21 Weeknight Pasta Recipes You Can Make in Under 30 Minutes

With pasta and a few fresh ingredients, dinner is done in a snap.

By
Robin Shreeves
Robin Shreeves
Robin Shreeves
Robin Shreeves is a food and beverage writer.
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Updated December 13, 2023
Robin Shreeves

Is there anything better than coming home from a long day and sitting down to a bowl of comforting pasta? Or knowing you need to feed the family quickly and you can throw together something quickly that they'll all like? We don't think so.

These 21 pasta dishes come together in 30 minutes or less, contain lots of fresh ingredients, and usually allow you to change out the pasta so you can use whichever dried pasta you happen to have in the pantry.

Bowl of Creamy Cavatappi With a Wooden Next to a Pot With More

Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

If you want to save an extra couple of minutes, consider ditching the cooking directions on the back of the pasta box and starting your pasta in cold water. The method can cut the time to cook the pasta down by half, and it saves water, too!

  • Brown Butter Cacio e Pepe

    Bowl of Brown Butter Cacio e Pepe Next to a Fork and Spoon on a Kitchen Towel, a Glass of Wine, a Bowl with More Cacio e Pepper, and a Small Bowls with Cracked Black Pepper

    Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

    A small extra step of browning butter will give your next cacio e pepe an extra layer of depth to offset the sharpness of the fruity cracked peppercorns and pungent Pecorino Romano.

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  • Creamy Cavatappi

    Bowl of Creamy Cavatappi Topped With Shredded Parmesan Next to a Small Bowl With Blocks of Parmesan and Two Forks, All on an Olive Green Kitchen Linen

    Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

    If you have 20 minutes, you can make this pasta dish with cavatappi—fancy elbow macaroni—that holds onto all the creamy cheese sauce. While the pasta cooks, make the sauce with butter, garlic, heavy cream, Parmesan, and lemon juice. Adding peas is optional, but doing so helps you get some veggies in if you're not serving a green salad.

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  • No-Cook Tomato Basil Pasta

    Bowl of No Cook Tomato Sauce Pasta with a Fork

    Simply Recipes / Sarah Tane

    You do in fact have to cook the pasta for this recipe. It's the sauce—made with fresh tomatoes, basil, Parmesan, olive oil, and a few other pantry staples—that's no cook. The fresh sauce bursting with flavor heats up when it hits the just-cooked pasta.

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  • Warm Caprese Pasta

    Bowl of 5-ingredient warm caprese pasta at a table setting with a table napkin, salt and pepper shaker, a small bowl of basil, and a stack of plates

    Simply Recipes / Photo by Fred Hardy II / Food Styling by Ana Kelly / Prop Styling by Shell Royster

    The combination of mozzarella, tomato, and basil—served together as caprese salad—is magical. Those there simple ingredients all work well mixed with warm bow-tie pasta, too. If you want to make this a little heartier, add some cooked pancetta or bacon.

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    Continue to 5 of 21 below.

  • Pasta Carbonara

    Overhead view of a bowl of Spaghetti Carbonara.
    Karishma Pradhan

    This indulgent recipe takes just 30 minutes. Fry up pancetta or bacon in a skillet, then create the silky carbonara sauce of Parmesan and beaten eggs tossed with the hot pasta and a little fat from the pork. It's a real treat.

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  • Creamy Ziti Florentine

    ziti with creamy sauce and spinach in a white bowl with a fork
    Sally Vargas

    Spinach, green onions, herbs, lemon, and ricotta cheese combine to make a creamy sauce for ziti. It's a quick and easy stovetop dinner that comes together in 20 minutes, and it's so good you'll eat it all up in just minutes, too.

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  • Easy Pasta with Winter Greens

    Swiss chard, lemon, and parmesan pasta heaped in a low bowl.
    Alison Bickel

    This vibrant sauce is made with fresh Swiss chard, pasta water, olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. It's simple and goes with the pasta of your choice. Substitute kale, spinach, or collard greens for the Swiss chard if you'd like.

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  • Skillet Cacio e Pepe Tortellini With Wilted Greens

    Skillet Cacio e Pepe Tortellini With Wilted Greens in a Pot With a Serving Spoon, All on a White Kitchen Towel on the Counter, and Next to It, a Bowl of Cracked Pepper, a Glass of Water, and a Block of Pecorino Romani Cheese

    Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe

    The fresh or frozen cheese tortellini cooks right in the same pan you'll later add the sauce ingredients to, saving the time you'd normally take it boil the pasta (and saving you one more to wash). The sauce is the same as a traditional cacio e pepe, just salty Pecorino Romano cheese and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. A few handfuls of spinach finish the dish.

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    Continue to 9 of 21 below.

  • Creamy Miso Mushroom Pasta

    Two Plates of Creamy Miso Mushroom Pasta

    Simply Recipes / Hannah Zimmerman

    Just 8 ingredients and come together in 30 minutes to make this creamy pasta with white miso, Parmesan, and mushrooms. It uses a whole pound of spaghetti so you get an umami-filled pasta dinner for four.

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  • Penne alla Vodka

    Penne alla Vodka in a Plate with a Spoon over a Kitchen Towel

    Simply Recipes / Alison Bickel

    In the time that it takes to cook the penne, you can make this rich, creamy vodka sauce that's full of garlic, crushed tomatoes, cream, Pecorino, and of course the vodka of your choice, as long as it's not flavored. Add a side of garlic bread, and oh yum!

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  • Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

    Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Pasta With Garlic and Oil) Topped with Parsley and Parmesan

    Simply Recipes / Alison Bickel

    This pasta is simple and delicious, but using good ingredients is a must. Only quality extra virgin olive, fresh garlic, real Parmesan, and red pepper flakes that haven't been sitting in your pantry too long will do. Boil the pasta. When that's done, it takes just a couple of minutes to make the tasty sauce with the oil, garlic, Parm, and pepper flakes.

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  • Chicken Carbonara

    Chicken carbonara

    Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes

    Switch up pasta carbonara by using chicken along with pork like bacon or pancetta. The chicken is cooked in the garlic-infused drippings, the simple sauce has eggs and Parmesan, and it still comes together in just 30 minutes. The recipe is scaled for 2 servings, but double it and it's dinner for 4.

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    Continue to 13 of 21 below.

  • Fresh Corn Pasta

    Bowls of Fresh Corn Pasta with a Fork

    Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe

    You can make this with corn any time of the year but when fresh corn is in season, you'll be really happy to have this recipe on hand. It's kind of like a mash-up between creamed corn and mac and cheese, and it's so good. Add a salad and it's a meal or serve it as a side dish.

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  • Pasta with Tuna and Arugula

    Pasta with Tuna and Arugula

    Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

    Break out the canned tuna in olive oil and add it to olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes for this simple pasta dish with wilted arugula. It works really well with fettuccine, spaghetti, or linguine.

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  • Buttery Tomato Pasta

    corkscrew pasta with tomato sauce in a glass bowl
    Elise Bauer

    The ridges of corkscrew pasta perfectly capture tomato sauce made with canned tomatoes and butter rather than olive oil. There's a good chance you have the ingredients you need in your pantry already, and while the corkscrew pasta works great, you can use whatever pasta you have on hand.

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  • Angel Hair Pasta With Garlic, Herbs, and Parmesan

    Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic Herbs and Parmesan
    Elise Bauer

    This simple angel hair pasta is a side dish, but if you have leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge and add it in, you have a meal. Start the water boiling for the pasta and then sauté garlic, red pepper flakes, and herbs in olive oil. After the pasta cooks, drizzle it with the infused oil and add the Parmesan.

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    Continue to 17 of 21 below.

  • Mom's Pasta Primavera

    Pasta Primavera with eggplant, peppers and other vegetables in bowl
    Elise Bauer

    Sautéed onions, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, and eggplant and a quickly made flavorful marinara sauce top pasta. Far from a typical primavera, it's a Mediterranean delight that you can top with or without Parmesan.

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  • Angel Hair Pasta with Quick Cherry Tomato Sauce

    angel hair pasta with tomatoes and basil in a pan
    Sheryl Julian

    The Italians can turn tomatoes, olive oil, fresh herbs, cheese, and pasta into something that's even better than the sum of its parts, and this dish is just that. Angel hair pasta, capellini, or capelli d’Angelo is the base for a sauce that's full of cherry tomatoes, and it's simply delicious.

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  • Sautéed Swiss Chard Ribs with Cream and Pasta

    A bowl of Smoked Salmon Pasta
    Elise Bauer

    Did you know you can eat the ribs from Swiss chard? You can, and this creamy pasta dish (use your favorite pasta) sautés them up in butter then mixes it all up with heavy creamy to create a sauce for your quick, weeknight pasta dish.

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  • Lemony Sardine Pasta

    Lemony Sardine Pasta Topped With Toasted Breadcrumbs in a Bowl Sitting on a Mustard Colored Table Linen

    Simply Recipes / Karishma Pradhan

    If you love lemon, this pasta is for you. Briny sardines, caramelized lemons, olives, and crispy, crunchy garlic and breadcrumbs create the unusual but delicious pasta sauce you didn't know you wanted. Spaghetti works great, but use whatever pasta you want.

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    Continue to 21 of 21 below.

  • Pasta Pomodoro with Shrimp

    Pasta Pomodoro with Shrimp
    Elise Bauer

    Pasta pomodoro is a simple pasta with olive oil, fresh tomatoes, and basil. This dish takes the simple classic and adds fast cooking peeled and deveined shrimp, frozen or fresh. It's quick and delicious.

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