27 Easy, Budget-Friendly Pastas That Don’t Skimp on Flavor

Sheet-pan gnocchi, spaghetti and meatballs, pasta e fagioli and more cheap recipes that taste as if they cost a fortune, but don’t.

Pasta isn’t always thought of as an expensive meal, but when you add a lot of ingredients or a handful of more opulent ones, its price per serving can climb. These smart recipes rely only on a few powerful ingredients — many of which you probably already have on hand — to keep flavors big and costs small. After all, dinner doesn’t have to be pricey to be delicious and to feel luxurious.

1. One-Pot Cheddar Tomato Mac

Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to stovetop mac and cheese, and you have this gooey pot of comfort from Ali Slagle. Smoked paprika and cayenne, if you’re feeling it, add a slight kick, and the dish is finished with crunchy panko bread crumbs, which is an easy way to amp up any recipe on this list.

Recipe: One-Pot Cheddar Tomato Mac

2. Baasto iyo Suugo Tuuna (Pasta and Spiced Tuna Sauce)

This recipe from Ifrah Ahmed elevates jarred tomato sauce with canned tuna and xawaash, a fragrant Somali spice blend. If you don’t have xawaash chances are you have all (or most) of the spices you need in your cabinet already: cumin, coriander, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom.

Recipe: Baasto iyo Suugo Tuuna (Pasta and Spiced Tuna Sauce)

3. Kale Sauce Pasta

This absurdly simple recipe, which was adapted from Joshua McFadden’s, gives new life to that wilting bunch of kale sitting in your fridge. The leaves are blanched, and then blended with a simple garlic-infused oil to create a luscious sauce that’s as delicious as it is verdant.

Recipe: Kale Sauce Pasta

4. Quick Pasta e Fagioli

In addition to taking just 20 minutes, this hearty pasta-and-bean soup from Ali Slagle is mostly no-chop. Skip the fussy step of dicing celery, carrots and onions, and instead use bacon and garlic to create a savory, complex base. Serve with crusty bread and a simple green salad.

Recipe: Quick Pasta e Fagioli

5. One-Pot Roasted Garlic Pasta

Carolina Gelen makes pure magic with five ingredients — two whole heads of garlic, olive oil, salt, heavy cream and pasta — in this resourceful one-pan recipe. Don’t be fooled by the simple ingredient list: The garlic is used in a multitude of ways, for maximum flavor throughout.

Recipe: One-Pot Roasted Garlic Pasta

6. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio e Fried Shallot

Aglio e olio is well known in the world of budget cooking, but Kenji López-Alt brings it to the next level by adding fried shallots for an umami punch. You can use store-bought or make them yourself on the stovetop or in the microwave, as some commenters suggest.

Recipe: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio e Fried Shallot

7. Spinach Meatballs With Pasta

Tender meatballs enriched with chopped, frozen spinach do most of the work in this weeknight pasta dish from Ali Slagle. The browned meatballs and their juices build up canned crushed tomatoes into a flavorful sauce that coats the pasta. Ali recommends a mixture of ground beef and pork, but you can use either one.

Recipe: Spinach Meatballs With Pasta

8. Spaghetti With Arugula and Sardines

If you’re not in the mood to dirty a pan or chop a vegetable, this Ali Slagle recipe is for you. It’s simple enough to prepare during a quick work break: Just boil whole-wheat pasta, and then combine with grated garlic, lemon zest and juice, crushed red pepper and sardines and their oil, drizzled straight from the tin.

Recipe: Spaghetti With Arugula and Sardines

9. Gochujang Buttered Noodles

A fully stocked pantry is cheap pasta’s best friend. Eric Kim deploys spicy gochujang paste here to maximum effect for a six-ingredient pasta (not counting salt) with ample depth of flavor. Honey enhances the sauce, while butter mellows it out, ready to slick the noodles.

Recipe: Gochujang Buttered Noodles

10. Crispy Gnocchi With Sausage and Broccoli

Ali Slagle takes Italian sausage and has you turn it into tiny meatballs with just a few pinches of your thumb and forefinger. The purpose is twofold: First, they’re adorable. Second, they cook more evenly, finishing at the same time as the broccoli and the gnocchi.

Recipe: Crispy Gnocchi With Sausage and Broccoli

11. Sardine Pasta Puttanesca

This affordable pasta from Sohla El-Waylly is perfect for summer, calling for ripe, succulent cherry tomatoes instead of canned for a lighter, brighter result. Tinned sardines and anchovies add the best kind of fishiness, while capers and olives lend briny notes. Nearly every element packs a punch.

Recipe: Sardine Pasta Puttanesca

12. Creamy Chickpea Pasta With Spinach and Rosemary

Alexa Weibel truly stretches a can of chickpeas here, first cooking it in a rosemary-infused oil. Then she puts some to use as a garnish, while the rest cook down in the creamy sauce, thickening it even further.

Recipe: Creamy Chickpea Pasta With Spinach and Rosemary

13. Smoky Tomato Carbonara

This version of carbonara from Kay Chun adds tomatoes and uses bacon, not guanciale, to impart smokiness. One element that remains the same, though, is the eggy sauce, which she smartly tempers with hot pasta water before mixing it with the spaghetti to prevent curdling.

Recipe: Smoky Tomato Carbonara

14. Rotisserie Chicken and Greens Pasta

A rotisserie chicken, picked up from the store, stars in this Christian Reynoso pasta. He cleverly has you season it once more, and then pairs it with an abundance of greens for flavor and heft.

Recipe: Rotisserie Chicken and Greens Pasta

15. Creamy Turmeric Pasta

Turmeric and half-and-half serve as the sauce for this sunny pasta from Sue Li. Amplified with Parmesan, it’s earthy and salty, beautifully bright in color and robust in flavor. “This is meant to be a lazy meal,” she writes, and it is. But it’s also so much more.

Recipe: Creamy Turmeric Pasta

16. Pasta Marinara With 40 Cloves of Garlic

Garlic lovers, we see you. This pasta from Ali Slagle channels marinara and a meat ragù but still manages to be vegan with its — yes — 40 cloves of garlic. A light braise tenderizes that garlic before the tomatoes are added. It’s paired with any short tube pasta of your liking, all the better to hold the chunky sauce.

Recipe: Pasta Marinara With 40 Cloves of Garlic

17. Pasta With Brown Butter and Parmesan

Ali Slagle’s take on buttered noodles goes a small but important step further, as she has you brown the butter until gloriously nutty in scent and flavor. Salty Parm rounds it out in a dish even the pickiest eaters are bound to enjoy.

Recipe: Pasta With Brown Butter and Parmesan

18. BLT Pasta

Colu Henry takes all the flavors of the classic summer sandwich and riffs on them in this easy weeknight pasta. Cherry tomatoes break down during a cook in bacon fat, which serves as the backbone for the sauce. Arugula (not lettuce) lends a peppery bite, but you could also swap in another green, if that appeals.

Recipe: BLT Pasta

19. Puttanesca Pasta Nada

This generous recipe from Dwight Garner lets you use pretty much whatever you have on hand — “pasta nada” nods to the fact that you’re making it out of, well, pretty much nothing. Whether you use anchovies and capers or tuna and garlic, embellish it with whatever herbs are hanging out in the fridge and have a meal that feels like magic.

Recipe: Puttanesca Pasta Nada

20. Peanut Butter Noodles

“Peanut butter (the less fancy, the better),” Eric Kim advises you use in this dreamy 20-minute pasta. So pull out your beloved childhood jar and make this gentle, comforting meal for one that’s just as easily scaled for more.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Noodles

21. Pasta With Pumpkin Seed Pesto

This Genevieve Ko recipe was initially created as an ideal school lunch option for its clever use of pumpkin seeds in place of nuts and its ability to be eaten hot, chilled or at room temperature. One other highlight? It lasts in the fridge for some time, so you can make a big batch and eat it throughout the week.

Recipe: Pasta With Pumpkin Seed Pesto

22. Spaghetti all’Assassina (Spicy Singed Tomato Pasta)

This pasta sells itself: Not only is it an affordable six-ingredient pantry pasta that cooks in one pot, but it’ll also transport you to Italy — spiritually at least. Use jarred or homemade tomato sauce, depending on your bandwidth, and then spice it up with some crushed red pepper for a delightfully simple dinner full of heat.

Recipe: Spaghetti all’Assassina (Spicy Singed Tomato Pasta)

23. Fettuccine With Zucchini

Maybe you count yourself among the lucky ones with a garden bursting forth with zucchini for the year. But even if you don’t, this recipe from Florence Fabricant won’t break the budget. Feel free to swap walnuts in for the more expensive pine nuts here: They lend the same bite without the price.

Recipe: Fettuccine With Zucchini

24. Black Pepper and Onion Spaghetti

Ali Slagle adapted this easy spaghetti from Michele Baldacci, the chef and co-owner of Locanda Vini e Olii in Brooklyn, who uses a mix of red and white onions to keep things interesting. It’s also a great way to give new life to any lingering onions in the crisper: Cook them months in advance and keep them in the freezer for when you need dinner in an instant.

Recipe: Black Pepper and Onion Spaghetti

25. Mushroom Wafu Pasta

Japanese mushrooms are cooked in a rich soy-butter sauce in this classic wafu (or “Japanese style”) pasta from Hana Asbrink. Scallion and nori as finishing touches add umami and a light, oniony brightness to counter the earthy mushrooms. You could skip them, but don’t.

Recipe: Mushroom Wafu Pasta

26. Creamed Spinach Pasta

Creamed spinach, that steakhouse favorite, gets the pasta treatment from Colu Henry. And why not? It makes perfect sense. She calls for fresh spinach here, but you could easily take a tip from a commenter and use frozen chopped spinach that has been thawed and drained. It’s cooked down in garlic butter, and then thickened into a sauce with cream. A dollop of ricotta makes it feel especially rich without breaking the bank.

Recipe: Creamed Spinach Pasta

27. Five-Ingredient Creamy Miso Pasta

Is this the easiest pasta you could make? It’s pretty close. Miso, butter and Parmesan come together to form a simple, umami-rich sauce in this one-pot recipe from Alexa Weibel. (The sauce is made in the same pot the pasta was cooked in.) Top it however you like — steamed vegetables and cooked shrimp are nice additions — but know that it’s delicious on its own and brilliant in its simplicity.

Recipe: Five-Ingredient Creamy Miso Pasta

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