Use these easy pasta recipes to kick-start your Italian kitchen education...
The selection of ultra easy pasta recipes below is designed purely for pasta newbies. So if you don’t know tagliatelle from toast, keep reading!
Each easy pasta recipe contains:
Ingredient and equipment lists, timing and preparation info, and clearly explained cooking steps. But… no fancy cooking terms or multi-tasking.
Just click the dish you fancy - and buon appetito!
(Got your own easy pasta recipe? Share it here!)
Casarecce with pistachio, bacon and cream
Not many ingredients can compare to the moreish crunch of pistachio. This 25-minute dish coats penne-esque casarecce pasta with a scrummy mix of well-oiled pistachio, bacon chunks and velvety cream. A great starting point for rookie cooks.
No-nonsense tomato and mushroom pasta
Don't miss this superbly saucy combo: the woody and earthy fragrance of chanterelle mushrooms mixed through with the sweet munch of soft-fried cherry tomatoes. Just chop, fry and stir!
This 10-minute wonder is a great way to kick off this super-simple collection. With just 4 ingredients, it's a flavorful dish of filling molten cheese and aromatic black pepper taste... just scrummy.
Prepare to be filled! Fagioli is Italian for ‘beans’ (in this case white cannellini beans), making this winter warmer perfect for the very hungry or those coming in from the cold. Hearty stuff and a dish you’ll make again and again.
'Easy 'cream' penne pasta recipe
Take one tub of cream, a few chunks of bacon and pepper... and in 15 minutes you'll be enjoying this mouthwatering penne feast (right).
Nicely spicy chili and garlic pasta
Designed to hit you with a seriously spicy kick, this Southern Italian recipe takes 20 minutes and uses just 5 ingredients (one of which is salt!).
With its porcini mushroom and nut taste, this 25-minute beauty is one I think you'll soon be cooking up regularly. Choose between walnut and pistachio, and if you like it spicy, you even have a chili option.
A revelation when I learned it recently, this is the recipe I wish I’d known at college because it's one of the best easy pasta recipes around, combining any short pasta with butter, olive oil, a fried egg and optional cheese. It takes just ten minutes, tastes scrumptious, and is one of my fave low budget recipes… give it a whirl now!
If you love cheesy pasta then try this 20-minute gorgonzola, walnut and pear recipe. You just chop and mix the ingredients, boil up some small tube pasta, and stir it all together. So simple, so delectable.
A true and surprisingly quick classic, spaghetti carbonara is just a case of frying up bacon, whisking raw egg and mixing it all with spaghetti - giving you a ridiculously moreish meal that I think you'll love.
Spaghetti al pomodoro (spaghetti with pure tomato sauce)
Complexity and length-wise this recipe hardly merits a whole web page to itself, but it's just so full of juicy tomato taste it would be silly to hide it away. When nothing but dribble-inducing tomato pasta will do, this is the page you need.
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This oily n' olivey spaghetti favorite, with its 'chequered' history, is truly a 'dish of the night'. Still, if Italy's high-street honeys loved it I think you will too - particularly as it's so quick to make and full of flavor.
'Tiny Toms' simple pasta recipe
If you love the taste of molten tomatoes, try this adaptable dish. It just fries up a little onion, basil leaves and sweet cherry toms, before smothering them over any pasta shapes you like. Like it says above, simple!
Summer ham and pasta recipe
This fresh ham, milk and pea dish is called 'tagliatelle delicate' by my mamma-in-law, as it's less heavy than many thick-sauce tagliatelle dishes. It makes a nice filling lunch or a great 'primo piatto' (first dinner course), followed by some meat and salad maybe. Buono!
Penne pasta with vodka sauce
Don't worry... this dish won't get you hammered. What it will do is surprise you by covering your short pasta shapes in a creamy pink sauce with a little hidden strength. I can't really describe it better than that... you'll just have to try it.
'Sweet Strip' spaghetti dish
Introducing the first pasta recipe I've invented myself. If you've ever enjoyed the sweet, sweet taste of grilled pepper, you'll know why this easy and oily spaghetti dish is such a treat. If not, well... prepare for your capsicum education!
Short pasta with chickpeas and spinach
This dish is seriously flavorful and will dribble the mouth of vegetarians and omnivores alike. With rich tomato sauce, strong leafy spinach and chewy moreish chickpeas (garbanzo beans), it offers up a real plate of taste. Oh and course it's super simple to make!
Rockin' The Rocket - Pasta Carbonara Recipe
This alternate version of pasta carbonara still smothers its pasta in gloriously runny egg, but instead of bacon chunks its orange egg yolks are whipped and mixed with cream and cheese. This contrasts nicely with the aromatic rocket (arugula), while saffron adds a real depth of color.
Extra recommendation: Once you've mastered one of these tasty lasagnas, why not make an evening of it by hosting a full Italian dinner party? Karen from DivineDinnerParty.com can help with her inspired Italian Dinner Party page. "Buon appetito!"
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