13 Pasta Recipes Everyone Should Know (Slideshow)

The classic of all classics, spaghetti and meatballs is a fantastic go-to pasta dish for any dinner occasion, whether it's a dinner for friends or a party of one. Even the meatballs are easy to make in this recipe; they only take a few minutes of mixing, rolling, and heating. Make more than the recipe calls for so you can reheat the leftovers the next day for meatball subs.

A flavorful, hearty Bolognese sauce requires some patience — the flavor takes time to develop — but it will be well worth the work. This recipe calls for ground beef, but if you're feeling daring, you can make a mixture of ground beef, veal, and pork in whatever ratio you prefer to add a bit of complexity to the flavor.

If you've ever made this dish before and followed a recipe that asked you to use any sort of milk or cream, you were deceived! The ingredients for a good pasta carbonara are few, so if a tight budget is the issue, this is right up your alley. If you're a carbonara novice, it's egg yolk that makes this pasta dish so creamy, not cream.

Don't be intimidated by a handful of shrimp; they take only minutes to prep and cook even faster. This flavorful dish is one of the easiest we know. You only need chicken broth, garlic, green onions, parsley, and a lemon-pepper seasoning, and dinner is on the table in less than 30 minutes.

This macaroni and cheese will make you want to kiss that box goodbye. Not one, not two, not even three, but four cheeses make this simple mac and cheese recipe extremely rich and decadent. 

The great thing about lasagna is that you can put anything you want in between those noodle layers as long as you top each one with a hearty ladle-full of sauce. There is a bit of work involved in preparing each component of the lasagna but once that's done, building this layered masterpiece is easy—and it only gets better the next day.

Baked Ziti is an excellent go-to dish if you're feeding a large group of people, since you can make a whole lot of it very easily, and very few ingredients are required in addition to the pasta. The key here is to not undercook your ziti; the best parts are those extra-crunchy pieces of pasta around the edges.

One pot, one pan, a bottle of vodka, a box of pasta, canned vegetables or other miscellaneous produce, and you're well on your way to making this classic dish. Serve it with an extra garlicky crusty baguette to sop up the leftover sauce, if there is any!

A seemingly simple dish, really good spaghetti with marinara sauce is all about the time and attention you dedicate to the sauce. Purchase high-quality tomatoes for this (I always go with San Marzano) and let them cook "low and slow" to develop the best flavor. 

Yes, primavera is the Italian word for spring, but that doesn't mean that you have to use spring vegetables for this dish. Use whatever vegetables are in season or on hand. 

This rich soup is an excellent dish to prepare for a chilly night when you're just not in the mood for the traditional chicken noodle. The best part? Everything can be prepared in one pot, making this not only easy to make, but easy to clean up, too.

Pesto is one of those sauces that can easily adapt to the ingredients you have on hand. If you don't have pine nuts, try almonds, cashews, or walnuts for an equally delicious sauce with a completely different flavor profile. However you plan to create your pesto, your prep will always be the same; throw everything into a food processor or blender, blend until smooth, mix into freshly boiled pasta, and enjoy.

Fettuccine Alfredo can be intimidating for some people, but if you are on the hunt for a simple pasta dish that is ready in minutes, this is the one to make. Make sure you give your sauce a little bit of time to reduce and thicken up; otherwise your final product will be too watery to properly cling to the noodles.