Pasta has rescued too many weeknight dinners to count. On days when ingredients, patience, or time are wearing thin, a simple, filling pasta dish does the job better than just about anything. However, pasta can be dish-intensive, and the last thing anyone wants to deal with at the end of a long day is a full sink. Enter these 30 one-pot pasta recipes, here to make your dinner routine that much easier. Don’t worry—one pot can handle a multitude of flavors.

While you’ll find these one-pot meals contain a variety of pastas, two tend to stand out: gnocchi and orzo. Soft and pillowy gnocchi is an always comforting ingredient that shines with a crispy exterior and soft, silky interior, and more often than not ends up starting and finishing all in the same pot. Get the most out of your gnocchi with our one-pan creamy chicken & gnocchi, one-pan cheesy sausage gnocchi, green goddess gnocchi, creamy harissa chicken & gnocchi, and more. Similarly, orzo—basically a marriage of rice and pasta—also cooks up, more often than not, alongside the other ingredients that make it great. Try our one-pan eggplant Parm orzo, creamy butternut squash orzo, one-pan lemon chicken orzo, or one-pot shawarma chicken & orzo skillet to see how this ingredient shines.

We aren’t stopping there though. Classics like chicken Alfredo, goulash, and Amish beef & noodles can all be made in one pot, alongside modern twists like taco spaghetti, Philly cheesesteak pasta, and one-pot French onion pasta.

Whatever the circumstances, these one-pot pastas are sure to brighten the mood, and lighten the load. Looking for more meals made in one dish? Check out our one-pan, sheet-pan, and one-skillet meals for further inspiration.

delish!

I’ve rounded up 35 (!) recipes that basically mean you could have a new and exciting mac & cheese for every day of the month if you wanted. I’m talking French onion mac & cheese, queso mac & cheese, bacon & pimento mac & cheese, cacio e pepe mac & cheese, lobster mac & cheese… basically, if you can dream it, we’ve made it. Best of all, the recipes make plenty, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to have leftovers; I’ve also included a few recipes to make with those too (mac & cheese pizza bites, here you come). Grab your Lactaid girlies, you’re not going to want anything between you and a big bowl of these.

delish!

A classic nostalgic comfort dish, goulash is the hearty weeknight dinner I’ll always crave. The best thing about this goulash recipe? Everything cooks together in one pot—even the pasta! Cooking the macaroni directly in the goulash means the pasta gets to soak up all that beef and tomato flavor while simultaneously releasing some of its starch into the pan, thickening the goulash to create a hearty, comforting stew. Trust me—once you cook pasta this way, you’ll never go back to boiling water again. Read on for all of my tips and tricks for making this staple cozy meal:

What People Are Saying:
“This recipe is easy and fantastic! My family loves it! Great for work nights!” – GreenChilli

“This right here is GOOD! I made it exactly as written and then we sprinkled with parm instead of parsley and served with garlic toast. Delish! Clean plates all around. ” – jbritt826

How To Make Goulash

INGREDIENTS

• Ground Beef: If you’re steering clear of ground beef, you can use ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork instead. The cooking time might change slightly when you’re browning the meat, but as long as you keep an eye on it, you should be fine.
• Tomatoes: It might seem excessive, but there’s a reason for every different type of tomato in this recipe. The concentrated tomato paste adds rich umami, while the sauce gives the dish body. Those diced tomatoes? They’re there to give you little bursts of tomato-ey goodness in every bite.
• Beef Broth: The beef broth combines with the 3 types of tomatoes to cook our pasta, and create the sauce.
• Seasonings: Italian seasoning and paprika are my chosen seasonings here. Oregano was my original choice, but I found that Italian seasoning adds more of my preferred flavor.
• Pasta: I went with elbow macaroni for the classic look, but any short pasta shape will work, including penne, rotini, cavatappi, or farfalle. Just keep in mind that these different pasta shapes might have different cooking times, so check the box they come in for the manufacturer’s recommendations and taste as you go to ensure your pasta is perfectly al dente.
• Cheese: A cup of cheddar cheese melted in at the end seals the deal on the entire meal—I highly recommend not skipping this step.

delish!