3 quick and easy pasta dinners - including a creamy vodka sauce our food experts swear by

Screen goddess Sophia Loren once famously quipped, “Everything you see I owe to pasta.” It’s a sentiment many of us can relate to. Quick to cook and endlessly versatile, pasta remains one of the easiest ways to get a comforting, flavour-packed dinner on the table after a busy day.

“These kinds of dishes prove you don’t need complicated ingredients to make something really satisfying,” says our food director, Jen Bedloe. “Pasta is brilliant because it works so well with simple cupboard staples, but small additions – like a splash of vodka in a tomato sauce or toasted breadcrumbs for texture – can transform a quick dinner into something that feels a bit special.”

From a silky tomato vodka pasta to a punchy sardine spaghetti and a comforting green mac ’n’ cheese, these three recipes are quick, hearty, and perfect for easy weeknight cooking.

Tomato vodka pasta

• Serves 4 | Ready in 20 minutes
• Per serving: 659 calories, 25g fat, 15g sat fat, 76g carbs

A deliciously creamy sauce using just a few store-cupboard staples. The vodka helps create the most silky-smooth sauce, but you can leave it out if you prefer.

Ingredients

• 400g rigatoni
• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 banana shallot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 100g tomato puree
• 60ml vodka
• 100ml double cream
• 60g Parmesan, grated
• Basil leaves to garnish

Method

• Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to pack instructions. Drain, reserving a cupful of the pasta water.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the shallot with a pinch of salt and cook for 8 mins, until softened. Add the garlic and chilli flakes, and cook for a further 2 mins.
• Add the tomato puree, cook for 2 mins, then stir in the vodka. Cook for a further 2 mins, then stir in the cream and a generous glug of pasta water, seasoning to taste.
• Stir the pasta and most of the Parmesan into the sauce, top with the reserved Parmesan and add the basil leaves to serve.

Sardine spaghetti with garlic crumbs

• Serves 2 | Ready in 20 minutes
• Per serving: 800 calories, 29g fat, 6g sat fat, 91g carbs

Tinned fish adds a budget-friendly boost of omega-3 to this Sicilian-inspired dish. This recipe uses sardines, but it’s great with other tinned fish, too. Try it with mackerel, salmon or even smoked mussels.

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 50g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 2 x 115g tins sardines in olive oil
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• ¼ tbsp red chilli flakes
• 2tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 200g dried spaghetti
• Freshly grated Parmesan, to serve

Method

• Crush one clove of garlic and set it aside. Lightly bash the other and put it in a small drying pan, along with the oil. Gently heat for 5 mins, then discard the garlic. Increase the heat to medium, add the breadcrumbs and fry for 5 mins, mixing, until evenly golden. Drain on a paper towel. Set aside.
• Carefully strain the sardine oil from the tins through a fine sieve and reserve. Roughly chop the sardines. Heat the strained oil in a medium frying pan, add the crushed garlic, lemon zest, chilli flakes and some pepper. Cook gently for 5 mins, until the garlic is soft. Add the sardines, lemon juice and parsley and heat through.
• Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to pack instructions. Drain, reserving 50ml of the cooking water, then return both the pasta and the reserved pasta water to the pan.
• Add the sardine mixture to the pasta. Stir over a low heat for 1 min, then divide between two serving bowls. Top with the breadcrumbs and the grated Parmesan.

Green mac ’n’ cheese

• Serves 4 | Ready in 20 mins
• Per serving: 787 calories, 33g fat, 15g sat fat, 83g carbs

A lightened comforting classic with a lemony sauce and plenty of veg. Cooking the pasta in cold water will increase the amount of starch in the water, which helps thicken the sauce.

Ingredients

• 300g macaroni
• 200g frozen peas, defrosted
• 220g spinach, blanched and chopped
• 125g panko breadcrumbs
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• 250g ricotta (for the sauce)
• 125g mozzarella, torn (for the sauce)
• 100g Cheddar, grated (for the sauce)
• Zest 1 lemon (for the sauce)
• 4tbsp green pesto (for the sauce)

Method

• Put the pasta in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 mins. Drain, reserving 300ml of pasta water
• Heat the grill to medium. Whisk the sauce ingredients together with the pasta water until smooth. Stir in the pasta, peas and spinach, and season to taste.
• Tip into a baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs and a drizzle of oil. Grill for 5-8 mins until golden.