Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Quick easy pasta recipes

15 replies

Tinks15 · 15/02/2024 20:57

Apologies I know this has been done to death but please can you share your quick easy pasta recipes with me.

Needs to be suitable for DC they are 8 & 5 (can be a little fussy esp 8yr old). I don’t have lots of time during the week with work etc so really want something that’s easy to prepare but a decent meal for us all.

Thank you 😊

OP posts:
CombatBarbie · 15/02/2024 21:12

Not the healthiest but one of the faves in our house (and easiest way to ram some vitamins into them). While pasta is cooking, fry a pack of chopped bacon and loads of spinach (fresh or frozen). Drain pasta add tub of philadelphia, stir in bacon and spinach and serve.

Tinks15 · 15/02/2024 21:55

Thanks @CombatBarbie sounds yum though & perfect for quickness!

OP posts:
TheTripThatWasnt · 15/02/2024 22:06

Carbonara - put the spaghetti on to cook. Whilst it's cooking, fry up some streaky bacon. Whisk eggs (1pp), add pepper, a grating of cheese and (if you have it) a dollop of creme fraiche (but it's fine without).
When the pasta is cooked, put it back in the pan and add the egg mixture. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg and the sauce should thicken. If it doesn't, put a low heat under it for a minute or so - but don't heat it too much or the egg will scramble! Stir in the bacon, and you're done.

Total time = time taken to cook the pasta+2 minutes. Doesn't get much quicker than that!

TheTripThatWasnt · 15/02/2024 22:09

Another favourite here...

Put spaghetti on to cook.
In a frying pan, fry a bit of garlic with some breadcrumbs (I always have some in the freezer, so just bung a handful in) until they're golden. When they're done, put on some kitchen roll (or a plate).
In the frying pan, fry some chopped garlic and chilli with a tin of sardines (fry in the oil the sardines came in) and some dried oregano. Add the cooked pasta and stir it all together with a good glug of olive oil. Serve with the breadcrumbs sprinkled on the top.

Super quick, and tasty. And cheap as.

AlltheFs · 15/02/2024 22:10

We make both of these a lot

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/saucy-sausage-pasta-0 (we leave out chilli)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-creamy-bacon-penne (we use normal pasta and often chop the chicken as it cooks quicker and use stock instead of wine usually). That’s DD’s fav.

Sausage pasta recipe | BBC Good Food

Try this cheap and easy student pasta dish with sausages and chilli from BBC Good Food.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/saucy-sausage-pasta-0

Luckydog7 · 15/02/2024 22:13

I was going to suggest carbonara, much easier then Mac and cheese for instance once the mystique is lifted.

You can make a very quick cheese sauce by pouring cream and cheddar into your cooked pasta and letting it melt down and thicken to correct consistency.

I used to make an after school snack with tuna, mayo and sweet corn put straight into warm pasta. Swapping half the mayo for cream cheese works great too.

Cooked chicken and cooked bacon shredded and added with mayo is good too.

Pesto and chopped raw tomato was a favorite too.

Twinkletwinklelil · 15/02/2024 22:14

Tuna pasta. - cook pasta, add red jar sauce (or make own with passata, garlic onions, herbs). Stir in canned tuna. Optional- add veggies lying around in fridge. Done.
can also do a cold tuna mayo pasta

prawn linguine- cook linguine. At same times cook garlic in butter, white wine vinegar, leeks - cook, add herbs, cream fraiche/ double cream. Add loads of parsley and option red chilli.
add in some pasta water. Add cooked linguine. Mix in cooked prawns. Top with slice spring onions.

we recently tried pasta evangelists. Sooooo quick! Literally took 4-5 minutes per dish.

Twinkletwinklelil · 15/02/2024 22:16

Also check out “boredoflunch”
we love this slow cooker one (if it makes life easier for you)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1g10wEoSyD/?igsh=azIzN3F3ZHp3cTJt

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1g10wEoSyD/?igsh=azIzN3F3ZHp3cTJt

Tinks15 · 15/02/2024 22:21

Thanks everyone these all look great & so easy to do!

OP posts:
Terribletooths · 15/02/2024 22:26

Glug oil, half onion, 1 clove garlic to sauté a bit, add herbs if you have, and add chopped up pack of cherry toms, cook down, reduce and whaz up with stick blender, add pasta. (Dried, fresh, those ravioli packs),

or

garlic clove x 3, boil broccoli, add broccoli to the pan, mash a bit, add pasta water, add pasta. Season.

usually I use whole meal pasta for the extra health lol

eandz13 · 15/02/2024 22:29

We do pizza pasta

Boil pasta
Cut up chicken breast to small pieces
Finely chop a red pepper and red onion
Slice up some pepperoni
Fry chicken in a big pan, add a tub of Philadelphia, add a few tablespoons of pizza topper sauce (the stuff you get in a jar), mix it all up, add peppers, onion and pepperoni, then chuck your pasta in with a bit of the pasta water
Mix again
Plate up, job done.

WalkingThroughTreacle · 15/02/2024 22:42

I always have a few tubs of batch-cooked Bolognese in the freezer. Just take out to defrost the night before (or microwave defrost if short notice) boil pasta and combine.

Another option - the simplest and quickest I can think of. Just heat some passata, add herbs, salt and pepper then stir in cooked pasta. Serve with grated parmesan. If you've got an extra five minutes, fry some onions, garlic, capsicum peppers, mushrooms etc before adding passata to pan.

theduchessofspork · 15/02/2024 22:51

Salmon fillets - precooked for extra laziness

Crème Fraiche

Peas pre cooked

Add it all to the pasta, with lots (lots) of salt and pepper

Marmite pasta - butter and marmite (and Parmesan) obviously, but adding paxo breadcrumbs is the game changer - the extra texture is a real lift

happytobee · 15/02/2024 22:59

not the healthiest meal but you could add veg - put pasta on to cook, fry chicken & bacon, make a white sauce (1 pint milk warmed in the microwave, 50g butter 50g flour, heat butter and flour into a roux and add milk slowly) season, mix all together - yum!
could do the same without meat & add cheese to the sauce to make mac & cheese

JadziaD · 15/02/2024 23:29

I do a lot of tomato based pasta sauces with whatever is in the fridge. With or without meat. It's my go-to, have-no-time-and-haven't-thought-about-it option.

If doing with meat - usually chopped bacon or chorizo (not for DD), or chopped chicken breasts. Fried quickly first then put aside while I do the rest.

... usually something like chopped onion to start (but I'd use leeks, spring onions etc as well or instead if necessary. Chopped peppers can work too). Then add chopped up bits of things like brocolli, courgette, mushroom, aubergine etc. Generous amount of garlic. Then a tin of chopped tomato, some water, some oregano, some paprika, a spoon of sugar and salt and pepper. Then add the meat/chicken if using and simmer while pasta is cooking. Depending on how it comes out I might add some cream cheese or milk to it to if I feel it's needed, and/or top with feta.

Super easy sausage pasta (particularly good if you have a limited number of sausage and a family who can all eat 3 each... as really, you can work on approximately 1 sausage per person):

Roughly remove the sausage meat from the skins and toss into a pan in small balls (no need to be particularly precise about this). Brown it all off then add a teaspoon of fennel seeds, zest of one lemon, some chopped garlic, If you are not cooking for children, also some chilli. Add a handful of chopped fresh tomatoes (optional). Then add wine/stock and milk in roughly equal amounts (about 100ml each) and allow to bubble to reduce. Add a couple of handfuls of fresh or frozen spinach or peas (frozen earlier in the bubbling process). Once wilted/cooked, add a generous dollop of creme fraiche and serve with lots of parmesan.

My SIL does a nice salmon pasta sauce that I might make (DH and DC love it but I don't really like fish in pasta sauces). She basically poaches the salmon in some milk. Meanwhile, she's lightly sautéing some leeks/onions/courgettes. Then she flakes the salmon, adds it to the leek mixture, swirls in some cream or creme fraiche and she's done!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page