Pasta ideas with no sauces

[Mimi124]

My DD hates sauces but she loves pasta. She can eat bowl fulls of pasta with grated cheese on top but as that's not the healthiest to have often I'm looking for new ideas on what to put on pasta.
We've tried a smithering of white sauce so it was coated and not too saucy but that was a no. She won't eat red sauces. I just can't think what else to put on it so its not dry.

Chargrilled vegetables? Olives?
Avocado and Lemon?

im sure when I was a student I used to eat pasta, tinned tuna and tinned seeetcorn. Don’t think there was any sauce involved!

how old is your daughter?

I sometimes do plain pasta then lots of bowls of different things for the kids to add, sweetcorn, chopped cucumber, tomatoes, grated carrot, halloumi chunks - whatever yours will tolerate. If your concern is the dryness then a bit of butter or olive oil? I have one who loves bolognese and all kinds of sauces, always has, and one who hates them.

Butter, garlic, chopped parsley

Black pepper, balsamic vinegar and cucumber sticks on the side. My 9 year old loves this. Like a PP said, a little butter or olive oil to balance out any dryness.

But she probably hates 'wet' so as soon as you do whatever else to it, she won't eat it?! Just give her plain pasta but with the extras as pp suggested above eg veg / chopped ham

Not sure if it counts as no sauce but natural yoghurt or failing that Quark. With onion, loads of pepper and grated cheese

Pesto? My daughter loves pasta, pesto and sweetcorn.

But if she likes it dry then that's fine? Sauce doesn't necessarily make pasta healthier. Just give her the veg and protein element on the side.

Pasta with cheese plus some chopped veg is a good healthy choice, I'd go with it.

Just chop stuff into it. Ham, cheese, small pieces of cooked broccoli, roasted peppers and red onions, courgette, aubergine, chorizo, little pieces of bacon or chicken.
Most of the things you roast will need a bit of olive oil so that will make the pasta less dry.
My kids used to love pasta, pesto and peas too, which isn’t too saucy.

Butter or olive oil (the latter obviously being healthier). It’s not uncommon in southern Italy to have pasta just with sautéed vegetables - say for example you sauté some courgettes you would add the pasta and a little of the cooking water to loosen it and then drizzle with olive oil. Not sure how old your DD is and whether green veg is a helpful suggestion though!

What about stuffed pasta like tortellini or ravioli?!

Marmite or stock cube and cooked veggies and protein

My DD9 hates sauces too, esp red sauces. She's been happy with parmesan and smidge of butter on her pasta and we're lucky as although she hates sauces. And mixed up things, she loves her veggies & greens as long as they are plain and separate. Basically she likes everything, as long as it's cooked simply & plain. So I will always do her a bowl of veg on the side.

At one point when she was still very little she quite liked a teeny bit of cream cheese stirred through warm pasta...
And she loves anchovies.. and at one point loved some anchovies melted into some butter poured over her pasta.
She also bizarrely.. loves Macaroni Cheese.
I dont understand her rules.

Pasta cheese is my DS' favourite meal too. To be fair, it's one of mine as well. In general, I just serve sauce on the side and let him hear what he wants. Last night, for example, he had a pile of pasta and then a separate helping of chicken in a tomato sauce. He eats both elements but wouldn't touch it if I mixed it all together. I just roll with it to be honest.

I have found that most of the sauce dodgers also dont like things mixed up, even when dry.

Baked beans?

When I was a kid (and maybe just occasionally now as a grown up....) I loved pasta, cheese and beans. To my kind beans and cheese are accepted on a jacket potato so why not pasta! [Grin]

Saute sliced courgettes with garlic and stir through penne, then add cheese.
Otherwise, would she eat pasta and cheese with cherry tomatoes on the side?

Shes not young, old enough to eat everything but she just hates anything in a sauce.
She would have piles of cheese every day if I would let her so we're trying new ideas to have cheese free days. I always cook separate for her if needed, that's never an issue but it'll be nice for her to have some new meals and flavours to try.
Lots of ideas to try on here, thank you everyone.

I got so excited reading this as I can steal the ideas. Ds hates sauces but loves pasta too. We have “buttery pasta” which is just butter, or chicken and peas with butter……. Sometimes we chop sausage in as well, but again, with butter on! I’ve tried squirting ketchup on in the hopes I could transfer him gradually to a tomato based sauce, but apparently it makes the pasta slimy, ffs!

I just roast garlic, aubergine & courgette with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar bung in a few cherry tomatoes for the last 5 minutes of the 30 minutes roasting

serve with pArmesan

tasty but not wet or runny sauce

Tagliatelle, parmigiana, anchovies and sprinkle of olive oil- DGC love it!

Chuck anything she likes in it. Mine like bacon, sausage, ham (they aren’t veggie kids), I like bacon, spinach & pine nuts stirred in. Basically use anything she likes eating and put it in, even if it sounds like an odd mix. I stopped trying to give mine spaghetti boll and now just cook mince up plain with a bit of oxo and serve on the side with pasta.

Chopped veg on the side FTW. I hate soggy sauce pasta too

i have a combo of steamed or roast broccoli, chopped cherry tomatoes, spring onion, carrot, ham, bacon, nuts (pine nuts if feeling £££, cashews if not) courgette….. whatever needs using up. Or just a steamfresh veg pouch, if I CBA

either on the side of a big bowl or on a small plate.

Spaghetti aglio e olio: while the spaghetti is cooking, heat some olive oil in a pan and when it’s hot, throw in a couple of cloves of crushed garlic. Swish it around and squish it into the oil, and then fish it out when it goes brown. Drain the spaghetti, and then while it is draining, throw a sliced red chilli or two into the hot oil. Take it off the heat, tip the pasta in and sloosh it around until all the oil and peppers are well mixed into the spaghetti. Serve in a bowl and grate fresh Parmesan on top. All quantities are variable according to taste.