Pasta is one of the easiest meals you can cook for your family on a busy weeknight. However, pasta dishes are also elegant for entertaining on the weekend. Pasta is filling and delicious, and you can serve it with a lot of different side dishes. Let’s go beyond bread sticks and salad.
Pasta side dishes that can balance out the flavors of your entrée or compliment them will be the key to making the entire experience memorable.
With these sides for pasta, you’ll be bringing the restaurant experience to your own home.
Pasta side dishes have always been a popular choice at dinner tables worldwide. These versatile, delightful accompaniments can transform a simple meal into a rich culinary experience. With countless variations and unique flavor profiles, pasta side dishes appeal to a wide range of tastes and preferences.
Starting with the universally loved and simple crowd-pleasers like macaroni and cheese, pasta salads, and garlic bread, the world of pasta side dishes extends to more intricate and flavorful creations like risottos and ratatouille. Rich creamy sauces or spiced olive oil blends provide the foundation for these delicious sides that can elevate any meal.
Choosing the right pasta side dish can make all the difference in complementing the main course and satisfying every palate. Factors to consider include the type of pasta used, the flavors and textures, and the nutritional content. With such a diverse array of options available, finding the perfect pasta side dish to complete a meal has never been easier.
All you need is your favorite pasta noodles, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, onion powder, celery seed, and green pepper with optional carrots.
Once you try this you’ll never buy one from the store again!
Pasta carbonara is a delicious side to make and it’s incredibly easy to do.
All you need is spaghetti pasta, bacon or pancetta, garlic minced, eggs beaten, salt, and pepper.
When it comes to the sauce itself, there are so many different ways you can go with this dish.
You can use cream instead of eggs if you want a bit of richness in your dish, or you can use milk instead.
The most important part is making sure the heat is kept at a bare minimum when you are cooking these three main ingredients together so that they don’t scramble, but rather create this amazing sauce.
You’ll be craving carbonara pasta for days after trying it out for the first time, but if you want to switch things up a little, feel free to try out this recipe with some chicken added in.
Tortellini is the perfect pasta because it’s filled with delicious cheese that is sure to make your mouth water.
This recipe creates the best tortellini salad you’ve ever had, all you have to do is cook up some tortellini pasta, mix in some veggies and dressing, and bam! Dinnertime.
The great thing about this dish is if you want it to be something you can serve to kids or picky eaters feel free to leave out the veggies and just go with the cheese tortellini.
No matter how you make it through, this dish is sure to be a winner at dinner time.
If you want even more flavor, try adding in some garlic, basil, and lemon juice and it will transform the dish.
Having a side of baked ziti waiting for you is a treat all on its own.
Mixing up your pasta with cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and parsley is going to give you a cheesy dish that will have everyone coming back for more.
You can add in some meatballs if you want but it’s also good on its own.
The best part of this side is how baked it gets which gives it a nice, crispy crust.
Make sure you have some garlic bread waiting on the side so you can soak up all the fantastic flavors at the end.
Making this pesto pasta recipe can be fairly easy if you buy some store-bought pesto but the best way to make it is from scratch.
That way, you can really get the flavor you want.
Pesto is full of healthy ingredients that will leave you feeling satisfied instead of wishing there was a bit of something more to the dish.
All it takes to make this delicious pasta is sauteing up some chicken or shrimp, cooking up your pasta noodles, combining the two together with pesto, and seasoning – voila!
This is a classic Italian side that you can add anything to and it will still be just as good.
The angel hair pasta is made with parmesan cheese and parsley to give it the perfect taste.
Adding garlic is optional but recommended for those who want something with a bit more flavor.
The trick to this side is in the sauce, which you can make by adding olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and parsley.
You’re going to love how great the flavors are together because you’ll want to keep coming back for more of this side dish.
It’s so simple yet so flavorful that it’s hard not to eat up every last bite.
Cassie brings decades of experience to the Kitchen Community. She is a noted chef and avid gardener. Her new book "Healthy Eating Through the Garden" will be released shortly. When not writing or speaking about food and gardens Cassie can be found puttering around farmer's markets and greenhouses looking for the next great idea.
