These are my best pasta recipes! Pasta is a great ingredient when you are cooking from a pantry, or trying to stretch your budget…or both!
At the time of this writing (March 2020), we are all cooped up in our homes out of necessity. So I have done my best to outline substitutions and modifications.
This is the first in a series of posts that focus on what you can cook for yourself or your families from (mostly) long-term food storage. For example, this focuses on mostly freezer and pantry ingredients, root vegetables, etc.
There may be a few fresh ingredients thrown in. Hopefully you have access to those. If not, I’ll do my best to include notes on how to improvise.
Stay safe and well, friends! 💖
Pasta Main Dishes
Chili Mac and Cheese – this feeds a crowd! Made with pantry ingredients, plus cheese and ground beef. SO good!
Chicken Pasta Bake – simple recipe, made with chicken and pantry ingredients. If you don’t have ricotta or parmesan, it will still be great without it.
Chicken Pesto Pasta – you can use homemade pesto, OR store-bought. The tomatoes and pine nuts are great in it, but you can leave them out if you don’t have any.
Instant Pot Spaghetti – barely a recipe! More of a method of how to make one pot spaghetti in your Instant Pot, using store-bough pasta sauce.😎👊🏻 This is our fast food alternative.
Greek Pasta with Chicken – modeled after Taziki’s Friday pasta special, this is full of flavor. Mostly pantry ingredients, plus feta, basil and tomatoes.
Pasta Primavera – This one uses lots of fresh ingredients, but don’t be afraid to improvise! Canned tomatoes and frozen veggies would be a great substitute. Also, it’ll still be great if you don’t have any wine.
Chicken Tetrazzini– crazy delicious and mostly pantry ingredients! Hopefully you can get your hands on some fresh mushrooms, but canned/ jarred work if not.
Mexican Chicken Spaghetti – my mom made a version of this growing up! Made with mostly pantry ingredients, plus some cheese sprinkled on top.
Shrimp Scampi over Linguine – This rivals anything you can get at a restaurant. So. Very. Delicious!
Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese – Is mac and cheese considered a main dish at anybody else’s house?😂🤷🏼♀️
Lazy Lasagna – an oldie, but goodie! Much easier than traditional lasagna, but with all the flavor. 👌🏻
One Pot Spicy Pasta with Turkey Sausage – So easy and tons of flavor.
Pasta Salads
Caprese Orzo Pasta Salad – everybody goes crazy for this one! Fresh tomatoes are the best, but in a pinch sun-dried or even canned tomatoes will work.
Greek Pasta Salad – tomatoes and cucumber are the fresh produce in this recipe, and they are best. However! You can leave out the cucumbers, and use canned or sun-dried tomatoes in a pinch. Heck, it’s still be good even without any tomatoes. The feta cheese is so delicious in this recipe, but you can leave it out if you need to.
Tortellini Pasta Salad – Tortellini is usually sold fresh, but it does keep in the fridge a couple weeks. And this is soooo delicious. Fresh tomatoes are best, but in a pinch, you could use some canned or even sun dried ones.
Soups with Pasta
Tortellini Soup – Again, tortellini is usually sold fresh, but it does keep in the fridge a couple weeks, at least. So this is a great option! You can leave out the spinach if you don’t have any. Or use kale instead.
Pasta e Fagioli Soup – feeds a crowd! Made with ground beef, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, broth (chicken, beef or vegetable) and seasonings. You can make it on the stovetop, or in your Instant Pot.
Healthy Lasagna Soup – You can make it on the stovetop, or in your Instant Pot.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup – Very similar to chicken noodle, plus lemon juice and oregano and thyme (dried or fresh). And you can make it on the stovetop, or in your Instant Pot.
Chicken Noodle Soup – a classic, made with chicken, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, herbs and you can use homemade or boxed chicken stock. Stovetop and Instant Pot instructions are included.
(Visited 3 times, 3 visits today)
0 Comments