Our 10 Best Pasta Recipes from the Last 10 Years
Spaghetti and meatballs. Fettuccine alfredo. Nonna’s lasagna. No matter its form, pasta is too comforting, too convenient and too delicious to ever get old. But only a few select recipes are straight-up unforgettable. Here are our most popular, most memorable pasta recipes from the past decade, in honor of PureWow’s tenth anniversary.
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10. 15-Minute Lemony Broccolini Pasta
As quick and easy as dumping a jar of sauce in a pot, but a million times more elegant. Salty Parmesan and fresh lemon are just the ticket for rounding out bitter broccolini, while pine nuts give the dish all the crunch it needs.
9. BLT Pasta Salad
White bread who? We trade one of our favorite carbs for another in this picnic-inspired recipe that boasts all the essentials (bacon! lettuce! tomato!), plus diced avocado and Dijonnaise dressing. One bite and you’ll never attend or host another barbecue without it.
8. Pesto Zoodles
If you’re on a low-carb diet, zoodles (aka zucchini noodles) are likely the best thing to ever happen to your dinner rotation. You can either spiralize them yourself or buy them already prepared—just get that classic six-ingredient pesto on your plate, stat. (Oh, and if zucchini isn’t your thing, you can make noodles out of sweet potatoes, carrots and cucumbers, too.)
7. Gluten-Free Cauliflower Gnocchi Pomodoro
Pasta and sauce from scratch in 50 minutes? Pinch us, we’re dreaming. The gnocchi are made with a whole head of cauliflower in place of potato, which lowers the carbs *and* calories. But the real star here is the garlicky, herbaceous, slightly spicy pomodoro sauce.
6. Spaghetti with Avocado Pasta Sauce
Who knew your favorite toast topper could be transformed into the creamiest, dreamiest pasta sauce? This 30-minute recipe is as easy as swirling avocado, scallions, lemon juice, herbs and seasonings in a food processor or blender, adding pasta water then tossing pasta in the sauce until it’s evenly coated.
5. One-Pot Mac and Cheese
For the days when your craving is real, but your free time (or patience) is at a minimum. Forget about boiling and draining the pasta, making a separate cheese sauce and waiting for the dish to bake in the oven. This one-pot wonder calls for the orecchiette to be boiled in the seasoned milk that becomes the sauce, saving you both time and dirty dishes. You’re welcome.
4. Skillet Gnocchi with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
Hearty, flavorful and straight-up gorgeous, this dish is destined for your next alfresco dinner party. It’ll only take up 30 minutes of your time, so you’ll have plenty to spare for chatting over a bottle of vino. We’d serve the gnocchi straight out of the skillet so it stays warm for as long as possible.
3. Baked Mac-and-Cheese Bites
Appetizers might not be where your mind goes when you’re craving pasta…for now. This one-hour recipe has the power to change that. You can thank your trusty muffin tin for the bites’ crispy, golden-brown outsides and chewy, creamy middles.
2. One-Pot Pasta Limone
You can never have too many forgiving, flexible recipes in your repertoire—especially ones that only take 15 minutes to pull off. You can use any pasta shape that you have on hand, or substitute shallots or onions for leeks. Even better? All it takes is boiling all the ingredients on the stove before tossing them in lemon juice and Parmesan.
1. Cacio e Pepe
Four ingredients. Twenty minutes. One pot. It’s no mystery why this Italian bistro favorite is our most popular pasta recipe of all time. You likely have all the ingredients in your kitchen right this minute…so um, what are you waiting for?
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