doesn’t feel like making the pasta from scratch, he buys the noodles fresh at his local Italian market.

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Smoked Gouda Carbonara