11 Perfect Weeknight Pasta Recipes

Weeknights can be hectic and stressful, but getting dinner on the table doesn’t have to be!  11 Perfect Weeknight Pasta Recipes is a collection of my favourite pasta recipes that are fast, affordable, and delicious!

One of my favourite things about pasta is the ease of preparing a dish that the whole family will love.  Nothing is easier than pasta, but when things are easy, they sometimes get a little boring.

In this round up, I have put together a list of my favourite pasta dishes.  All of these recipes have been previously posted here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen, so to some of you, they may be just a friendly reminder of some of the old favourites, but to others, the recipes will be new and fresh!

If you’ve been hanging around my online kitchen for a while now, you will no doubt have read about my love of pesto.  That’s why I’m featuring the pesto pasta recipes first.

Rare is the pasta sauce that is easier than a pesto.  So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I had to start my 11 Perfect Weeknight Pasta Recipes collection with my Almond and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta.  This pasta combines the simplicity of almonds, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan and olive oil.  And if you’re feeling a little dangerous, add extra dried red chili flakes!

Next, is my Easy Spicy Roasted Garlic Spaghetti.  You can roast off the whole heads of garlic on the weekend and use them up during the week.  Roasting the garlic ahead of time will really speed up this dish.

Feeling a little spicy?  How about this Spicy Italian Sausage Penne Pasta?  This one is loaded with sausage, bell peppers, tomatoes, and herbs.

Here’s another one of those pesto recipes; you know the type where you basically throw everything into the food processor and dinner is ready?  Well, almost!  Scallion and Basil Pesto Spaghetti is the brightest and freshest pesto you’ll ever eat! Again, prepare the pesto on Sunday and all you have to do after work that week is boil some pasta.  Easy peasy!

Braised Beef Ragu is delicious and in my opinion, still qualifies as a weeknight pasta dish, even though there’s a little more work involved.  We all know ragu is not a fast dish.  To really get good flavour, you’ll need to braise the meat to fully develop that popular ragu complexity.  Another great Sunday food-prep sauce!  Oh, and go ahead and make a large batch.  Portion it and freeze it for easy weeknight dinners!

Sometimes, a weeknight demands heavy cream and cheese.  If you’ve had a bad day, you deserve it.  I’ve got just the dish to help you bury those quit-your-job feelings.  Parmesan and Spinach Penne Pasta has wilted spinach, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, and butter too!

My two vegetarians need classic comfort food in their lives too.  That’s why I created this vegetarian verison of the classic stroganoff.  Mushroom Stroganoff has lots of meaty mushrooms, paprika, and sour cream.  So delicious – even for me, the meat eater!

The next dish was a pleasant surprise.  Long story short, we were hungry and there was cream cheese, tomatoes, and mushrooms in the fridge.  This pasta was such a hit and surprisingly, one of the most popular pasta dishes at Lord Byron’s Kitchen.  Give my Spaghetti in Cream Cheese Sauce with Mushrooms and Tomatoes at try!

Once again, I am always thinking about my two vegetarians and want them to have comfort food options too.  A few years ago, I posted this Skillet Vegetarian Beefaroni and it’s been one of our favourite, kid-friendly, cool-weather, hearty pasta dishes.

Not all pasta dishes are adding sauce to boiled pasta.  Sometimes, you gotta load that pasta with cheese and bake it until that cheese is all bubbly and gooey and burnt around the edges.  Can I get an amen?  Baked pasta doesn’t get better than my Ultimate Spinach and Artichoke Mac and Cheese – yes, I said ultimate!

Lastly, for those nights when you have only a dollar or two in your pocket, but you’re famished, I’ve got a very budget-friendly pasta that’s perfectly delicious and satisfying.  Poor Man’s Pasta might come from humble ingredients, but it’s super rich, tasty, and hearty!

There you have it, folks – 11 Perfect Weeknight Pasta Recipes!  Now, put aside the stress – it’ll still be there tomorrow anyway, and eat with your family, your friend, your cat, or yourself.  It’s all good!

In a hurry?  Save this recipe to your Pinterest board for later!

Click HERE!

Are you making this recipe?  Show me your version!  Tag me on Instagram or Facebook!

@lordbyronskitchen | #lordbyronskitchen 

All access to Lord Byron’s Kitchen!  Never miss another recipe!  Follow me on social media:

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM |PINTEREST