Transport Yourself To Italy (& Beyond!) With These 97 Perfect Weeknight Pasta Dinners

If you're looking for an easy pasta dinner that makes weeknights feel extra special, chicken carbonara is IT. It takes classic carbonara, and upgrades it with even more protein!

Get the Chicken Carbonara Pasta recipe.

This marry me shrimp pasta features a rich sun-dried tomato cream sauce loaded with shrimp, tender spinach, and fragrant herbs, all tossed with perfectly al dente pasta. Taking inspiration from our beloved marry me chicken, this is a new spin on a classic that’s both indulgent and easy to make.

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In this one-pan dinner, chicken breasts pair with pillowy gnocchi in a creamy sauce, complete with mushrooms and spinach. It's the ultimate weeknight comfort food that tastes like it took hours, when in reality, it comes together in under an hour.

Get the One-Pan Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi recipe.

While we could never get tired of classic spaghetti with homemade meat sauce, sometimes we're looking for the easiest possible route when it comes to making a weeknight dinner. Enter: baked spaghetti. This casserole is what comfort food is all about—cheesy, hearty, and completely versatile to whatever you have on hand.

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Do you ever find yourself standing in front of the fridge, wanting something cozy, comforting, and at once very familiar but a little out of the box too? You could make some cheeseburgers (always a crowd-pleaser) or whip up some mac & cheese (also a fan favorite), OR you could make the most wonderful, happy combination instead: this cheeseburger casserole.

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The goal of this recipe is for you to have 0% less stress and 100% more chicken Parm, so we used store-bought breaded chicken breasts and tomato sauce so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting. Honestly, at the end of a long day, that’s all any of us is really looking for, right?

Get the Chicken Parm Pasta recipe.

If you didn’t grow up with this comfort food, allow us to introduce you to your new favorite easy weeknight dinner. Chicken, spaghetti, and veggies combine with a creamy, cheesy sauce for a baked and bubbling casserole that’s just as perfect for busy weeknights as it is for parties.

Get the Chicken Spaghetti recipe.

Obviously roasting a block of feta with bursting tomatoes is going to be amazing. But is it good enough to break TikTok like this one did? Our answer, begrudgingly, is yes. It's genius—super-easy, but fancy enough for date night. 😍

Get the Baked Feta Pasta recipe.

TikTok may be obsessed with French onion pasta, but we added a special Delish twist: French onion mac & cheese. The comfort food classic gets a grown-up upgrade from Gruyère and caramelized onions in this recipe, lending that rich French onion flavor you know and love to extra-cheesy mac & cheese.

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With a creamy, cheesy sauce and tender chicken breasts, this is the pasta dish we turn to time and time again when we're craving the ultimate comfort meal. If you've never made pasta sauce from scratch before—this Alfredo recipe is where you should start.

Get the Chicken Alfredo recipe.

Cacio e pepe literally translates to “cheese and pepper." These two ingredients are usually thought of as small components to a dish but in this pasta recipe, they take center stage. The fruity bite of freshly ground pepper combined with salty cheese is complex, earthy, sweet and spicy all at once.

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Maybe you’re not a fan of rice, but love the creamy waves of risotto. What if orzo was made in the same way? This orzo is slowly cooked in chicken broth, and the starch is gradually released, creating creamy saucy goodness you'll love.

Get the Orzo Al Limone recipe.

Dreaming of a big bowl of your favorite creamy pasta with less fat and more protein but with all of the flavor and texture you’re looking for in a good Alfredo? We've got you! Add meat, à la classic chicken Alfredo, or keep it simple—it's guaranteed to impress no matter what.

Get the Cottage Cheese Alfredo recipe.

The Amish have made many amazing contributions to the world of food (pies, friendship bread, haystack dinners, Amish peanut butter... the list goes on!), but no dish is more iconic than beef and noodles. Chunks of juicy slow-cooked beef mingling with tender egg noodles in a rich broth? It’s comfort in a bowl.

Get the Amish Beef & Noodles recipe.

It’s no secret the social sphere is loving one-pot pastina and ditalini, so we're jumping on board too. Nothing invigorates us more than the words pasta, creamy, and garlic, so we created this Alfredo-inspired ditalini dinner that’s a little smoky, crispy, and cheesy too.

Get the Creamy Garlicky Alfredo Ditalini recipe.

Gone are the days when cottage cheese was just a bland diet food. As much as we love comforting baked ziti, we wanted to shake things up by swapping ricotta for cottage cheese and simplifying the process to create a one-pan wonder. This dish is full of protein, AND flavor.

Get the Cottage Cheese Baked Ziti recipe.

Based on the traditional lasagna alla Bolognese from the Emilia-Romagna province in Italy, we grabbed what we loved most about the timeless, classic recipe and simplified it to make it weeknight-friendly.

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A meatball sub is simply the king of sandwiches, so we thought, why not re-create all the warmth, heartiness, and flavor of the meatball sub in a simple one-pot pasta dish? This meatball Parm orzo only uses one pot and involves barely any chopping, and it's certainly a crowd-pleaser.

Get the Meatball Parm Orzo recipe.

This is the best creamy and bright vodka sauce any of us in the test kitchen have ever had. The secret? Tomato paste. Tomato paste has a more concentrated flavor, and texture-wise, it makes for a smoother, almost velvety sauce your date will love.

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To give a new spin on the superior comfort food, we decided to give it a kick that makes you say, “Maybe I can go for seconds—or thirds!” From the kick of the pimento peppers and tabasco to the bacon crumble in the sauce and the breadcrumbs, this jacked-up variation keeps every bite interesting.

Get the Bacon & Pimento Mac & Cheese recipe.