14 Pasta Dinners You Can Make with Pantry Ingredients

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When you're looking for an easy and satisfying meal, these pasta recipes can be your solution. Keep your pantry stocked with ingredients like pasta, jarred marinara or pesto, canned legumes and canned fish to get a delicious dinner on the table with ease. Recipes like our Rigatoni Amatriciana and Turkey, Pesto & Broccoli Pasta will help you clean out your pantry and are so tasty, you'll be cleaning your plate, too.

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Rigatoni Amatriciana

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Created by chef Fabio Viviani of Siena Tavern in Chicago, this Amatriciana sauce is a classic of modern Roman cooking (though it most likely came from the town of Amatrice about 90 miles away). Typically, it's made with few ingredients: garlic, guanciale (cured pork jowl), cheese and tomato. This version doctors up jarred sauce to keep it quick and calls for easy-to-find pancetta in place of the guanciale. This tomato sauce is sometimes paired with bucatini; here, Fabio dresses up rigatoni with it.

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One-Pot Pasta with Tuna

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Joy Howard

Use the one-pot pasta cooking method to make this tuna pasta recipe that calls for just 5 ingredients and is ready in just over half an hour. For extra crunch and a tuna noodle casserole feel, sprinkle this speedy pasta dish with toasted whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs.

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Slow-Cooker Vegetable Lasagna

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This vegetarian lasagna couldn't be easier, thanks to jarred pasta sauce and no-boil lasagna noodles. Prep it in the morning and let your crock pot do the work.

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Turkey, Pesto & Broccoli Pasta

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This easy pasta recipe is a weeknight dinner lifesaver. While shelf-stable pesto will work here, we prefer the fresh flavor and more vibrant color of refrigerated pesto. Look for it in the refrigerated section of your supermarket, near the fresh pasta and marinara sauce.

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Peanut Zoodles with Edamame

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Photo by: Carolyn A. Hodges, R.D.

A package of fresh zucchini noodles gets tossed with shelled edamame and store-bought peanut sauce in these 5-minute, no-cook vegetable noodle bowls. Because prepared sauces and dressings are commonly high in sodium, scan the label and opt for those that contain 150 mg sodium or less per tablespoon.

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Pesto Ravioli with Spinach & Tomatoes

pan of Pesto Ravioli with Spinach & Tomatoes

This easy ravioli recipe calls for just five ingredients but is loaded with fresh flavors. By using grape tomatoes, prewashed spinach and prepared pesto, we eliminate all prep work, making this 15-minute Caprese-inspired ravioli the ideal weeknight meal.

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Quick Shrimp Puttanesca

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Because refrigerated fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, this Italian-inspired pasta dish will be on the table lickety-split! Puttanesca, traditionally made with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and garlic, gets shrimp for extra protein and artichoke hearts to boost the vegetable servings (and the fiber!). If you can't find frozen artichoke hearts, sub in drained canned artichoke hearts.

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Penne with Sausage & Eggplant Bolognese

Penne with Sausage & Eggplant Bolognese

Here, we infuse eggplant Bolognese with savoriness by cooking the eggplant in the sausage drippings. Serve this family-friendly baked pasta with a salad and pour the adults a glass of Chianti.

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Easy Lasagna

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This classic beef lasagna recipe is easy to make and will be ready to eat in just over an hour.

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Baked Cavatelli Casserole

Baked Cavatelli Casserole

This easy to make, comforting dish will keep you warm on a cold day.

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Spaghetti Genovese

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Traditionally, this Italian pasta recipe combines pasta and pesto with potatoes and green beans. In our recipe for Spaghetti Genovese we give pesto a nutritional boost by adding spinach and toss it all together with fiber-rich whole-wheat pasta for a warm, comforting weeknight meal. Serve with escarole and radicchio salad.

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Pantry Peanut Noodles

Pantry Peanut Noodles
Jacob Fox

Choose your own adventure with these noodles! They're delicious with peanut butter and tahini alike. Plus, you can use whatever frozen vegetables you have on hand and finish the dish off with any herbs still thriving in your garden or hanging out in your crisper.

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Chicken & Asparagus Skillet Pasta with Pesto

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Fresh lemon juice, tangy sun-dried tomatoes and zippy pesto tie together the flavors in this quick and easy skillet meal. The 30-minute dinner is so versatile--you can use any quick-cooking protein or vegetable you have on hand and still have a delicious meal on busy weeknights.

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Sausage & Peppers Baked Ziti

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This healthy baked ziti recipe doesn't require any chopping and is made on the stovetop, so it is perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Using whole-wheat pasta adds fiber; opt for penne if whole-wheat ziti is hard to find.

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