80 Vegetarian Pasta Recipes So Good Your Meat-Loving Friends Won't Be Able To Resist

Imagine lasagna being turned inside out to form cute pockets stuffed with creamy, garlicky ricotta and cream cheese, which are then slathered in tomato sauce. Sounds dreamy, right? This baked dinner is one you're going to want to keep in your back pocket, whether it's for a Friday night dinner or a make-ahead mid-week meal.

Get the Stuffed Shells recipe.

This recipe uses every part of the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, from the tomatoes to the flavorful oil. If you're looking for an easy dinner (ready in under an hour!) for weeknights or date nights, this is the pasta dish you should turn to.

Get the Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta recipe.

The sauce here is based on the one in our beloved Marry Me Chicken—it's maybe even better tossed in some pasta. It's guaranteed to have you falling in love with yourself for making it.

Get the Marry Me Pasta recipe.

If a bowl of creamy, earthy, umami-rich pasta sounds good to you, give this flexible mushroom recipe a go. We love the earthy flavor of toasted pecans, but if nuts aren't your bag, toasted fresh bread crumbs or panko are great crunchy alternatives.

Get the Creamy Mushroom Pasta recipe.

Baked macaroni and cheese is a quintessential Southern side dish and one that no holiday table can be complete without. Baking the dish give the mac & cheese a nicer texture, with nice, golden brown bits of melty cheese.

Get the Southern Baked Mac & Cheese 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.

This recipe takes inspiration from a classic pasta al limone by using heavy cream as the base for the luscious and decadent sauce. And, just like a dirty martini, we supplement the dish with olives and brine (and booze, of course). The best part? It comes together in under 30 minutes.

Get the Dirty Martini Pasta recipe.

With a bountiful variety of pasta at the market, whole wheat might not be your first choice, though we think it's great for its chewy, nutty texture. Combined with buttery earthy chard, Tuscan kale, spinach, salty cheese, and a little spicy oil like we did here, and it will quickly become a pantry staple.

Get the 3-Green Whole Wheat Pasta recipe.

Eggplant Parm is very high on our comfort food dinners list, but we don’t always feel like breaking out the oil for frying. To get all of the textures and flavors of the OG without the cleanup job, we transformed classic eggplant Parmesan into a one-pan dinner that’s as delicious as it is filling.

Get the One-Pan Eggplant Parm Orzo recipe.

If the TikTok famous baked feta pasta is a tad salty for your taste or if you’re ready to try something new, reach for a hunk of brie instead. This melty, brie-coated pasta has earthy mushrooms, sweet shallots, and smoky bacon—kind of like if feta pasta had a cool older cousin.

Get the Baked Brie Pasta recipe.

Spaghetti all’assassina is like the OG one-pot pasta. In it. spaghetti is cooked in a spicy tomato broth in a style similar to risotto). Believe it or not, the recipe calls for you to burn the spaghetti in the initial stages and then again toward the end as the final liquid evaporates. It’s a key part to the dish!

Get the Spaghetti All'Assassina recipe.

This is one of our favorite ways to prepare gnocchi. Roasting gives the pasta a slightly browned exterior while still maintaining a pillowy, chewy interior. To accompany the gnocchi, we are utilizing the flavors of a Caprese salad without relying on the seasonality of tomatoes. Enter beautiful and perfectly sweet bell peppers.

Get the Sheet-Pan Burrata Caprese Gnocchi recipe.

Wouldn’t it be great to have 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 sauce? We thought so!

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Cottage Cheese Alfredo recipe.

Ready in around 30 minutes, this penne alla vodka is one of our go-to pasta dinners when we're looking for an easy-to-make recipe that more than delivers on flavor and comfort. Making homemade pasta sauce does require a bit more effort than opening a jar, but trust us—with this vodka sauce, it makes all the difference.

Get the Penne Alla Vodka recipe.

Creamy, crumbly, herby Boursin cheese is delicious on crackers, but it’s also a great shortcut ingredient to amp up your recipes. Many white baked ziti recipes call for swapping out the marinara for béchamel sauce, but a mixture of Boursin, ricotta, and heavy cream is much simpler—and super delicious.

Get the Boursin Baked Ziti recipe.

We love a classic lasagna, but it can be a lot of work. This easy skillet version has everything we love about the original, but without all those layering steps. Instead, you'll toss the cooked noodles in an oniony marinara sauce, dollop with pesto, and top with ample slices of fresh mozzarella and a shower of grated Parmesan.

Get the Tricolore Skillet Lasagna recipe.

Get ready for a fiesta in your mouth with this creamy, spicy mac & cheese. It's a surefire crowd-pleaser that'll have you contemplating reaching for the tortilla chips to scoop up every delicious bite.

Get the Queso Mac & Cheese recipe.

Instead of making homemade sweet potato gnocchi, this genius recipe puts the sweet potato right into a creamy sauce and uses store-bought gnocchi for the same exact flavors and textures. The result: an incredibly irresistible fall dinner ready in less than 20 minutes.

Get the Sweet Potato Maple Brown Butter Gnocchi recipe.

This tangy, rich pasta kind of feels like mac & cheese’s cool older cousin. Maybe that’s because it comes complete with 3 layers of umami flavor: kimchi, Parmesan, and gochujang, a Korean fermented red chili paste. Trust us, the flavors work!

Get the One-Pot Creamy Kimchi Shells recipe.

You know about baked feta pasta, now try its fancier cousin, brie spaghetti. We used a whole wheel of brie for effect, but you can get away with something about (or a little over) half the size. A little bit of brie goes a long way.

Get the Brie Spaghetti recipe.