Pasta Recipes with Pizzazz

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated August 10, 2020

Our recipes for noodle-based casseroles, salads, pasta sauces and more give you both traditional and innovative flavor options for this family-favorite ingredient.

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Big-Batch, All-Day Pasta Bolognese

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This incredible pasta is the showpiece of the annual anniversary party at The Rieger restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. Start to finish, it takes 8 hours, mostly hands-off and none of it hard. You'll make 18 cups of sauce-enough to serve  24 or to freeze for meals all winter long. 

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Penne with Arrabbiata Sauce

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Arrabbiata (the Italian word for angry) is a Roman sauce of garlic, tomatoes and red chili cooked in olive oil. This recipe, inspired by a RAGBRAI vendor, offers several variations. Serve cooked penne with either a spicy red sauce or with a classic green pesto sauce. Optional toppings include rosemary-crusted grilled salmon or grilled summer squash. 

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Rainbow Soba Noodle Bowls

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Dressed in creamy peanut dressing, these warm noodles are topped with tons of crisp fresh produce. (Feel free to swap different veggies-or add a few shrimp-based on your family's preference.) The recipe comes from the cookbook Pretty Simple Cooking.

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Buttered Fettucine with Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan

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In Italy, this deliciously simple sauce, made with just butter and the pasta cooking water, is known as "fettucine al burro." Our version adds Brussels sprouts, thyme and lemon zest for nutrition and flavor.

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Pasta with Chard and Basil

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If you have a big bunch of chard from the farmers market or a CSA box, this healthy, easy 30-minute dinner is a great way to use it up. 

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Tomato Pasta with Arugula and Parmesan

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Light, no-cook lemon-garlic sauce dresses a tangle of linguine and vegetables. Mix red and yellow cherry tomatoes for the prettiest dish.

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Tuna-Noodle Casserole

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Green beans, chopped sweet peppers, chopped celery and fresh mushrooms add fresh flavor to our tuna casserole recipe.

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Classic Lasagna

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With its rich meaty sauce and creamy cheese layers, this lasagna is always a favorite main dish.

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Three-in-One Primavera

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Our ready-in-minutes recipe starts with pasta and mixed vegetables-then just pick the sauce that suits your mood. Choose among light lemon-basil, creamy Parmesan or peppercorn-ranch dressing for a pasta salad.

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Fresh Herb Pasta Primavera

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A Parmesan cream sauce tops pasta made with your choice of fresh herbs and veggies. 

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Tagliatelle A La Hudson

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Lemon and prosciutto flavor this easy-to-make pasta dish to perfection.

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French Spaghetti

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Layer creamy white and tomato-mushroom sauces with noodles to create this meatless dish. You can serve it with a salad as a main course or spoon out smaller portions as a side dish. "This was a real treat," writes one of our readers. "The cream gives this dish a really rich boost."

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Fusilli Primavera

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This recipe tosses fun curly pasta with spring vegetables ("primavera"). We added almonds and a hint of cheese for a colorful stir-fry dish with crunch. A splash of vermouth adds some tang to the sauce.

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Pizza Pasta Skillet Casserole

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A blanket of gooey cheese and the oven-crisped pepperoni make this casserole a guaranteed kid pleaser. Of course, you can switch up the ingredients as easily as the toppings on a pizza. Classics like sweet pepper, black olives and sausage are all fair game—but we'd hold the anchovies!

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Blue-Ribbon Italian Sauce

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This old family recipe comes from Kansas City, Missouri, reader Mary Rowell. She learned it from her mother, who learned it from her Italian mother-in-law. Starch from a potato helps thicken the sauce.

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Grilled Chicken and Garden Vegetable Penne Pasta

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Tomatoes, squash, red sweet peppers and green onions give garden-fresh flavor to this chicken-and-pasta main dish. Also, the vegetables add nice color to the recipe, which comes from the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio.

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Tortellini, Spinach and Mushrooms in Wine-Butter Sauce

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A simple pan sauce and fresh vegetables dress up family-favorite cheese tortellini for a meal that's ready in 25 minutes.

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Tuna Pasta Bliss

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Fun three-color pasta, cubed cheese, albacore tuna and roasted sweet red peppers blend for a pasta salad with summer freshness from fresh basil and Romaine leaves. Sprinkled cashews add a nice topping.

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Linguini with Shrimp and Pine Nuts

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Dry sherry flavors the broth, and crushed red pepper adds a tiny bite to this pasta dish from Bartolino's, a popular Italian restaurant in the Hill area of St. Louis, Missouri.

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Garden Veggie Linguine with Cilantro Pesto

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You can customize this linguine recipe by substituting other in-season vegetables and herbs, such as asparagus, snap peas, spinach or mustard greens, tarragon and basil.

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Pea and Mint Pesto

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Fresh mint and sweet peas shine in this bright, versatile pesto. We love it as a dip, sandwich spread and pasta sauce (thinned with a little water), but we suspect that you'll find even more ways to use it for a burst of early-summer flavor.

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Pesto Penne with Deli-Roasted Chicken

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Purchased pesto and roast chicken help get this quick and easy main dish on the table in just 20 minutes. Fresh broccoli cooks with the pasta and lends straight-from-the-garden flavor.

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Linguine in Fresh Tomato Sauce With Garlic-Basil Toast

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Kalamata olives add flavor to the homemade tomato sauce in this vegetarian pasta meal. And it's ready in 20 minutes!

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Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce over Fettuccini

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This versatile recipe is delicious over any type of pasta. A classic tomato sauce gets extra flavor from 2 tablespoons of vodka and smoothness from whipped cream. You can leave out the vodka, if you like, and experiment with different flavors of canned stewed tomatoes.

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Eight-Layer Casserole

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A Waukegan, Illinois, reader contributed this homespun ground beef-and-noodle hotdish recipe. She said it is one of her favorites to take to church suppers. Make-ahead directions are included at the end of the recipe.

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By The editors of MidwestLiving.com