12 Quick and Easy Pasta Recipes with Few Ingredients
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Are you feeling short on time but need to get dinner on the table asap? These quick and easy pasta recipes will save you! You only need a few ingredients per recipe and 30 minutes or less to make these delicious dinners ready to eat!
Super Easy Family Friendly Pasta Recipes
How often do you make pasta for dinner each week? If you do not already meal prep them regularly, I’m sure you will after reading over these quick and easy pasta recipes.
These are great go-to recipes for busy days. Plus, just like frozen lasagna, leftovers are perfect for lunch or dinner the next day.
Tried and true pasta recipes are some of the best family-friendly meals for a few important reasons:
- Cheap (hello budget!)
- Easy (can my 10 year old make dinner tonight, please?!)
- Delicious (a balanced mix of carbs, protein, and fats)
- Freezer-friendly (so meal prep these recipes to save time)
Save these recipes and add them to your meal plan app today.
You might like these frugal but Healthy Slow Cooker Dinner Recipes too.
How to Make Homemade Pasta Dinners
There are a few different ways to make homemade pasta dinners.
You can:
- Cook on the stove
- Prepare in an Instant Pot
- Slow cook in a crock-pot or slow cooker
- Bake in the oven
Cooking pasta on the stove is the most traditional way. The key here is adding salt to the water and keeping an eye on the time, so you get the exact texture you like best. Learn how to cook pasta perfectly (because you’re probably doing it wrong!).
However, if cooking isn’t your thing, using an Instant Pot can be a great method. With the appliance, you don’t have much hands-on time cooking, and you don’t need to worry about the pot boiling over and making a mess on the stove.
Slow cooking in a slow cooker is even easier (in my opinion) than the instant pot but does take more planning. These recipes usually need to be planned out beforehand because they take 6-8 hours to cook. The Instant Pot is much quicker. Choose what works best for you.
Baking pasta in the oven is great for pasta casseroles but makes a different dish than the big pot of pasta you might be seeking.
Both pasta casseroles and traditional pasta dishes are suitable for serving family style. Which, if you don’t know, means placing the finished dish on the table and having everyone serve themselves.
Take your pick of recipes to suit your personal preference best.
Common Ingredients for Simple Pasta Recipes
PASTA
Most pasta noodles are wheat-based. However, gluten-free pasta made from brown rice, beans, or quinoa is also available. There’s even zero-calorie pasta made from konjac flour!
PASTA SAUCE
From a simple olive oil finish or store-bought sauce to homemade pesto, your pasta has to have sauce!
The most popular options are:
- Marinara Sauce – Homemade San Marzano tomato sauce is a great recipe for your collection.
- Alfredo Sauce
- Pesto Sauce
MEAT
Sliced sausage, ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey, or pork), shredded chicken, fish, shrimp, and other seafood all pair well with any noodle type.
VEGETABLES
Tomato, broccoli, and zucchini are the most common pasta vegetables. Garnish frequently includes culinary herbs like basil, parsley, and thyme. Of course, you never want to forgo the garlic and onions!
Serve with a piece of homemade crusty no-knead bread or pair with any of these Homemade Pizza Recipes!
HERBS
Use fresh herbs from your garden or grow a small potted garden inside for the best flavor. Alternatively, you can substitute with dry herbs and store-bought seasoning blends.
12 Quick and Easy Pasta Recipes with Few Ingredients
It’s time to find your new favorite dinner recipe! Let’s begin.
Great roster of pasta dishes. So delicioys and easy
So many delicious options! That buffalo chicken pasta is calling my name! I can’t wait to make it!
That buffalo chicken one is so popular 🙂 Hope you enjoy and try them all – come back to the page for more great recipes and roundups!
During these hot months, pasta is on repeat. Love this variety of quick and easy ideas…it’s so good the next day too!
So many great recipes. I love finding some easy recipes that are also budget friendly thanks for sharing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this amazing list! I’ve already found a few that we want to make next week! I’m set for meal planning now! Woo hoo!
Meal planning is my jam. Glad you are finding this list useful too!!
There are so many tempting pasta recipes here! I LOVE creamy pastas and am probably going to have to make every single one of these now!
MMMM, tempting – that’s what I was going with! Hope you enjoy them all 🙂
What a treasure trove of recipes! All of these are super easy to make and guaranteed to please a hungry family.
Thanks Bernice, bookmark the page so you can come back again and again 😉
Wow so many amazing pasta dishes! I’m definitely making the taco pasta casserole, that sounds amazing!
The taco casserole is soooo good!!
Any kind of pasta is a winner in our house. So many quick and easy recipes to make for dinner any night of the week. Now I have to decided which one I will try first.
Thanks Gloria – yes it’s a hard choice! Bookmark the page to come back and try them all!
This is literally what I google most weeknights hahaha. This is perfect, thank you so much for this roundup! Pinned for next time I want to google 😉
Weeknight savior!! Helps to have a few ideas in the back pocket 😉 Remember to save to favorites to come back later 😉
Thanks for including my pasta and beans, kids love it!
Thanks for sharing it with us! Family friendly recipes are the best 🙂