What to cook with pasta: 8 reliable dishes.
A box of dried pasta and three or four pantry items is a complete dinner if you know what you're doing. The Italians wrote the rulebook a century ago and most of us are still ignoring it. Here are 8 pasta dishes worth memorizing, with the actual technique, not the Pinterest version.
The 8 dishes
1. Aglio e olio
Boil spaghetti in heavily salted water. Slowly toast 6-8 sliced garlic cloves in olive oil with red pepper flakes — golden, not burnt. Pull pasta when al dente, save cup of water, toss into garlic oil with parsley and pasta water. Emulsify until silky. Uses: spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley, salt.
2. Cacio e pepe
Toast cracked black pepper in dry pan. Cook spaghetti, save pasta water. In a bowl, combine grated pecorino with hot pasta water to form a paste. Add hot pasta + pepper, toss vigorously until creamy. Uses: spaghetti, pecorino romano, black pepper, salt.
3. Carbonara
Render guanciale until crispy. Beat egg yolks (4) plus 1 whole egg with grated pecorino and cracked pepper. Cook spaghetti. Off heat, toss pasta with guanciale, then with egg-cheese mixture and reserved pasta water until creamy. Uses: spaghetti, guanciale, eggs, pecorino romano, black pepper.
4. Pomodoro — 4-ingredient tomato sauce
Whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed. Cold olive oil, smashed garlic, simmer 5 min until garlic is fragrant (not browned). Tomatoes, salt, basil sprigs. Simmer 20 min. Toss with spaghetti. Uses: spaghetti, San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt.
5. Bucatini all'amatriciana
Render guanciale, remove. Soften onion in fat. Add white wine, reduce. Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, simmer 15 min. Return guanciale. Toss with bucatini and pecorino. Uses: bucatini, guanciale, onion, white wine, San Marzano tomatoes, red pepper flakes, pecorino romano.
6. Spaghetti alle vongole
Steam clams in white wine with garlic, parsley stems. Strain liquid. Toast garlic in olive oil with red pepper, add clam liquid, reduce. Toss with spaghetti, clams, parsley, lemon zest. Uses: spaghetti, littleneck clams, white wine, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes, olive oil, lemon.
7. Pasta puttanesca
Olive oil, garlic, anchovies, dissolve. Add capers, pitted Kalamatas, red pepper, crushed tomatoes. Simmer 15 min. Over linguine, finish with parsley. Uses: linguine, anchovies, capers, Kalamata olives, garlic, red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes, parsley, olive oil.
8. Pasta e fagioli
Soffritto: onion, carrot, celery. Pancetta. Cannellini beans, tomatoes, rosemary, parmigiano rind. Simmer 30 min, mash half the beans. Add small ditalini, cook directly in soup. Uses: ditalini, cannellini beans, pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, San Marzano tomatoes, rosemary, parmigiano rind, olive oil.
How to store pasta
Dried pasta keeps indefinitely in a sealed container. Cooked pasta keeps 3-4 days in the fridge in olive oil. Fresh pasta dough keeps 2 days in the fridge wrapped tight, or freeze portioned for 2 months.
What to substitute for pasta
Long pasta swaps: spaghetti ↔ linguine ↔ bucatini. Short pasta: penne ↔ rigatoni ↔ ziti. Fresh ↔ dried isn't 1:1 — fresh cooks in 2-3 minutes vs 9-12 for dried. For carbonara, guanciale > pancetta > bacon (don't argue with Italians on this one).
FAQ
- How much salt should I add to pasta water?
- Italian standard: salty like the sea. About 1 tablespoon kosher salt per 4 quarts (1 gallon) water. The pasta absorbs salt while cooking — undersalted water means flavorless pasta no matter how good your sauce is.
- What does al dente actually mean?
- Literally 'to the tooth' — pasta that has slight resistance when bitten. Cut a piece in half: you should see a tiny white core in the center. That's the doneness Italians plate at. Soft-all-the-way-through is overcooked.
- Should I add olive oil to pasta water?
- No. It coats the pasta and prevents sauce from clinging. Pasta sticks together because of overcrowding (use a big pot) and undercooking the surface starch (get the water at a rolling boil before adding pasta).
- Why do recipes always say 'reserve pasta water'?
- Pasta cooking water is salty starchy emulsifier. A splash binds oil-based sauces (aglio e olio, cacio e pepe) into a silky coating instead of a greasy puddle. Save a cup before draining; you'll always need at least a quarter of it.
Cook with what you already own.
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