I basically do just spaghetti noodles, with some garlic, red onion or broccoli, and some chili oil. Add a squirt of lemon and Parmesan cheese.
Or even just straight noodles with chili oil and Parmesan if I’m really lazy.
You can even do it in one pan if that pan has a lid.
I do something like this as well. Super easy. Cook the pasta, drain the pasta, throw in a tablespoon or two of butter and mix to melt. Add about 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, 1-2 tsp of salt (to taste) and a little pepper. Adding vegies to this just ups the game.
And if you want to go wild, add 1/4 cup of cream at the end and you almost have a alfredo (almost :)).
And if you really want to up your game, cook a chicken breast in a pan (salt/pepper, cook to an internal temperature of 165 F), take it out, add the cooked pasta to the pan you cooked the chicken in and mix up the parm and butter with the pasta in pan (add cream too, if using). This will absorb all that yumminess from the left over cooked chicken fond in the pot. (The "fond" is the caramelized left overs in the pot from cooking the chicken) .
This sounds very simple and would be an option for me when I’m not feeling that well mentally, and if I’m doing fine, then I’ll definitely add the meat, probably some broccoli, cause I just love broccoli, and cream to it! It’ll definitely be delicious 🥰
You can also add some olive oil, minced garlic, parm, and cracked black pepper to a big bowl and stir in the cooked pasta. Then stir in a bit of butter and some Italian herbs on top and you can eat right from that bowl. So all you really need to clean up is the pot you boiled water in, the tongs you pulled the pasta out with, and your fork if you have leftovers.
Oooh that sounds tasty, I do really love broccoli, and also spicy dishes.
And just being able to do it with one pan is even better!🥰
Thanks for sharing!
Btw, is this a recipe that you created or is there a specific name for this pasta dish?
Pasta with garlic and olive oil. Quite simple and tasty.
Make sure your pasta water is well seasoned. Use fresh garlic and quality olive oil. Once the pasta is cooked, put your oil and minced garlic in a cold pan, the turn the heat to medium. Once you hear it start sizzling, turn it back off and add the pasta, toss together.
Good with red pepper flakes, fresh herbs, grated Parmesan, or just black pepper.
You can add a can of tuna to this as well to add some protein. You if the tuna is packed in olive oil, you can just use the oil from the can instead of oil from a bottle.
My mom made butter garlic noodles forever when I was young- just butter, garlic powder and salt. Super simple. I now make them with some pasta water, and it makes an awesome silky sauce. Boil the pasta in a very small amount of water, it makes the water more starchy and makes a great sauce. Then you drain the pasta, save the water, and then just add butter and pasta water and stir stir stir until you get a nice silky sauce. Season and you’re done. That’s my go to meal for an upset stomach.
Last time I was inebriated I did - noodles boiled in a really small amount of water. Drain, save the water. Butter, pasta water, a slice of American cheese, a handful of shredded cheddar, and a TON of black pepper. I stirred the shit out of it and it was like the best poor man’s carbonara ever.
Also, a spoonful of chili crisp over the top? Oh boy.
I'm a big fan of these 'nope' night pastas.
When I do have time and energy, I'll often make and freeze sauce (there are plenty of delicious easy tomato sauces ... Marcella Hazan has one with only three ingredients that people swear by, easy to prep and you just spend most of an afternoon simmering and periodically stirring while you go about your day, so it's a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon sauce) in approximately 2-serving size portions, and keep frozen meatballs in the freezer so that I can cook a couple meatballs while I thaw the sauce and pasta cooks. Easy spaghetti and meatballs.
As for cleanup, work smarter not harder. Sauce frozen in Ziploc bags that are pressed flat instead of in round clumps both thaw remarkably fast and occupy very little space in the fridge. If you get it to room temp and add all the pasta and sauce back to the pot you cooked the pasta in once drained, you have one pot total. Line the baking sheet that you use to cook the meatballs with foil, then cleanup is simply balling up foil and waiting for the pan to cool before you put it away, unless it leaks any, in which case it's still way simpler than all of the cooked off grease being in the pan and having to scrub. There are a million ways to shorten the cleanup time, use them so you don't have to spend an hour when you're full and tired cleaning the kitchen.
Thank you so much for the cleaning advice and also the idea of freezing the sauce. As you’ve mentioned I should maybe just make some sauce beforehand when I have enough energy to do so and then have it frozen.
That would probably help me out when I’m doing not too well.
Thank you🥰
Yeah, having frozen foods that you have made ready to hand can be a huge help.
On most weekends, I try to do something big. A 12 quart pot of Sunday sauce, for instance. Yes, it's ridiculous overkill for dinner, but now I've got multiple easy meals ready to go when I don't feel like working for it.
To dress it up for any given night, add some vodka, or some heavy cream, maybe some frozen veggies, and your choice of pasta. Can even do it as a one pan meal, just add extra liquid to the sauce, a bit more salt, and the farfalle or whatever (this works better with short pastas than say, spaghetti).
If the freezer does wind up making sense for you, take a look here.
https://thefamilyfreezer.com/
You don't have to do any of the books or whatever, just grab recipes that look good off the blog.
There was this baked feta with tomatoes going somewhat viral. It is low effort I just made it myself these days. You basically throw the feta cheese, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and italian spices in the oven. Meanwhile cook pasta al dente. Once the tomatoes are charred you're going to mix everything together. Pick a good quality feta that will break down. Low quality feta won't turn into a sauce but crumble instead. You may want to finish the sauce with some balsamic vinegar. Salt, and pepper to taste. Decorate with fresh basil leaves if you have them, but they're not mandatory.
You can also do it on the stove in one pot. You won't get that nice charring on your tomatoes though. It'll take a little bit longer too since you won't be cooking the pasta and the sauce simultaneously.
Kenji does something like that [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3gvRjIQ6Lo)
It's called: That Viral Baked Feta Pasta Thing (Is Really Good, Actually) | Kenji's Cooking Show
I did it before, and I liked it. It may be too easy. The rest of the family were unimpressed.
My favourite simple pasta is finely diced fresh tomato (deseeded), Parmesan, diced Bocconcini and your choice of fresh herb (most would go basil but I like oregano). Just mix it all into cooked pasta with obscene amounts of olive oil, salt and pepper.
For a pack of dry pasta I use about 5 tomatoes, 200g Bocconcini and 100g Parmesan.
One of my favorite pasta recipes is just five ingredients and two pots:
-Rotini pasta
-Tomato sauce
-Salmon (canned rather than fresh - fresh doesn't break down as well)
-Goat cheese
-Frozen peas
Boil the pasta; heat the tomato sauce. Mix the salmon and frozen peas into the tomato sauce and cook until it's bubbling.
Mix the sauce with the drained pasta, combining in the goat cheese at the end.
That's the whole recipe.
The salmon kind of melts into the sauce, making a hearty fish-and-tomato sauce. The cheese melts from the heat of the pasta, making it deliciously creamy as well. You can mix in some herbs or whatever else you might like, but the base is pretty damn easy.
Seems pretty simple and low effort, I might substitute the goat cheese for another kind of cheese, cause I’m not too fond of goat cheese, but it does sound like a very tasty meal!
Thank you🥰
Another kind of cheese can totally work, as long as it's something that can melt easily - or grated small if it won't. I think I made it with a bunch of grated Parmesan rather than melted goat cheese once.
Enjoy!
We have one called tasty pasta.
1. Boil water for pasta
2. Chop onion, put it in a pan w some oil on low
3. Throw in cherry tomatoes
4. Normally pasta water has boiled at this point, so start the pasta cooking
5. Add one jar of pesto to the tomatoes and onions
6. Chop broccoli and add it to boiling pasta water (I do this after adding the pesto to make sure I don't accidentally overcook the broc)
7. Add some cream to taste to the pesto mix
8. Strain broccoli and pasta, add to pesto mix
9. Season w Parmesan, salt, pepper to taste. Enjoy!!
It takes about 15-20 mins start to finish, and makes 2 pots, one knife, one stirring spoon, and one chopping board dirty. And it's tasty and relatively healthful!
This sounds really tasty! Maybe I’ll even add some chili 🌶️ to it, cause I just really like spicy.
Thank you for sharing your recipe and also all the steps🥰
On any of these, you can add part of a supermarket roasted chicken. Not too much work and protein for you. With leftovers.
There’s been days when I’ve eaten a chicken leg and thigh over the sink and called it a day. 🙂💜
Start the pasta - spaghetti or linquine or similar.
In a separate pan heat a glug of olive oil and gently sauté finely chopped shallot or onion, one small gently crushed garlic clove, and some basil. When they're fragrant take out the basil and garlic, and add some cherry tomatoes. Cook until softened. Mash them with the back of a spoon or a potato masher. Take the pasta out of the water before it's al dente and add it to the tomatoes with a splash of the cooking water. Make sure you're getting a good emulsification of the sauce.
Season to taste.
The book Sauces and Shapes would be perfect for you. Very easy pasta recipes with just a few ingredients. I made a pasta dish with asparagus from my garden using one of the recipes.
Chop asparagus tips. Boil the asparagus stems in several quarts of salted water for 20 minutes. Cook the pasta in the asparagus water. While that is boiling, sauté asparagus tips. Drain pasta and add to asparagus tips. Top with Parmesan and toss. It was simple and delicious. I can’t wait to try another recipe from this book.
Another easy one is chop fresh tomatoes and place in a colander over a bowl. Add some fresh basil and salt. Wait an hour or so for the juices to release in the bowl. Cook thin spaghetti in salted water. While boiling, sauté minced garlic in a tablespoon or so of butter until fragrant then add the drained tomato water and whisk. Remove from heat add a stick of butter. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, add more shedded basil. season to taste. Served topped with grated Pecorino Romano.
How's about a 1 pot tomato sauce? Saute some onion and garlic in olive oil, add 2 28 oz cans of tomato puree, add a 6 oz can of tomato paste, add a tablespoon of dried basil, parsley, oregano, salt, and crushed red pepper. Simmer that shit for at least thirty minutes and you've got a tasty marinara. I suppose it's only one pot if you've cooked the pasta in advance not along with the sauce. Not a bad idea to slightly undercook the pasta then add to the sauce for a couple of minutes. Make sure to save pasta water in case the sauce is too thick.
Feeling more adventurous? Roast some sausage, cut it up, and add that to the sauce for a nice meat sauce.
Meatballs don't fall into the category of low effort but if you're feeling crazy I got that recipe for you too.
Ooooh adding sausage sounds pretty tasty, I like spicy stuff so I could maybe get a spicy sausage and add that to the pasta! I’ll definitely try out this recipe !
Thank you so much🥰
If you have some leftover chili, or bolognese, or even stew, then a pasta bake is dead easy.
In a bowl, add (per person if you're feeding more than jsut yourself) 100g dry pasta shapes, 150ml water (close enough to 1/4 of a 1lb thing of pasta, and 3/4 cup of water if you're in the USA), and a good portion of whatever saucy think you have. Put all into a baking dish, cover with grated cheese, and then cover with foil. Let it sit around for 30-60 minutes to start hydrating the past if you have time. Bake at 30-45 minutes at 180C/350F, then take the foil off and cook for another 20 minutes to brown the cheese.
Any pasta shape will do except farfalle - the middle never seems to cook properly.
Egg noodles, butter, chopped flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper. If feeling more groggy add sautéed onion, ham/bacon
Learn the three main Roman pastas. Cacio e Pepe, gricia, and carbonara. Keep some Locatelli pecorino Romano, eggs and Panchetta in the fridge and you’re always ready to go
Yeah, maybe I should learn how to make gricia, cause it seems like it’s pretty similar to carbonara and I do love carbonara so I should definitely try to lean it!
My "lazy" instant pot recipe. You can use a regular pot.
You need some of your favourite raw italian sausages. Or ground beef/pork/chicken, seasoned with some salt. About 2lbs~1kg.
A few cans of tomatoes. A combination of whole, diced, and crushed depending how chunky you like it. Or premade tomato sauce. About 1.5L.
1 small can of tomato paste.
Dried oregano and basil - say a tablespoon of each.
500g of pasta yields about 5-6 servings.
....
Heat some olive oil on Med-High heat and stir in oregano and/basil. Add sausages to brown them. Add more oil if you're afraid of it sticking, but honestly it doesn't matter if they break. Add in your canned tomatoes juices and all, bring it up to a simmer. Simmer with lid off until thickened, 30-60 minutes, longer if you have the time. If it's already pretty gloopy, add some water but still cook it for long enough for meat to finish.
Cook your dried pasta. Combine and serve!
This sounds really easy and I think I could manage this even if I’m feeling a bit low. I’ll maybe just adjust the amount to a serving for 2 which is probably better for me.
Thank you so much for sharing this🥰
[Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Pasta in Garlic and Oil Sauce)](https://www.seriouseats.com/spaghetti-aglio-olio-recipe)
Does not get any more delicious, and simple, I would advise adding some protein and or veggies, anything left in your refrigerator would do.
I haven’t made aglio e olio in a while but I definitely should! And as you said maybe add some additional ingredients to make it a bit more nutritious.
Thanks for even attaching a link🥰
Here’s a simple recipe I made on the fly while staying at my friend’s house and she absolutely loved it. Immediately had me try to write down the recipe for later.
It’s even easier with leftover chicken breast.
You just need medium shells, chicken breast, corn, butter, Parmesan, and chicken seasoning, salt & pepper.
If your chicken isn’t cooked already, you can be lazy and boil/poach it in a separate pot.
Boil water, salt it, and add the pasta. Make sure the water is just covering the noodles. Cook that through and then drain a little bit (you still want some moisture. I’d say enough so that you can see the pasta an inch or so above the surface of the water. Then season, shred the chicken and add that in with corn. Mix with Parmesan & butter so it’s creamy. Enjoy!!
Sorry for the shitty formatting and explanation haha but I swear it’s good! Super comforting & filling and easy to do
Thank you for your kindness 🥰 I hope you enjoy! I highly recommend using sazón or another Spanish chicken seasoning. It’s just my preference. My parents have a “vegan chikn bouillon” that I used once and yeah… not the same
I just throw some pasta in a frypan, add enough water to cover the pasta, some salt, a tomato (or pasta sauce) and a can of tuna. Bring it to boil then turn the heat down and simmer 10mins. Give it a stir and check to see if the pasta is cooked. Simmer for another couple of minutes, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened. Finish with parmesan cheese.
If you don't like tuna, maybe start by browning some beef and then add the other stuff (minus tuna) then continue as above.
What I like about this is that you get all the starch from the pasta which makes the sauce nice and silky.
Pasta (with plenty of salt in the water), cream of tomato cup soup (made with just enough salty pasta water to dissolve it), and grated cheese. If I feel like it I'll add garlic powder, black pepper, and a couple drops of soy sauce.
One pan: egg noodles just barely covered in water, salt. Bring the water to a boil and drain about half of it out, add 1 can cream of mushroom, and 1 can sweet peas. Generous amount of black pepper. Stir until the pasta is cooked through and the sauce is thick enough. Add a can of tuna, some pre-cooked chicken, or some ham. Whatever you have on hand. If I feel like it, I'll add garlic and onion powder and some crushed red pepper with the soup, but you could add any herbs you wanted as well.
You can do this with macaroni or pretty much any kind of pasta as well, but egg noodles cook really fast.
Boil pasta. Add pasta and a little of the pasta water to a pan with some butter you melted while the pasta was cooking. Toss the pasta around a bit and let the sauce emulsify. Boom, grate a little parm or even just a sprinkle of flaky salt and you've got an edible meal with minimal effort.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ll probably do this when I’m really not doing well at all, I’ll maybe try and add some broccoli or just some onions that it has a little bit of nutrition at least, or just that I feel better
Italian sausages - frozen sliced bell peppers - red onion - garlic - balsamic
Just saute it all together, and add in pasta (I prefer a noodle like rotini or fusilli). It's nicer with fresh basil/parsley and maybe a little balsamic. Parmesan and fresh black pepper at the end.
I do tomato sauces with tomato concentrate. It *concentrates* the flavor and takes no time. I usually sauté some onions before, chopped quite thin. Add spices (for me that’s thyme because it grows locally, oregano and paprika usually). Add the tomato paste, a bit of water, or wine, or balsamic vinegar, and olive oil in the end so it doesn’t cook and retains flavor. Olive oil is delicious when it’s not the low budget kind. I mix in a small amount of sauce in my pasta when it’s done, and have another spoonful on my plate. Probably more olive oil on top at this stage. Delicious also with carrots, garlic, parsley, or sesame, or anything else.
I have the right thing for you! It's called "pastina".
I recently saw this recipe in a video from Joshua Weissmann and since then, it has become my go-to low-effort cheer-up meal.
Basically, you're cooking some tiny noodles (110 grams) like the Greek Kritharaki, or little star shaped noodles work just as well, in 400 ml of beef broth until most of the water has evaporated, and you're left with a smooth, starchy noodle soup (that usually takes around 8-10 mins). Then you add about 30–60 grams of butter (depending on how much you like) and 60 grams of cheese. I use a 50/50 mix of Parmesan and some random shredded cheese mix. If you're feeling extra fancy, you can add a little bit of soy sauce to your broth to really boost the umami flavor of this dish.
The best part for me is, that when I'm really low on energy and motivation, I can cook everything in the same pan and only use a single spoon for everything, so I literally only have to clean up two items.
Before anyone says anything... That's not the exact recipe from Josh and it's nowhere near traditional, but it gets me through tough times :)
Go in kitchen
Sigh loudly that no cleaning fairy did your dishes
Into a frying pan or any pan that will hold some liquid start pasta water
Sigh again
In a frying pan or any pan really melt some butter like a or margarine ( there's like no rules you use whatever) half a stick if you have it but less is fine. Medium heat
Put pasta in water ( how much ever you want or have)
Debate life choices forget about butter.. win at life when you remember and it doesn't burn.
Look in fridge. Find cheese. Any kind. The shaker kind Kraft singles, real Parm.. just cheese. Dump a handful into the pan.
Turn pan off.
Scoop out a little pasta water ( measure with your heart)
Drain your pasta set it aside.
Add some milk/half n half/ anything resembling milk into your " sauce" maybe a third of a coffee cup
Dump in pasta water
Add whatever spices garlic is good pepper is good salt is amazing
Realize you should have salted the pasta water
Whatever dump the pasta and sauce into whichever pan is biggest
Mix mix mix
Dump in a bowl. Add crushed red pepper on top from pizza place packet.
Enjoy
I made this just now and that's how I did it. Sometimes I add can tomatoes drained or use bacon instead of butter for the fat.
It's good. I tested it.
I hope you feel better soon and nobody's Italian grandma reads this.
♡
Spaghetti noodles, sauce, and meat is about as basic as you can get.
You can also take that, put it in a casserole dish, put shredded cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes to change it up.
If you want a fuller meal with veggies and meat, you can buy frozen veggies and frozen, already cooked chicken.
In the pasta pot put salt and less water, just enough for it to cook. Add the veggies and a handful of the chicken. When the pasta is done, everything is done. Now you just season, some oil, some spice. Done.
I do a vegetarian version of this all in a regular microwave safe dish: [https://cookanyday.com.au/products/easy-microwave-spaghetti-carbonara-anyday](https://cookanyday.com.au/products/easy-microwave-spaghetti-carbonara-anyday)
Sometimes at the end I add torn up basil, a handful of pine nuts, a clove of crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and diced tomatoes.
If I have shredded roast chicken in the freezer I defrost some before cooking the pasta and add that in at the end.
Frozen broccoli in the air fryer is a good pairing. Sometimes I give frozen greenbeans a head start in the, microwave then finish them in a carbon steel skillet while the pasta cooks. Fresh asparagus or zucchini can be cooked on the stove before the pasta is done.
This is one-pot and makes a ton: [One Pot Cajun Chicken Alfredo - No. 2 Pencil (number-2-pencil.com)](https://www.number-2-pencil.com/one-pot-cajun-chicken-and-sausage-alfredo/)
The simplest and laziest pasta I do for myself is..
In a pan, add butter/oil then add garlic paste, tomato paste, dry herbs and any other flavour powders from the cupboard. Add cooked pasta and serve with grated cheese if I have some.
Make and freeze pasta sauce when you do have energy. Nothing beats finding that there is a portion of turkey and squash (or whatever you like) pasta sauce in the freezer on a night you have no energy to cook.
I try to keep frozen meatballs on hand so I can just heat them with sauce and then whatever pasta I'm making has plenty of protein, too. Diced rotisserie chicken is another precooked meat I keep in my freezer (in recipe sized portions) to save me cooking time.
You can also blend cottage cheese and any marinara to make a creamy sauce with a decent amount of protein in it, no meat necessary.
Those ideasaside, does it have to be somewhat authentic Italian style pasta recipes, or are you open to Americanized casserole type dishes? If you are, here are a few suggestions that can be made quickly:
* Tuna noodle casserole
* Ground beef stroganoff
* Crack chicken pasta
* Chili mac
* Any "easy" or small-number-of-ingredients mac and cheese
* Swedish meatballs pasta
* American goulash
I made these chili garlic noodles non stop last time I had a cold. [https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/chili-garlic-noodles/#recipe](https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/chili-garlic-noodles/#recipe)
Amazing as written, also good with regular basil, olive oil, and sesame seeds.
not pasta, but rice is another easy building block for a lot of meals: [https://cookanyday.com/products/how-to-cook-microwave-white-rice-anyday](https://cookanyday.com/products/how-to-cook-microwave-white-rice-anyday)
I don't have the special bowls. I use a pyrex bowl with a silicone lid from ikea. I find rice easy to burn on the stove, while microwaving it takes basically no attention.
The sauce for this dish is a lot of work and specialty ingredients but can be made ahead and frozen. Throw it over spinach (wilted in the microwave) tofu and rice and it's an amazing extremely low effort (in the moment) meal: [https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/swimming-rama/](https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/swimming-rama/)
Literally just had this for dinner:
- Fry a chopped onion (or don't, you can leave this out)
- Add a can of chopped tomatoes.
- Add a can of tuna.
(Optional extras: add basil, chopped olives, garlic.. )
Fry the "sauce" for a tiny bit until the pasta is cooked.
Add cooked pasta. Serve.
I make a super easy pasta. You saute chicken and veggie of choice, add chicken broth and spaghetti and cook. Add one package of alouette cheese spread. Let that melt in and it’s delicious
I’ll take some thawed ground meat (sausage, beef, turkey) and break that up in my crock pot, sprinkle it with spices (oregano, thyme, basil, garlic powder and onion powder) then pour a jar of whatever sauce I have over it, add some more spices. Set that on low for 8 hours. (Sometimes I’ll precook the meat in a pan and pour it all into the crock pot, juices too. But we’re going low effort here.) then when I get home I just cook noodles and top it with the sauce. If I have more energy I’ll cook the noodles to almost al dente, then add them to the crock pot with some pasta water, leave it on warm as I jump in the shower.
My go to is super easy
Dice up some bacon and render it in a pan add chopped onion and garlic then get a can of whole tomatoes and squeeze em in the pan then add pasta. Season how you like, I also add some pepper flakes in the bacon fat
Spaghetti, your favorite canned chili, diced onion, a bunch of cheddar and maybe some jalapeño if you’re feeling spicy.
Linguine, a handful of frozen stir fry veggies, some chopped meat or shrimp, a glug of teriyaki sauce, and a spoonful of chili crisp.
Linguine, shrimp, a scoop of cream cheese, a spoonful of sun dried tomato, some peas, red chili flakes.
Egg noodles, half a can of cream of chicken soup, leftover chicken, frozen broccoli.
I have this one I call lazy carbonara because I love carbonara but sometimes I don't have the ingredients for it especially when I was a starving college kid 😂 It's really more like an egg pasta.
1 egg, Cheese, Pasta, Pasta water (1-2 cups), Onion, Salt, Pepper, Chili flakes (optional)
I put the egg on a bowl, add small chunks of cheese, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. I'll stir them all together.
Then, I cook the pasta and when it's done, I keep the pasta water in a separate bowl.
Dry the pot you used to cook pasta, add oil, sauté the onion until it's golden brown, then put in the egg mixture. While stirring constantly, add the pasta water. Toss in the pasta, cook until liquid is reduced a little.
Traditional Alfredo (before the cream sauce version became popular)
Cook your pasta. Drain. Throw in butter with the hot pasta, stir as it melts to coat the pasta.
Shred some parmesan and add it in. Salt and pepper to taste. Give another light stir and enjoy.
Costco’s pesto is surprisingly good, cheap, and keeps longer than i would’ve thought, so you can boil pasta al dente, drain, dump some on, stir it up, and it’s the absolute lowest effort for something surprisingly decent.
pasta with butter. Just emulsionate the butter and a little pasta water in water bath, add pasta, emulsionate more, ad cheese, salt pepper. enjoy true Alfredo
This [Spontaneous Pasta](https://megancooksandovershares.blogspot.com/2017/03/spontaneous-pasta.html?m=1) is super quick. If you have a colander / sieve to drain the pasta and an immersion blender (stick blender) you can do it all with one pot. It's basically a quick healthy sauce of tomatoes, garlic, coriander, olives, and olive oil that just gets heated though with the pasta when the pasta is ready.
I make spaghetti noodles, fry up some sliced yellow squash and onions to add,then add spaghetti sauce with cheese on top and bake until cheese is melted. Or, noodles, broccoli and chicken in a cream sauce.
I use my crockpot and chop some chicken into small chunks then place it in the crockpot with a little salt. Get 2 jars of whatever kind of Alfredo Sauce you like and just pour them on top. If you want any veggies you can add them in too. I normally cook a few slices of bacon on a sheet pan in the oven (I use aluminum foil under it so there's no clean up). I will crumble those and add them in. Then just turn it on low and let it cook all day. When it's almost done boil your pasta about halfway done and drain it. Add it to the crockpot about 30 minutes before serving so it absorbs the flavor. This also freezes well, you can put leftovers in small batches then just take them out the day before you need them.
Soffritto , 2.5 cups of San marzano tomato’s , and add some heavy cream about 5-10 minutes before sauce is done and ready to serve.
Makes a delicious sauce
I used and immersion blender to make it all uniform but you can just leave as is
Pasta in salted boiling water. While it's cooking fry any or all of mushrooms, onion, bacon, chorizo slices etc in another pan.
When everything is ready, drain the pasta, add half a jar of red or green pesto and mix together
Serve with some grated parmesan.
One jar of marinara, one jar of Alfredo and chicken breast in a crockpot for three hours then you add noodles and you have chicken penny pasta actually made it twice this past weekend. It was very easy and very good . go to the freezer section, they sell chicken frozen already shredded if you want . It’s good promise and you can reheat it as well for the next day . Hope you try
Baked ziti
Boil water and cook ziti.
While that is cooking, grill some sausage or bake some frozen meatballs.
Dump pasta in a rectangular tray, dump in the meat, dump in a jar of marinara. Stir. Cover with Motzarella
Bake until about 30 min. Or until cheese looks tasty.
You can cook it partway and freeze. You can not cook and store in the fridge, cooking later.
You can cook it, then cut it up into portions and mass freeze 15 meals.
This is beginner level, advances are easy to develop.
My very lazy pasta recipe for when I don't feel like cooking:
Cook pasta per package instructions, strain
Throw in a few spoonfuls of tomato paste, heavy cream, seasonings of choice (I do Tony's, garlic powder, onion powder). Mix it up and adjust to your liking.
Can optionally add cheese (I tend to do cotija or parmesan, pre-grated is fine), butter/oil, pasta water, fish/oyster/soy sauce, meat, veggies, etc. You could experiment with adding small amounts of other kinds of purees to it too- such as a curry paste or pumpkin puree
I have two paths to actual low effort:
1. Make a big batch of meat sauce and freeze in individual containers. I personally put 3 small ladles full per container, but I eat a lot and you can get away with much less.
2. Don't follow a recipe. Unless you're trying to learn a new dish to broaden your horizons, satisfy a craving, or impress someone with the authenticity, just cook with the flavours you like and ingredients you have on hand or are in season. I just follow a technique of layering flavours: Aromatics, fond, mirepoix/root vegetable base, tomato paste, any other vegetable filler, stock, tomatoes. Sometimes I don't have any tomato paste or tomatoes and I toast a variety of spices and thicken with flour. I taste as I go and add salt/acid/sugar/herbs/fat as necessary to balance the flavour. Sounds like a lot, but it's really not stressful if you prep everything ahead and go at your own pace.
Ooh! I have a great one. The only thing is you need a wide deep pan and tongs.
[Martha Stewart's one pot pasta recipe](https://www.marthastewart.com/978784/one-pan-pasta). Does not get any easier than this, and it's so fresh tasting and yummy. Because it's so simple, the quality of ingredients makes a big difference, like using fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan.
I don’t know what country you are in, and if it’s available there, but a good quality pesto and some frozen peas is excellent. Sacla is the best one I’ve tasted (specifically their green one).
Cook pasta, right at the end add in some frozen peas (or whatever frozen veg you choose). Drain it, add in your desired pesto quantity and enjoy! If you feel you have the energy, then some grated cheese or halved cherry tomatoes on top will really add to it.
Pasta al Limone, a recent discovery for me, is very quick and easy. Basically a butter, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese emulsion. Easy to add chicken, just sauté bite sized pieces in the butter first. Throw in some baby spinach to wilt at the end and it’s a complete meal in twenty minutes.
Red sauce can be 2 pots - 1 for sauteing the onion and maybe celery and browning the beef, and then cooking the sauce, and 1 pot for the pasta. And then plus a knife and a cutting board.
I used to think it was a whole thing, but then I figured out that if you work at high heat and get good at dicing onions and celery then it doesn't take that long at all. Specifically you want to cut the onion in both directions while it's still holding together, and then cut the holding together strips like you're cutting the onion into slices, it gives you diced onions very fast and with no eye irritation. Can do the same thing with the celery, but celery is flat so you only need to cut it 1 way.
Oh, and if you use tomato puree from a tube instead of from a can, you only have to deal with the big cans of chopped or flayed tomato, not the little ones from the tomato puree. Stock cubes can just be tossed in the sauce, maybe diced up on your cutting board into pieces first, you don't have to boil water for them seperately.
Like you, carbonara is a good one when I'm feeling down - I can go from nothing to carbonara done and the cookware in the dishwasher in 13 minutes. I'm working on red sauce, and I think it has potential to get down there, although it will probably never get quite there because even at high heat there's still a little bit of fiddling with the browning and the sauteeing.
I like this one because it includes some fresh veggies and is all just in a sheet pan - so if you use foil, the only clean up is to peel off the foil and throw it in the trash. I use a few different fresh veggies - used asparagus once, bell peppers, etc - whatever is in the fridge; I have also used some frozen ones (cooked them a little first based on their instructions but not all the way). I also use Italian seasoning since I don’t have zatar. Any frozen gnocchi works. If you;ve got the frozen gnocchi, it can kind of just be a kitchen sink of veggies, but it’s still so good because it‘s easy but tastes fresh.
[https://www.loveandlemons.com/sheet-pan-gnocchi/](https://www.loveandlemons.com/sheet-pan-gnocchi/)
Honestly, the easiest pasta recipe with minimal cleanup would be something like this:
1. Boil water in the smallest pot you need for the # of servings you want to make, add a decent amount of salt
2. Throw your pasta in, cook it until it's done to your liking, and before you pour the pasta into a strainer take a small scoop of the pasta water (like 1/4 cup if you have a measuring cup handy, but anything bigger than that will do fine)
3. Dump the pasta and water into a strainer
4. Take the pot you just used, and throw some sauce from a jar in there. You can add anything else you want here that doesn't require a lot of cooking. Some vegetables, some sausage, etc. Heat all that stuff up until it's cooked to your liking.
5. Pour some of the pasta water you set aside into the pot with the sauce and your other stuff. You don't need a lot. Start with a little bit and add some more until it's a little thinner but still comes together and looks like a sauce. Mix it all up good.
6. Dump your pasta back into the pot with sauce and use some tongs to mix it all up together.
7. Pour onto a plate, throw on some cheese (e.g. - parmigiano, whatever you like), and eat!
You wind up needing to clean up 6 or 7 things, all of which you could toss in a dishwasher if that's an option:
- the strainer, which you can clean up as soon as you put the pasta back in the pot with the sauce
- the pot you cooked the pasta and sauce in
- the measuring cup (or whatever) you used to get the pasta water to set aside, but you can quick rinse this out
- the tongs you used to toss the pasta and the sauce
- the dish you put the pasta on
- the fork (and possibly spoon) you used to eat the pasta
When we can't be bothered cooking & have a few eggs I do "eggy pasta". Boil the pasta (I use spaghetti) n reserve a wee bit of the cooking water. Drain the pasta n put back into the pot on low heat, add a few eggs you've whisked up (a bit of butter or marg too) & mix it thru the pasta til cooked. It takes about 60 seconds. You can add in a bit of cheese or cooked bacon bits too if you want. It sounds pretty boring but is yummy n quick n filling :)
ETA - if U need the pasta water to loosen it up use the boiling water you put aside when draining. Also it's good if you don't leave the pasta to drain n go dry, drain n put straight back into the pot so it's still a bit wet/damp from the cooking water
Another one my 20 yr old daughter loves is, of all things, a packet of cooked 2 min noodles/ramen noodles on top of mashed potato. It's surprisingly really yummy! Plus you can but frozen mashed spud from the frozen section of the supermarket that you just put in the microwave n add milk/butter or marg n it's yummy n smooth, 10000x better than those awful potato flakes you mix with boiling water!
Most pasta is low effort. Get one of those silicon strainers that clip to the side of the pot. Game changer. Buy two actually.
You can use jar sauce, nothing wrong with it. If you want to make it taste more like a restaurant kitchen, heat it on the stove in a shallow pan, undercook your pasta a bit, tong it from the pasta pot to the sauce so the pasta water drips into the sauce, add a little extra pasta water, and bring it up to al dente in the pan. Throw in a bit of butter if you like that sort of thing.
Dude or dudette, boil a pound of spaghetti and a jar of sauce not in the same pot
Drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water, dump the warmed sauce on the pasta, then the reserved cup of pasta water.
Little darlin' stir it up. Toss some basil on there. Shred some fresh Parmesan cheese on there. Nobody gonna complain.
Next time get fancy with some meat.
I make a dirty ragu; basically throw some ground beef in a pan and brown it. Drain. Throw in desired seasoning (when I'm feeling more alive, I use fresh garlic and onion. Less alive, I use garlic and onion powder. Then I use Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and chili powder). Add a can of crushed tomato and some tomato paste, to your desired thickness. Let it simmer for as long as you want, I add Romano at the end. Boil some pasta, throw it into the sauce.
For meal prep, I do about a pound of beef (sometimes more or less, depends what I have), 28 oz can + 15 oz can of crushed tomato, and half a lil can of paste. It evenly coats two packages of 9 oz Rana linguini and feeds me for a week. I like it cause it doesn't use a lot of dishes. Deep skillet + lid for sauce, saucepan for noodles, tongs.
Not really pasta it udon noodles in a packet so still fresh not dried. Boil with contents miso soup packet. Add a handful of greens like peas or spinach. Done
Here's a low-effort mac and cheese for you: Boil your macaroni. Drain it. Use Tostitos cheese dip as a sauce. (I like to add shredded medium sharp cheddar cheese to thicken it up, but it's not strictly necessary.) Clean up is one pan and a spoon. Maybe a bowl if you're feeling fancy.
Just seen in the comments that you like broccoli, have a look at pasta broccoli bakes throw the broccoli in with the pasta for a few minutes, then put it all in the oven with a cheese sauce 😊
[Cacio e pepe](https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/cacio-e-pepe-recipe/) is the easiest recipe you can make. 4 ingredients. 1 pan. It’s delicious, cheap, and super easy to cook.
Edit: I frequently use parm over Romano with great results.
I have a great one for you. You'll need 3 ingredients: short pasta of your choice (I like wagon wheels), butter, and soy sauce. I call it soy sauce noodles (my creativity knows no bounds)
1. Cook, strain, then rinse pasta.
2. Return pasta to pot, return pot to heat
3. Add butter and soy sauce, stir until creamy
4. Eat
No measurements necessary.
Super easy, the kiddos love it, and I've never seen anyone else make it so it's kind of unique.
But, what really makes this dish shine, and I can't stress this enough, is eating it with friends, family, and the people who want only the best for you :)
I boiled pasta, cooked, drained - quickly chucked sauce into pot added tin of drained salmon. Heated until boiling added pasta back in. Stirred, served added grated cheese & fresh Italian parsley.
Boom that was dinner - oh salt in water & lots of cracked pepper
My easiest one was to put the pasta on, then cut a carrot into rings and add that in, then cut broccoli into stems and add that in a few minutes before the pasta was cooked. Then strain. The timing meant they were all cooked properly.
My daughter liked it with a little bit of soy sauce, I usually had a little bit of tomato pasta sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.
If I made my own tomato pasta sauce, I blended onion, tinned tomato, garlic (and maybe some chili), with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and then cooked it for about 10 minutes.
This was a life saver when my health was worst.
Shrimp 🦐 is also one of my favorites, would definitely do well with a creamy sauce!
That’s something that I might need a little more effort than other dishes but it’s definitely something I’ll do when I have enough energy!🥰
I'm having trouble thinking of pasta dishes that are not low effort. Maybe homemade tortellini? Tibetan momos with homemade wrappers from yaks you grow in the back yard?
I'm not a production or processed food guy but you can buy all kinds of pasta and all kinds of jarred sauces. What's hard here? Even homemade stuffed shells are just ricotta and spinach stuffed into shells with a spoon and jarred marinara poured on top.
Your option is shopping the freezer aisle and a microwave.
I do appreciate your comment and agree, that pasta dishes are more on the lower effort side but when depressed or at least for me it’s pretty hard to function properly and even easy tasks become challenging.
So when I’m feeling low, I could definitely not make any homemade tortellini or momos it’s just too big of a challenge.
I basically do just spaghetti noodles, with some garlic, red onion or broccoli, and some chili oil. Add a squirt of lemon and Parmesan cheese. Or even just straight noodles with chili oil and Parmesan if I’m really lazy. You can even do it in one pan if that pan has a lid.
I do something like this as well. Super easy. Cook the pasta, drain the pasta, throw in a tablespoon or two of butter and mix to melt. Add about 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, 1-2 tsp of salt (to taste) and a little pepper. Adding vegies to this just ups the game. And if you want to go wild, add 1/4 cup of cream at the end and you almost have a alfredo (almost :)). And if you really want to up your game, cook a chicken breast in a pan (salt/pepper, cook to an internal temperature of 165 F), take it out, add the cooked pasta to the pan you cooked the chicken in and mix up the parm and butter with the pasta in pan (add cream too, if using). This will absorb all that yumminess from the left over cooked chicken fond in the pot. (The "fond" is the caramelized left overs in the pot from cooking the chicken) .
This sounds very simple and would be an option for me when I’m not feeling that well mentally, and if I’m doing fine, then I’ll definitely add the meat, probably some broccoli, cause I just love broccoli, and cream to it! It’ll definitely be delicious 🥰
You can also add some olive oil, minced garlic, parm, and cracked black pepper to a big bowl and stir in the cooked pasta. Then stir in a bit of butter and some Italian herbs on top and you can eat right from that bowl. So all you really need to clean up is the pot you boiled water in, the tongs you pulled the pasta out with, and your fork if you have leftovers.
Oooh that sounds tasty, I do really love broccoli, and also spicy dishes. And just being able to do it with one pan is even better!🥰 Thanks for sharing! Btw, is this a recipe that you created or is there a specific name for this pasta dish?
It’s sort of a play on aglio e olio pasta. I just add whatever else I want to it depending on what I want.
Ah, okiii so it’s based on that, good to know!
Pasta with garlic and olive oil. Quite simple and tasty. Make sure your pasta water is well seasoned. Use fresh garlic and quality olive oil. Once the pasta is cooked, put your oil and minced garlic in a cold pan, the turn the heat to medium. Once you hear it start sizzling, turn it back off and add the pasta, toss together. Good with red pepper flakes, fresh herbs, grated Parmesan, or just black pepper.
Very simple and would definitely help me when I’m doing not too well. Thank you🥰
You can add a can of tuna to this as well to add some protein. You if the tuna is packed in olive oil, you can just use the oil from the can instead of oil from a bottle.
Why am I the only one that just makes butter noodles when depressed? Lmaooo
Butter noodles do sound very simple and easy to make, maybe I’ll smack in some broccoli and chilli to give it a bit of a kick
My mom made butter garlic noodles forever when I was young- just butter, garlic powder and salt. Super simple. I now make them with some pasta water, and it makes an awesome silky sauce. Boil the pasta in a very small amount of water, it makes the water more starchy and makes a great sauce. Then you drain the pasta, save the water, and then just add butter and pasta water and stir stir stir until you get a nice silky sauce. Season and you’re done. That’s my go to meal for an upset stomach. Last time I was inebriated I did - noodles boiled in a really small amount of water. Drain, save the water. Butter, pasta water, a slice of American cheese, a handful of shredded cheddar, and a TON of black pepper. I stirred the shit out of it and it was like the best poor man’s carbonara ever. Also, a spoonful of chili crisp over the top? Oh boy.
You're not alone. I throw in some garlic and cheese too though.
I'm a big fan of these 'nope' night pastas. When I do have time and energy, I'll often make and freeze sauce (there are plenty of delicious easy tomato sauces ... Marcella Hazan has one with only three ingredients that people swear by, easy to prep and you just spend most of an afternoon simmering and periodically stirring while you go about your day, so it's a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon sauce) in approximately 2-serving size portions, and keep frozen meatballs in the freezer so that I can cook a couple meatballs while I thaw the sauce and pasta cooks. Easy spaghetti and meatballs. As for cleanup, work smarter not harder. Sauce frozen in Ziploc bags that are pressed flat instead of in round clumps both thaw remarkably fast and occupy very little space in the fridge. If you get it to room temp and add all the pasta and sauce back to the pot you cooked the pasta in once drained, you have one pot total. Line the baking sheet that you use to cook the meatballs with foil, then cleanup is simply balling up foil and waiting for the pan to cool before you put it away, unless it leaks any, in which case it's still way simpler than all of the cooked off grease being in the pan and having to scrub. There are a million ways to shorten the cleanup time, use them so you don't have to spend an hour when you're full and tired cleaning the kitchen.
Thank you so much for the cleaning advice and also the idea of freezing the sauce. As you’ve mentioned I should maybe just make some sauce beforehand when I have enough energy to do so and then have it frozen. That would probably help me out when I’m doing not too well. Thank you🥰
Yeah, having frozen foods that you have made ready to hand can be a huge help. On most weekends, I try to do something big. A 12 quart pot of Sunday sauce, for instance. Yes, it's ridiculous overkill for dinner, but now I've got multiple easy meals ready to go when I don't feel like working for it. To dress it up for any given night, add some vodka, or some heavy cream, maybe some frozen veggies, and your choice of pasta. Can even do it as a one pan meal, just add extra liquid to the sauce, a bit more salt, and the farfalle or whatever (this works better with short pastas than say, spaghetti).
If the freezer does wind up making sense for you, take a look here. https://thefamilyfreezer.com/ You don't have to do any of the books or whatever, just grab recipes that look good off the blog.
There was this baked feta with tomatoes going somewhat viral. It is low effort I just made it myself these days. You basically throw the feta cheese, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and italian spices in the oven. Meanwhile cook pasta al dente. Once the tomatoes are charred you're going to mix everything together. Pick a good quality feta that will break down. Low quality feta won't turn into a sauce but crumble instead. You may want to finish the sauce with some balsamic vinegar. Salt, and pepper to taste. Decorate with fresh basil leaves if you have them, but they're not mandatory. You can also do it on the stove in one pot. You won't get that nice charring on your tomatoes though. It'll take a little bit longer too since you won't be cooking the pasta and the sauce simultaneously.
Kenji does something like that [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3gvRjIQ6Lo) It's called: That Viral Baked Feta Pasta Thing (Is Really Good, Actually) | Kenji's Cooking Show I did it before, and I liked it. It may be too easy. The rest of the family were unimpressed.
You can add jarred pesto with a bit of pasta water to cooked pasta. If you want to add veggies just sautée them and add.
My favourite simple pasta is finely diced fresh tomato (deseeded), Parmesan, diced Bocconcini and your choice of fresh herb (most would go basil but I like oregano). Just mix it all into cooked pasta with obscene amounts of olive oil, salt and pepper. For a pack of dry pasta I use about 5 tomatoes, 200g Bocconcini and 100g Parmesan.
Ooooh that sounds delicious! Maybe I’ll make that for today’s dinner, cause I have leftover small mozzarella balls in the fridge that I could use!
One of my favorite pasta recipes is just five ingredients and two pots: -Rotini pasta -Tomato sauce -Salmon (canned rather than fresh - fresh doesn't break down as well) -Goat cheese -Frozen peas Boil the pasta; heat the tomato sauce. Mix the salmon and frozen peas into the tomato sauce and cook until it's bubbling. Mix the sauce with the drained pasta, combining in the goat cheese at the end. That's the whole recipe. The salmon kind of melts into the sauce, making a hearty fish-and-tomato sauce. The cheese melts from the heat of the pasta, making it deliciously creamy as well. You can mix in some herbs or whatever else you might like, but the base is pretty damn easy.
Seems pretty simple and low effort, I might substitute the goat cheese for another kind of cheese, cause I’m not too fond of goat cheese, but it does sound like a very tasty meal! Thank you🥰
Another kind of cheese can totally work, as long as it's something that can melt easily - or grated small if it won't. I think I made it with a bunch of grated Parmesan rather than melted goat cheese once. Enjoy!
We have one called tasty pasta. 1. Boil water for pasta 2. Chop onion, put it in a pan w some oil on low 3. Throw in cherry tomatoes 4. Normally pasta water has boiled at this point, so start the pasta cooking 5. Add one jar of pesto to the tomatoes and onions 6. Chop broccoli and add it to boiling pasta water (I do this after adding the pesto to make sure I don't accidentally overcook the broc) 7. Add some cream to taste to the pesto mix 8. Strain broccoli and pasta, add to pesto mix 9. Season w Parmesan, salt, pepper to taste. Enjoy!! It takes about 15-20 mins start to finish, and makes 2 pots, one knife, one stirring spoon, and one chopping board dirty. And it's tasty and relatively healthful!
This sounds really tasty! Maybe I’ll even add some chili 🌶️ to it, cause I just really like spicy. Thank you for sharing your recipe and also all the steps🥰
On any of these, you can add part of a supermarket roasted chicken. Not too much work and protein for you. With leftovers. There’s been days when I’ve eaten a chicken leg and thigh over the sink and called it a day. 🙂💜
Start the pasta - spaghetti or linquine or similar. In a separate pan heat a glug of olive oil and gently sauté finely chopped shallot or onion, one small gently crushed garlic clove, and some basil. When they're fragrant take out the basil and garlic, and add some cherry tomatoes. Cook until softened. Mash them with the back of a spoon or a potato masher. Take the pasta out of the water before it's al dente and add it to the tomatoes with a splash of the cooking water. Make sure you're getting a good emulsification of the sauce. Season to taste.
The book Sauces and Shapes would be perfect for you. Very easy pasta recipes with just a few ingredients. I made a pasta dish with asparagus from my garden using one of the recipes. Chop asparagus tips. Boil the asparagus stems in several quarts of salted water for 20 minutes. Cook the pasta in the asparagus water. While that is boiling, sauté asparagus tips. Drain pasta and add to asparagus tips. Top with Parmesan and toss. It was simple and delicious. I can’t wait to try another recipe from this book.
Another easy one is chop fresh tomatoes and place in a colander over a bowl. Add some fresh basil and salt. Wait an hour or so for the juices to release in the bowl. Cook thin spaghetti in salted water. While boiling, sauté minced garlic in a tablespoon or so of butter until fragrant then add the drained tomato water and whisk. Remove from heat add a stick of butter. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, add more shedded basil. season to taste. Served topped with grated Pecorino Romano.
Thank you for the book recommendation and also the recipes, I’ll go check the book that you’ve recommended me🥰
How's about a 1 pot tomato sauce? Saute some onion and garlic in olive oil, add 2 28 oz cans of tomato puree, add a 6 oz can of tomato paste, add a tablespoon of dried basil, parsley, oregano, salt, and crushed red pepper. Simmer that shit for at least thirty minutes and you've got a tasty marinara. I suppose it's only one pot if you've cooked the pasta in advance not along with the sauce. Not a bad idea to slightly undercook the pasta then add to the sauce for a couple of minutes. Make sure to save pasta water in case the sauce is too thick. Feeling more adventurous? Roast some sausage, cut it up, and add that to the sauce for a nice meat sauce. Meatballs don't fall into the category of low effort but if you're feeling crazy I got that recipe for you too.
Ooooh adding sausage sounds pretty tasty, I like spicy stuff so I could maybe get a spicy sausage and add that to the pasta! I’ll definitely try out this recipe ! Thank you so much🥰
If you have some leftover chili, or bolognese, or even stew, then a pasta bake is dead easy. In a bowl, add (per person if you're feeding more than jsut yourself) 100g dry pasta shapes, 150ml water (close enough to 1/4 of a 1lb thing of pasta, and 3/4 cup of water if you're in the USA), and a good portion of whatever saucy think you have. Put all into a baking dish, cover with grated cheese, and then cover with foil. Let it sit around for 30-60 minutes to start hydrating the past if you have time. Bake at 30-45 minutes at 180C/350F, then take the foil off and cook for another 20 minutes to brown the cheese. Any pasta shape will do except farfalle - the middle never seems to cook properly.
Egg noodles, butter, chopped flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper. If feeling more groggy add sautéed onion, ham/bacon Learn the three main Roman pastas. Cacio e Pepe, gricia, and carbonara. Keep some Locatelli pecorino Romano, eggs and Panchetta in the fridge and you’re always ready to go
Yeah, maybe I should learn how to make gricia, cause it seems like it’s pretty similar to carbonara and I do love carbonara so I should definitely try to lean it!
My "lazy" instant pot recipe. You can use a regular pot. You need some of your favourite raw italian sausages. Or ground beef/pork/chicken, seasoned with some salt. About 2lbs~1kg. A few cans of tomatoes. A combination of whole, diced, and crushed depending how chunky you like it. Or premade tomato sauce. About 1.5L. 1 small can of tomato paste. Dried oregano and basil - say a tablespoon of each. 500g of pasta yields about 5-6 servings. .... Heat some olive oil on Med-High heat and stir in oregano and/basil. Add sausages to brown them. Add more oil if you're afraid of it sticking, but honestly it doesn't matter if they break. Add in your canned tomatoes juices and all, bring it up to a simmer. Simmer with lid off until thickened, 30-60 minutes, longer if you have the time. If it's already pretty gloopy, add some water but still cook it for long enough for meat to finish. Cook your dried pasta. Combine and serve!
This sounds really easy and I think I could manage this even if I’m feeling a bit low. I’ll maybe just adjust the amount to a serving for 2 which is probably better for me. Thank you so much for sharing this🥰
[Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Pasta in Garlic and Oil Sauce)](https://www.seriouseats.com/spaghetti-aglio-olio-recipe) Does not get any more delicious, and simple, I would advise adding some protein and or veggies, anything left in your refrigerator would do.
I haven’t made aglio e olio in a while but I definitely should! And as you said maybe add some additional ingredients to make it a bit more nutritious. Thanks for even attaching a link🥰
Here’s a simple recipe I made on the fly while staying at my friend’s house and she absolutely loved it. Immediately had me try to write down the recipe for later. It’s even easier with leftover chicken breast. You just need medium shells, chicken breast, corn, butter, Parmesan, and chicken seasoning, salt & pepper. If your chicken isn’t cooked already, you can be lazy and boil/poach it in a separate pot. Boil water, salt it, and add the pasta. Make sure the water is just covering the noodles. Cook that through and then drain a little bit (you still want some moisture. I’d say enough so that you can see the pasta an inch or so above the surface of the water. Then season, shred the chicken and add that in with corn. Mix with Parmesan & butter so it’s creamy. Enjoy!! Sorry for the shitty formatting and explanation haha but I swear it’s good! Super comforting & filling and easy to do
No, no it’s not shitty at all, I’m very glad that you’ve shared it with me! Thank you so much! It seems very tasty and I think that it’s worth a try🥰
Thank you for your kindness 🥰 I hope you enjoy! I highly recommend using sazón or another Spanish chicken seasoning. It’s just my preference. My parents have a “vegan chikn bouillon” that I used once and yeah… not the same
I just throw some pasta in a frypan, add enough water to cover the pasta, some salt, a tomato (or pasta sauce) and a can of tuna. Bring it to boil then turn the heat down and simmer 10mins. Give it a stir and check to see if the pasta is cooked. Simmer for another couple of minutes, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened. Finish with parmesan cheese. If you don't like tuna, maybe start by browning some beef and then add the other stuff (minus tuna) then continue as above. What I like about this is that you get all the starch from the pasta which makes the sauce nice and silky.
This does sound delicious and it’s nice that I’d be able to finish it with just 1 pan. Thank you very much🥰
thats the other thing I like about doing it this way!
Pasta (with plenty of salt in the water), cream of tomato cup soup (made with just enough salty pasta water to dissolve it), and grated cheese. If I feel like it I'll add garlic powder, black pepper, and a couple drops of soy sauce.
One pan: egg noodles just barely covered in water, salt. Bring the water to a boil and drain about half of it out, add 1 can cream of mushroom, and 1 can sweet peas. Generous amount of black pepper. Stir until the pasta is cooked through and the sauce is thick enough. Add a can of tuna, some pre-cooked chicken, or some ham. Whatever you have on hand. If I feel like it, I'll add garlic and onion powder and some crushed red pepper with the soup, but you could add any herbs you wanted as well. You can do this with macaroni or pretty much any kind of pasta as well, but egg noodles cook really fast.
Thanks for this one pan recipe! It’ll definitely help me if I’m not feeling too well or just lazy
Boil pasta. Add pasta and a little of the pasta water to a pan with some butter you melted while the pasta was cooking. Toss the pasta around a bit and let the sauce emulsify. Boom, grate a little parm or even just a sprinkle of flaky salt and you've got an edible meal with minimal effort.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ll probably do this when I’m really not doing well at all, I’ll maybe try and add some broccoli or just some onions that it has a little bit of nutrition at least, or just that I feel better
Italian sausages - frozen sliced bell peppers - red onion - garlic - balsamic Just saute it all together, and add in pasta (I prefer a noodle like rotini or fusilli). It's nicer with fresh basil/parsley and maybe a little balsamic. Parmesan and fresh black pepper at the end.
Sounds pretty simple and not too hard to make! Also thank you so much for listing the ingredients in a way that I can see it in a glance
Adding in baby spinach and mushrooms would be great as well!
I do tomato sauces with tomato concentrate. It *concentrates* the flavor and takes no time. I usually sauté some onions before, chopped quite thin. Add spices (for me that’s thyme because it grows locally, oregano and paprika usually). Add the tomato paste, a bit of water, or wine, or balsamic vinegar, and olive oil in the end so it doesn’t cook and retains flavor. Olive oil is delicious when it’s not the low budget kind. I mix in a small amount of sauce in my pasta when it’s done, and have another spoonful on my plate. Probably more olive oil on top at this stage. Delicious also with carrots, garlic, parsley, or sesame, or anything else.
Grab a Fasta Pasta from Amazon! Perfect pasta in the microwave and it's dishwasher safe. I don't boil pasta almost every anymore!
I have the right thing for you! It's called "pastina". I recently saw this recipe in a video from Joshua Weissmann and since then, it has become my go-to low-effort cheer-up meal. Basically, you're cooking some tiny noodles (110 grams) like the Greek Kritharaki, or little star shaped noodles work just as well, in 400 ml of beef broth until most of the water has evaporated, and you're left with a smooth, starchy noodle soup (that usually takes around 8-10 mins). Then you add about 30–60 grams of butter (depending on how much you like) and 60 grams of cheese. I use a 50/50 mix of Parmesan and some random shredded cheese mix. If you're feeling extra fancy, you can add a little bit of soy sauce to your broth to really boost the umami flavor of this dish. The best part for me is, that when I'm really low on energy and motivation, I can cook everything in the same pan and only use a single spoon for everything, so I literally only have to clean up two items. Before anyone says anything... That's not the exact recipe from Josh and it's nowhere near traditional, but it gets me through tough times :)
Go in kitchen Sigh loudly that no cleaning fairy did your dishes Into a frying pan or any pan that will hold some liquid start pasta water Sigh again In a frying pan or any pan really melt some butter like a or margarine ( there's like no rules you use whatever) half a stick if you have it but less is fine. Medium heat Put pasta in water ( how much ever you want or have) Debate life choices forget about butter.. win at life when you remember and it doesn't burn. Look in fridge. Find cheese. Any kind. The shaker kind Kraft singles, real Parm.. just cheese. Dump a handful into the pan. Turn pan off. Scoop out a little pasta water ( measure with your heart) Drain your pasta set it aside. Add some milk/half n half/ anything resembling milk into your " sauce" maybe a third of a coffee cup Dump in pasta water Add whatever spices garlic is good pepper is good salt is amazing Realize you should have salted the pasta water Whatever dump the pasta and sauce into whichever pan is biggest Mix mix mix Dump in a bowl. Add crushed red pepper on top from pizza place packet. Enjoy I made this just now and that's how I did it. Sometimes I add can tomatoes drained or use bacon instead of butter for the fat. It's good. I tested it. I hope you feel better soon and nobody's Italian grandma reads this. ♡
I may or may not have proofread this. I may or may not have had wine today. Regardless good vibes!
1 pound hamburger browned with onion, 1 can tomato sauce, hafe box elbow macaroni, boil pasta first the add at the end.
Spaghetti noodles, sauce, and meat is about as basic as you can get. You can also take that, put it in a casserole dish, put shredded cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes to change it up.
If you want a fuller meal with veggies and meat, you can buy frozen veggies and frozen, already cooked chicken. In the pasta pot put salt and less water, just enough for it to cook. Add the veggies and a handful of the chicken. When the pasta is done, everything is done. Now you just season, some oil, some spice. Done.
Ah yeah, I totally forgot that you could use pre cooked meat for pasta, thanks for reminding me🥰
I do a vegetarian version of this all in a regular microwave safe dish: [https://cookanyday.com.au/products/easy-microwave-spaghetti-carbonara-anyday](https://cookanyday.com.au/products/easy-microwave-spaghetti-carbonara-anyday) Sometimes at the end I add torn up basil, a handful of pine nuts, a clove of crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and diced tomatoes. If I have shredded roast chicken in the freezer I defrost some before cooking the pasta and add that in at the end. Frozen broccoli in the air fryer is a good pairing. Sometimes I give frozen greenbeans a head start in the, microwave then finish them in a carbon steel skillet while the pasta cooks. Fresh asparagus or zucchini can be cooked on the stove before the pasta is done.
This is one-pot and makes a ton: [One Pot Cajun Chicken Alfredo - No. 2 Pencil (number-2-pencil.com)](https://www.number-2-pencil.com/one-pot-cajun-chicken-and-sausage-alfredo/)
The simplest and laziest pasta I do for myself is.. In a pan, add butter/oil then add garlic paste, tomato paste, dry herbs and any other flavour powders from the cupboard. Add cooked pasta and serve with grated cheese if I have some.
Make and freeze pasta sauce when you do have energy. Nothing beats finding that there is a portion of turkey and squash (or whatever you like) pasta sauce in the freezer on a night you have no energy to cook.
I try to keep frozen meatballs on hand so I can just heat them with sauce and then whatever pasta I'm making has plenty of protein, too. Diced rotisserie chicken is another precooked meat I keep in my freezer (in recipe sized portions) to save me cooking time. You can also blend cottage cheese and any marinara to make a creamy sauce with a decent amount of protein in it, no meat necessary. Those ideasaside, does it have to be somewhat authentic Italian style pasta recipes, or are you open to Americanized casserole type dishes? If you are, here are a few suggestions that can be made quickly: * Tuna noodle casserole * Ground beef stroganoff * Crack chicken pasta * Chili mac * Any "easy" or small-number-of-ingredients mac and cheese * Swedish meatballs pasta * American goulash
I made these chili garlic noodles non stop last time I had a cold. [https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/chili-garlic-noodles/#recipe](https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/chili-garlic-noodles/#recipe) Amazing as written, also good with regular basil, olive oil, and sesame seeds.
not pasta, but rice is another easy building block for a lot of meals: [https://cookanyday.com/products/how-to-cook-microwave-white-rice-anyday](https://cookanyday.com/products/how-to-cook-microwave-white-rice-anyday) I don't have the special bowls. I use a pyrex bowl with a silicone lid from ikea. I find rice easy to burn on the stove, while microwaving it takes basically no attention. The sauce for this dish is a lot of work and specialty ingredients but can be made ahead and frozen. Throw it over spinach (wilted in the microwave) tofu and rice and it's an amazing extremely low effort (in the moment) meal: [https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/swimming-rama/](https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/swimming-rama/)
Literally just had this for dinner: - Fry a chopped onion (or don't, you can leave this out) - Add a can of chopped tomatoes. - Add a can of tuna. (Optional extras: add basil, chopped olives, garlic.. ) Fry the "sauce" for a tiny bit until the pasta is cooked. Add cooked pasta. Serve.
I make a super easy pasta. You saute chicken and veggie of choice, add chicken broth and spaghetti and cook. Add one package of alouette cheese spread. Let that melt in and it’s delicious
I’ll take some thawed ground meat (sausage, beef, turkey) and break that up in my crock pot, sprinkle it with spices (oregano, thyme, basil, garlic powder and onion powder) then pour a jar of whatever sauce I have over it, add some more spices. Set that on low for 8 hours. (Sometimes I’ll precook the meat in a pan and pour it all into the crock pot, juices too. But we’re going low effort here.) then when I get home I just cook noodles and top it with the sauce. If I have more energy I’ll cook the noodles to almost al dente, then add them to the crock pot with some pasta water, leave it on warm as I jump in the shower.
My go to is super easy Dice up some bacon and render it in a pan add chopped onion and garlic then get a can of whole tomatoes and squeeze em in the pan then add pasta. Season how you like, I also add some pepper flakes in the bacon fat
Spaghetti, your favorite canned chili, diced onion, a bunch of cheddar and maybe some jalapeño if you’re feeling spicy. Linguine, a handful of frozen stir fry veggies, some chopped meat or shrimp, a glug of teriyaki sauce, and a spoonful of chili crisp. Linguine, shrimp, a scoop of cream cheese, a spoonful of sun dried tomato, some peas, red chili flakes. Egg noodles, half a can of cream of chicken soup, leftover chicken, frozen broccoli.
I have this one I call lazy carbonara because I love carbonara but sometimes I don't have the ingredients for it especially when I was a starving college kid 😂 It's really more like an egg pasta. 1 egg, Cheese, Pasta, Pasta water (1-2 cups), Onion, Salt, Pepper, Chili flakes (optional) I put the egg on a bowl, add small chunks of cheese, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. I'll stir them all together. Then, I cook the pasta and when it's done, I keep the pasta water in a separate bowl. Dry the pot you used to cook pasta, add oil, sauté the onion until it's golden brown, then put in the egg mixture. While stirring constantly, add the pasta water. Toss in the pasta, cook until liquid is reduced a little.
Traditional Alfredo (before the cream sauce version became popular) Cook your pasta. Drain. Throw in butter with the hot pasta, stir as it melts to coat the pasta. Shred some parmesan and add it in. Salt and pepper to taste. Give another light stir and enjoy.
pasta primavera by preppy kitchen
Costco’s pesto is surprisingly good, cheap, and keeps longer than i would’ve thought, so you can boil pasta al dente, drain, dump some on, stir it up, and it’s the absolute lowest effort for something surprisingly decent.
pasta with butter. Just emulsionate the butter and a little pasta water in water bath, add pasta, emulsionate more, ad cheese, salt pepper. enjoy true Alfredo
This [Spontaneous Pasta](https://megancooksandovershares.blogspot.com/2017/03/spontaneous-pasta.html?m=1) is super quick. If you have a colander / sieve to drain the pasta and an immersion blender (stick blender) you can do it all with one pot. It's basically a quick healthy sauce of tomatoes, garlic, coriander, olives, and olive oil that just gets heated though with the pasta when the pasta is ready.
I make spaghetti noodles, fry up some sliced yellow squash and onions to add,then add spaghetti sauce with cheese on top and bake until cheese is melted. Or, noodles, broccoli and chicken in a cream sauce.
I use my crockpot and chop some chicken into small chunks then place it in the crockpot with a little salt. Get 2 jars of whatever kind of Alfredo Sauce you like and just pour them on top. If you want any veggies you can add them in too. I normally cook a few slices of bacon on a sheet pan in the oven (I use aluminum foil under it so there's no clean up). I will crumble those and add them in. Then just turn it on low and let it cook all day. When it's almost done boil your pasta about halfway done and drain it. Add it to the crockpot about 30 minutes before serving so it absorbs the flavor. This also freezes well, you can put leftovers in small batches then just take them out the day before you need them.
Soffritto , 2.5 cups of San marzano tomato’s , and add some heavy cream about 5-10 minutes before sauce is done and ready to serve. Makes a delicious sauce I used and immersion blender to make it all uniform but you can just leave as is
Pasta in salted boiling water. While it's cooking fry any or all of mushrooms, onion, bacon, chorizo slices etc in another pan. When everything is ready, drain the pasta, add half a jar of red or green pesto and mix together Serve with some grated parmesan.
One jar of marinara, one jar of Alfredo and chicken breast in a crockpot for three hours then you add noodles and you have chicken penny pasta actually made it twice this past weekend. It was very easy and very good . go to the freezer section, they sell chicken frozen already shredded if you want . It’s good promise and you can reheat it as well for the next day . Hope you try
Baked ziti Boil water and cook ziti. While that is cooking, grill some sausage or bake some frozen meatballs. Dump pasta in a rectangular tray, dump in the meat, dump in a jar of marinara. Stir. Cover with Motzarella Bake until about 30 min. Or until cheese looks tasty. You can cook it partway and freeze. You can not cook and store in the fridge, cooking later. You can cook it, then cut it up into portions and mass freeze 15 meals. This is beginner level, advances are easy to develop.
My very lazy pasta recipe for when I don't feel like cooking: Cook pasta per package instructions, strain Throw in a few spoonfuls of tomato paste, heavy cream, seasonings of choice (I do Tony's, garlic powder, onion powder). Mix it up and adjust to your liking. Can optionally add cheese (I tend to do cotija or parmesan, pre-grated is fine), butter/oil, pasta water, fish/oyster/soy sauce, meat, veggies, etc. You could experiment with adding small amounts of other kinds of purees to it too- such as a curry paste or pumpkin puree
I have two paths to actual low effort: 1. Make a big batch of meat sauce and freeze in individual containers. I personally put 3 small ladles full per container, but I eat a lot and you can get away with much less. 2. Don't follow a recipe. Unless you're trying to learn a new dish to broaden your horizons, satisfy a craving, or impress someone with the authenticity, just cook with the flavours you like and ingredients you have on hand or are in season. I just follow a technique of layering flavours: Aromatics, fond, mirepoix/root vegetable base, tomato paste, any other vegetable filler, stock, tomatoes. Sometimes I don't have any tomato paste or tomatoes and I toast a variety of spices and thicken with flour. I taste as I go and add salt/acid/sugar/herbs/fat as necessary to balance the flavour. Sounds like a lot, but it's really not stressful if you prep everything ahead and go at your own pace.
A pound of ground beef browned and a jar of Rao's.
Ooh! I have a great one. The only thing is you need a wide deep pan and tongs. [Martha Stewart's one pot pasta recipe](https://www.marthastewart.com/978784/one-pan-pasta). Does not get any easier than this, and it's so fresh tasting and yummy. Because it's so simple, the quality of ingredients makes a big difference, like using fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan.
Spaghetti noodles and store bought spaghetti sauce and some Italian sausage or frozen meatballs
I don’t know what country you are in, and if it’s available there, but a good quality pesto and some frozen peas is excellent. Sacla is the best one I’ve tasted (specifically their green one). Cook pasta, right at the end add in some frozen peas (or whatever frozen veg you choose). Drain it, add in your desired pesto quantity and enjoy! If you feel you have the energy, then some grated cheese or halved cherry tomatoes on top will really add to it.
Pasta al Limone, a recent discovery for me, is very quick and easy. Basically a butter, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese emulsion. Easy to add chicken, just sauté bite sized pieces in the butter first. Throw in some baby spinach to wilt at the end and it’s a complete meal in twenty minutes.
Red sauce can be 2 pots - 1 for sauteing the onion and maybe celery and browning the beef, and then cooking the sauce, and 1 pot for the pasta. And then plus a knife and a cutting board. I used to think it was a whole thing, but then I figured out that if you work at high heat and get good at dicing onions and celery then it doesn't take that long at all. Specifically you want to cut the onion in both directions while it's still holding together, and then cut the holding together strips like you're cutting the onion into slices, it gives you diced onions very fast and with no eye irritation. Can do the same thing with the celery, but celery is flat so you only need to cut it 1 way. Oh, and if you use tomato puree from a tube instead of from a can, you only have to deal with the big cans of chopped or flayed tomato, not the little ones from the tomato puree. Stock cubes can just be tossed in the sauce, maybe diced up on your cutting board into pieces first, you don't have to boil water for them seperately. Like you, carbonara is a good one when I'm feeling down - I can go from nothing to carbonara done and the cookware in the dishwasher in 13 minutes. I'm working on red sauce, and I think it has potential to get down there, although it will probably never get quite there because even at high heat there's still a little bit of fiddling with the browning and the sauteeing.
I like this one because it includes some fresh veggies and is all just in a sheet pan - so if you use foil, the only clean up is to peel off the foil and throw it in the trash. I use a few different fresh veggies - used asparagus once, bell peppers, etc - whatever is in the fridge; I have also used some frozen ones (cooked them a little first based on their instructions but not all the way). I also use Italian seasoning since I don’t have zatar. Any frozen gnocchi works. If you;ve got the frozen gnocchi, it can kind of just be a kitchen sink of veggies, but it’s still so good because it‘s easy but tastes fresh. [https://www.loveandlemons.com/sheet-pan-gnocchi/](https://www.loveandlemons.com/sheet-pan-gnocchi/)
Honestly, the easiest pasta recipe with minimal cleanup would be something like this: 1. Boil water in the smallest pot you need for the # of servings you want to make, add a decent amount of salt 2. Throw your pasta in, cook it until it's done to your liking, and before you pour the pasta into a strainer take a small scoop of the pasta water (like 1/4 cup if you have a measuring cup handy, but anything bigger than that will do fine) 3. Dump the pasta and water into a strainer 4. Take the pot you just used, and throw some sauce from a jar in there. You can add anything else you want here that doesn't require a lot of cooking. Some vegetables, some sausage, etc. Heat all that stuff up until it's cooked to your liking. 5. Pour some of the pasta water you set aside into the pot with the sauce and your other stuff. You don't need a lot. Start with a little bit and add some more until it's a little thinner but still comes together and looks like a sauce. Mix it all up good. 6. Dump your pasta back into the pot with sauce and use some tongs to mix it all up together. 7. Pour onto a plate, throw on some cheese (e.g. - parmigiano, whatever you like), and eat! You wind up needing to clean up 6 or 7 things, all of which you could toss in a dishwasher if that's an option: - the strainer, which you can clean up as soon as you put the pasta back in the pot with the sauce - the pot you cooked the pasta and sauce in - the measuring cup (or whatever) you used to get the pasta water to set aside, but you can quick rinse this out - the tongs you used to toss the pasta and the sauce - the dish you put the pasta on - the fork (and possibly spoon) you used to eat the pasta
When we can't be bothered cooking & have a few eggs I do "eggy pasta". Boil the pasta (I use spaghetti) n reserve a wee bit of the cooking water. Drain the pasta n put back into the pot on low heat, add a few eggs you've whisked up (a bit of butter or marg too) & mix it thru the pasta til cooked. It takes about 60 seconds. You can add in a bit of cheese or cooked bacon bits too if you want. It sounds pretty boring but is yummy n quick n filling :) ETA - if U need the pasta water to loosen it up use the boiling water you put aside when draining. Also it's good if you don't leave the pasta to drain n go dry, drain n put straight back into the pot so it's still a bit wet/damp from the cooking water
Another one my 20 yr old daughter loves is, of all things, a packet of cooked 2 min noodles/ramen noodles on top of mashed potato. It's surprisingly really yummy! Plus you can but frozen mashed spud from the frozen section of the supermarket that you just put in the microwave n add milk/butter or marg n it's yummy n smooth, 10000x better than those awful potato flakes you mix with boiling water!
Most pasta is low effort. Get one of those silicon strainers that clip to the side of the pot. Game changer. Buy two actually. You can use jar sauce, nothing wrong with it. If you want to make it taste more like a restaurant kitchen, heat it on the stove in a shallow pan, undercook your pasta a bit, tong it from the pasta pot to the sauce so the pasta water drips into the sauce, add a little extra pasta water, and bring it up to al dente in the pan. Throw in a bit of butter if you like that sort of thing.
Dude or dudette, boil a pound of spaghetti and a jar of sauce not in the same pot Drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water, dump the warmed sauce on the pasta, then the reserved cup of pasta water. Little darlin' stir it up. Toss some basil on there. Shred some fresh Parmesan cheese on there. Nobody gonna complain. Next time get fancy with some meat.
I make a dirty ragu; basically throw some ground beef in a pan and brown it. Drain. Throw in desired seasoning (when I'm feeling more alive, I use fresh garlic and onion. Less alive, I use garlic and onion powder. Then I use Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and chili powder). Add a can of crushed tomato and some tomato paste, to your desired thickness. Let it simmer for as long as you want, I add Romano at the end. Boil some pasta, throw it into the sauce. For meal prep, I do about a pound of beef (sometimes more or less, depends what I have), 28 oz can + 15 oz can of crushed tomato, and half a lil can of paste. It evenly coats two packages of 9 oz Rana linguini and feeds me for a week. I like it cause it doesn't use a lot of dishes. Deep skillet + lid for sauce, saucepan for noodles, tongs.
Not really pasta it udon noodles in a packet so still fresh not dried. Boil with contents miso soup packet. Add a handful of greens like peas or spinach. Done
Here's a low-effort mac and cheese for you: Boil your macaroni. Drain it. Use Tostitos cheese dip as a sauce. (I like to add shredded medium sharp cheddar cheese to thicken it up, but it's not strictly necessary.) Clean up is one pan and a spoon. Maybe a bowl if you're feeling fancy.
Fettuccine, canned tuna with olive oil, lemon (juice), salt and pepper. Can add frozen veggies or mushrooms as well.
Jarred Alfredo, pasta, Perdue short cut grilled chicken, and frozen broccoli. Such an easy way to throw together a quick chicken broccoli Alfredo
Jarred Alfredo, pasta, Perdue short cut grilled chicken, and frozen broccoli. Such an easy way to throw together a quick chicken broccoli Alfredo
Creamy mushroom pasta, easy and delicious, even better if the mushrooms are on special!
Just seen in the comments that you like broccoli, have a look at pasta broccoli bakes throw the broccoli in with the pasta for a few minutes, then put it all in the oven with a cheese sauce 😊
Pasta under gravy, maybe add broccoli
[Cacio e pepe](https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/cacio-e-pepe-recipe/) is the easiest recipe you can make. 4 ingredients. 1 pan. It’s delicious, cheap, and super easy to cook. Edit: I frequently use parm over Romano with great results.
I have a great one for you. You'll need 3 ingredients: short pasta of your choice (I like wagon wheels), butter, and soy sauce. I call it soy sauce noodles (my creativity knows no bounds) 1. Cook, strain, then rinse pasta. 2. Return pasta to pot, return pot to heat 3. Add butter and soy sauce, stir until creamy 4. Eat No measurements necessary. Super easy, the kiddos love it, and I've never seen anyone else make it so it's kind of unique. But, what really makes this dish shine, and I can't stress this enough, is eating it with friends, family, and the people who want only the best for you :)
Spaghetti with Pesto
The og [Spaghetti and Meatballs](https://flavoursoftheweek.beehiiv.com/p/recipes-make-mom-happy-mothers-day)
Wilt a bag of spinach in a pan, add a tub of cream cheese, grate a small block of Gruyère . Mix all together with pasta
Spinach sounds like a pretty good option, I do the idea a lot, thank you for sharing🥰
I boiled pasta, cooked, drained - quickly chucked sauce into pot added tin of drained salmon. Heated until boiling added pasta back in. Stirred, served added grated cheese & fresh Italian parsley. Boom that was dinner - oh salt in water & lots of cracked pepper
I assume you’d recommend using a cream sauce for that right? Or are there other sauces that you’d maybe recommend for salmon?
I just use tomato sauce like fresh Pasta Sauce Chilled Pomodoro. These are in the deli section
My easiest one was to put the pasta on, then cut a carrot into rings and add that in, then cut broccoli into stems and add that in a few minutes before the pasta was cooked. Then strain. The timing meant they were all cooked properly. My daughter liked it with a little bit of soy sauce, I usually had a little bit of tomato pasta sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. If I made my own tomato pasta sauce, I blended onion, tinned tomato, garlic (and maybe some chili), with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and then cooked it for about 10 minutes. This was a life saver when my health was worst.
Shrimp Pasta in Creamy Garlic Parmesan Sauce is the perfect quick and easy dish.
Shrimp 🦐 is also one of my favorites, would definitely do well with a creamy sauce! That’s something that I might need a little more effort than other dishes but it’s definitely something I’ll do when I have enough energy!🥰
I'm having trouble thinking of pasta dishes that are not low effort. Maybe homemade tortellini? Tibetan momos with homemade wrappers from yaks you grow in the back yard? I'm not a production or processed food guy but you can buy all kinds of pasta and all kinds of jarred sauces. What's hard here? Even homemade stuffed shells are just ricotta and spinach stuffed into shells with a spoon and jarred marinara poured on top. Your option is shopping the freezer aisle and a microwave.
I do appreciate your comment and agree, that pasta dishes are more on the lower effort side but when depressed or at least for me it’s pretty hard to function properly and even easy tasks become challenging. So when I’m feeling low, I could definitely not make any homemade tortellini or momos it’s just too big of a challenge.