Easy Pasta Recipes: Creamy, Baked and One-Pot Pasta

How we cook pasta on a weeknight

Aim for water that tastes pleasantly seasoned, about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt for every 4 quarts. Pasta absorbs salt only while it cooks, so this is your one chance to season the noodles themselves.

Cook the pasta a minute short of the package time and finish it in the sauce with a splash of that reserved water. It soaks up flavor as it finishes, and the starch thickens the sauce so every strand is coated.

Long shapes like spaghetti and linguine suit smooth, glossy sauces; ridged short shapes like rigatoni hold chunky meat sauces better. Every recipe here notes which shapes work if you need to swap.

Short on time? Creamy Pesto Pasta with Peas is the quickest here at 20 min, with 5 min of hands-on work.