Pasta & Noodles
1283 recipes found
Curry Udon
Japanese curry bricks deserve their place in our pantries as a staple — inexpensive, with a long shelf life, and full of fast flavor. For those without easy access to store-bought curry bricks, you can make your own or opt for this recipe, in which a quick roux is made using a commercial curry powder blend. A Japanese brand like S&B is ideal, though most products labeled “curry powder” will work. If you have curry bricks in your pantry, you can use them and skip to Step 4, but note the package instructions to determine how many bricks to use. This recipe makes a thick, silky broth that clings ardently to the chubby udon noodles. Potatoes, carrots and onions are common ingredients used in Japanese curry, and while the spinach is not traditional, it adds a nice green element; substitute with broccoli, baby bok choy or kale if you prefer.
Rice Noodles With Garlicky Cashew Sauce
This dish is loosely based on an Indo-Chinese garlic noodle dish. Here, a combination of Italian and Chinese condiments like cashews, Parmesan, soy sauce and anchovies create a creamy, umami-rich garlic sauce. This recipe uses rice noodles, but you could use egg noodles, ramen or any type of noodle. Since Parmesan, anchovies and soy sauce tend to fall on the saltier side, taste as you go and season the sauce accordingly. Feel free to reduce the amount of garlic, as it leans toward the generous side. These noodles are best eaten warm as soon as they’re mixed with the sauce.
Spicy Pan-Fried Noodles
Garlicky, gingery and as spicy as you dare to make it, this Asian-influenced pan-fried noodle dish comes together in minutes. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples, which means you can make it whenever you need a comforting noodle dish that comes with a bite. If you can’t find the Chinese egg noodles (also called Hong Kong-style noodles), you can make this with rice noodles or soba. The key is to only boil them until they are halfway done. (They should be pliable but still firm in the center.) They will finish cooking when you pan-fry them.
Caramelized-Scallion Noodles
The key here is the scallion dressing for the noodles and the bit of oyster sauce you drizzle on for depth and umami. Feel free to substitute in any meats, fish, tofu or vegetables you like for the toppings; this is just a template for any number of quick, delicious meals.
Pasta With Chickpeas and a Negroni
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. A drink before dinner? Make a Negroni, then pasta with chickpeas and tomato sauce. First, the Negroni: one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, one part Campari, stirred with ice then strained over ice and garnished with orange peel. Sip! Then peel and chop an onion and sauté it in olive oil with a few cloves of smashed garlic and a spray of salt and pepper. Have another hit of Negroni. When the mixture has just started to brown, add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes, along with a stick of cinnamon. Stir and simmer away for 10 minutes or so, longer if you can, then add enough cream or half-and-half so that the sauce turns softer in color, running to pink. Meanwhile, boil some salted water and prepare your favorite pasta (I like shells for this application) until it is just al dente. Drain, then toss in a 14-ounce can of drained chickpeas and stir the whole thing into the tomato sauce, topping with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of red-pepper flakes. Finish that Negroni. Eat. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef and Noodle Salad
Bun bo xao, a zesty stir-fry of marinated beef hot from the wok paired with room temperature rice noodles, makes a satisfying main-course salad year-round. Dressed with a classic Vietnamese dipping sauce and topped with roasted peanuts, the flavors are clean, bright and restorative. Yes, this recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, but the prep is simple, and it’s an easy introduction to Vietnam cooking for the uninitiated.
Lemon Spaghetti With Roasted Artichokes
Lemon zest, lemon juice, Parmesan and basil come together for a silky and vibrant sauce that makes this weeknight-friendly pasta sing. The addition of roasted artichoke hearts adds texture and complements the zestiness of the dish. There’s no better time than a weeknight to embrace canned or frozen artichoke hearts, as they are immensely less work than whole fresh ones, and they roast beautifully — and effortlessly — in a hot oven. Holding onto that salty, starchy pasta water is key to ensuring that each spaghetti noodle is enveloped in the lemony sauce; use it judiciously to emulsify the sauce as you quickly toss it.
Chile-Oil Noodles With Cilantro
In this 20-minute recipe, a mixture of savory condiments coats bowlfuls of wide noodles chilled slightly by a quick rinse in cool water. While you cook the udon, take the time to prepare the sauce, abundant with contrasting flavors, and the fresh herbs. The sauce can be made in advance, but make sure it’s at room temperature before tossing it with the noodles and the cilantro at the last minute. Substitutions are welcome: Swap in chile crisp in place of the chile oil with crunchy garlic, or scallions in place of garlic chives. Sichuan chile oil brings a citrusy flavor that is hard to replicate, so don’t skip it. It can vary in spice level: For a milder sauce, use only the liquid oil, or add Sichuan peppercorns from the bottom of the oil for extra tingle. Fried shallots are here for texture, but omit them if you use chile crisp.
Vegetable Yakisoba
Yakisoba is a Japanese stir-fried noodle dish with a rich Worcestershire-flavored sauce. This veggie-packed version combines carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms and kale for a fun mix of textures and flavors. The key in this dish is to sauté the yakisoba noodles first, creating a dryer, firmer noodle that won’t fall apart in the sauce. (Fresh ramen noodles would also work well here.) The tangy-sweet sauce consists mainly of pantry condiments and can be made the day before. Leftovers can be enjoyed the traditional street food way: reheated and served in buttered hot dog buns topped with Japanese mayo and pickled ginger.
Rice Noodles With Seared Pork, Carrots and Herbs
Vietnamese-style marinated pork chops are often served whole with rice noodles, herbs and a dipping sauce. This version mixes all the components, infusing the noodles, sliced meat and vegetables with the sauce and keeping the noodles tender even after a day in the fridge. Dark, robust maple syrup takes the place of the traditional dark caramel in a nod to autumn (and as a weeknight shortcut to save you the hassle of browning sugar). The pork takes only a few minutes to cook, the noodles about 3, so this whole dish comes together really fast.
Cold Noodles With Sesame Sauce, Chicken And Cucumbers
It doesn't surprise me how often people order cold noodles with sesame sauce at Chinese restaurants. What is surprising, though, is how few people make the dish at home. It is incredibly easy to prepare, with common ingredients, and you can serve it as a main course or appetizer. You don't even need sesame sauce. Peanut butter is an acceptable substitute, as long as you use good peanut butter, simply defined as that made with peanuts and salt. (The name brands contain about 10 percent added hydrogenated fat, plus a couple of other typical additives.) Creamy is more common, but chunky is also good. It's easy enough to buy sesame paste (tahini) at health-food stores specializing in Middle Eastern ingredients and even at supermarkets. Sesame oil, which contributes mightily to the flavor of the finished dish, is a staple sold in Asian food stores (and, increasingly, in supermarkets).
Salmon Soba Noodles With Ponzu-Scallion Sauce
Quick-cooking, earthy soba noodles, made entirely from buckwheat or a combination of buckwheat and wheat flour, are perfect for easy weeknight dinners and can be enjoyed either chilled or in warm dishes. In this speedy noodle soup, dashi powder — an instant soup stock made from dried powdered bonito (skipjack tuna) that functions similarly to bouillon cubes — and subtly sweet cabbage help create a flavorful broth quickly. Salmon is thinly sliced and poached in the broth just before serving. A tangy and vibrant ponzu-scallion sauce balances the rich fatty fish, while grated daikon adds freshness, texture and a subtle bite.
Spicy Couscous Salad With Tomatoes, Green Beans and Peppers
Pearl couscous, also called Israeli couscous, is a round pellet-shaped pasta, larger than regular couscous. You may substitute Lebanese mograbiah or maftoul, or the large Moroccan couscous called mhammsa. All are available in Middle Eastern food shops. Fregola from Sardinia is also an option.
Spicy Butternut Squash Pasta With Spinach
Here’s a vegetable-filled pasta bake that comes together in under an hour. The most time-consuming part of this recipe is prepping the squash. You can buy precut squash, or cut it yourself: Trim the ends so that it can stand up flat. Use a sturdy vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Cut off the bulbous part from the neck. Scoop the seeds out of the bulbous part. Half the squash lengthwise, then cube it. If you’re sensitive to heat, leave out the jalapeños, or remove the seeds before slicing into rounds and placing on top.
Seven Vegetable Couscous
Seven-vegetable couscous is a well-known offering at Sephardic Jewish New Year celebrations, but since it's a bountiful, colorful tribute to the harvest, it makes a great meat-free main dish for Thanksgiving as well. Despite the long ingredient list, it's as easy as can be to make.
Cheesy Baked Pumpkin Pasta With Kale
Arguably one of the coziest autumnal dishes you can make in under an hour, this cheesy pumpkin pasta doesn’t rely on a roux. Instead, the sauce is made simply by blending canned pumpkin, cream and vegetable stock. And because the pasta bakes in a flash — just 10 to 15 minutes at 500 degrees — the most time-consuming part of the entire recipe is grating all that cheese.
Korean Bulgogi Bolognese
In this recipe, Korean grilled barbecue meets Bolognese, the classic Italian meat sauce. Ground beef is simmered in a sauce that starts with a traditional base of sautéed onion, carrots and celery, to which scallions, garlic, ginger and soy sauce are added. As the sauce cooks, the flavors of the tomato paste and soy sauce meld, creating a deeply salty-sweet mixture, while the addition of chopped mushrooms provides depth and complexity. Be sure to use egg pasta here as the richness contrasts nicely with the sauce.
Pasta With Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash
Here is a one-pot meal designed explicitly for the hungriness of a long-distance runner, with garlicky kale pesto and sweet roasted butternut squash. Making the pesto with kale instead of basil gives it a structure the basil-rich original lacks, and it interacts beautifully with the crisp-and-soft smoothness of the roasted squash. A terrific dish.
Pasta With Butternut Squash, Kale and Brown Butter
This pantry pasta turns cold-weather basics — pasta, squash, kale and butter — into something luxurious and deeply flavored thanks to garam masala, the warming spice mix used in many South Asian dishes like kebabs and curries. But since this is a pantry pasta, you can substitute freely: Consider another nutty spice or two, like five spice, turmeric with chile powder, or cinnamon with crushed fennel seeds. Whole-wheat pasta stands up to the squash and spiced browned butter, but regular pasta will work as well. In place of squash, use chickpeas or carrot, and instead of kale, try something else green, like brussels sprouts, broccolini or mature spinach.
Brown-Butter Orzo With Butternut Squash
In this autumnal one-pot meal, rice-shaped orzo is cooked with stock and butternut squash until it’s tender and creamy, a little like risotto but without as much stirring. Brown butter, lemon zest and sage add depth of flavor, while red-pepper flakes give this zip and heat. An optional dollop of ricotta intensifies the creaminess but feel free to skip it for a lighter dish. This recipe also works well as a hearty side for roasted meats and fish.
Pasta With Parsnips and Bacon
They may seem like an unlikely duo, but pasta and parsnips work really well together, with the parsnips becoming almost like a sweet and soft extension of the pasta. And they’re another vehicle for the creamy, bacon-rich sauce. You can roast the parsnips several hours ahead (they’ll be fine at room temperature). But the rest of the dish is best made just before serving. Then serve it hot. There are few dishes that are cozier on a cold winter night.
Butternut Squash Pasta With Brown-Butter Bread Crumbs
A fun tip for easy squash pasta: Boil cubed squash with your pasta. Not only does it save time and effort, but also the salted pasta water helps thoroughly season the squash. The pasta and squash are then drained together and returned to the pot, where some of the tender squash breaks down and helps create a rich, creamy sauce without the addition of heavy cream. A fragrant brown butter that’s been infused with garlic and sage is used two ways in this meal: It serves as the base for the sauce, and it flavors the crispy bread crumb topping.
Vegetarian Bolognese
Unlike a traditional Bolognese sauce, this riff on the classic has no meat and isn’t simmered for hours, but the results are still rich, buttery and sweet. Mild cauliflower and soffrito — the carrot, celery and onion mix that is the traditional base of the the sauce — become the bulk. Tomato paste and soy sauce are toasted to build umami. Then, everything is braised with whole milk, which softens the vegetables and adds silkiness. Swap the cauliflower for broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, eggplant, or even green lentils, chickpeas or crumbled tempeh. To make it vegan, swap 2 tablespoons oil for butter in Step 1, use nondairy milk, and swap 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast for Parmesan.
Pasta With Spicy Sausage, Broccoli Rabe and Chickpeas
In this hearty weeknight pasta recipe, chickpeas contribute an earthy, nutty flavor to the classic combination of sausage and broccoli rabe. The addition of Parmesan, butter, and lemon juice just before serving balances the heat from the sausage with a bit of richness, creating a bright and flavorful sauce in the process. This pasta is incredibly versatile: You can use any sturdy greens or even broccoli in place of the broccoli rabe, and feel free to swap in whatever pasta shape and canned beans you have on hand. You can even substitute sweet Italian sausage or ground pork or turkey for the sausage in a pinch; add about 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes to give this dish its spicy kick.