35 Vegetarian Pasta Recipes So Good Your Meat-Loving Friends Won't Be Able To Resist (2024)

We love a classic lasagna, but it can be a lot of work. This easy skillet version has everything we love about the original—including the frilly-edged long noodles—but without the confusing layering steps. Instead, you'll toss the cooked noodles in an oniony marinara sauce, dollop with pesto, and top with ample slices of fresh mozzarella and a shower of grated Parmesan.

Get the Tricolore Skillet Lasagna recipe.

You know about baked feta pasta, now try its fancier cousin, brie spaghetti. We used a whole wheel of brie for effect, but you can get away with something about (or a little over) half the size. A little bit of brie goes a long way.

Get the Brie Spaghetti recipe.

Obviously roasting a block of feta with bursting tomatoes is going to be amazing. But is it good enough to break TikTok like this one did? Our answer, begrudgingly, is yes. It's genius—super-easy, but also fancy enough for when you have a plus-one on date night. 😍

Get the Baked Feta Pasta recipe.

This dish is no-fuss comfort food at its finest. Everyone loves broccoli when it's tossed with cheddar and Parm!

Get the One-Pot Broccoli-Cheddar Pasta recipe.

A classic tomato sauce is made even better with a bit of cream and a delicious topping of burrata. The cherry tomatoes add a bit of sweetness to the sauce and make it feel fresher. It tastes too good to be as easy as it is, and that’s just what we want for a weeknight pasta dinner.

Get the Creamy Tomato Pasta With Burrata recipe.

Gnocchi will always hit the spot for a quick, delicious meal. It really couldn’t be simpler. It’s highly advised to cook the mushrooms 'til golden brown perfection. Without that step, you’re missing half the pleasure of this dish. No fear if you don’t have a large skillet to make this—just split the mushrooms and gnocchi into batches so they have plenty of space to cook.

Get the Crispy Gnocchi and Mushrooms recipe.

This is our new “I feel like cooking with a glass of wine in hand” pasta. It’s light but bright and full of flavor. The sauce is simple, which lets the caramelized lemons do the heavy lifting. Boiling them first will help get rid of the excess bitterness, and you can use the same pot of water to cook your pasta in, so really, it will barely feel like an extra step. Be sure to give them time to dry out and pat them with paper towels. They’ll fry up in some oil to create crunchy, slightly sour, and sweet bites in the pasta.

Get the Caramelized Lemon And Zucchini Pasta recipe.

This is everything you love about chicken piccata but without the chicken. The sauce is bright and briny and extra buttery. Take your time with the mushrooms; you need to let them crisp and turn a dark golden brown. (Tip: Wait to salt them, as salt will draw out moisture, making them soggy instead of crisp.)

Get the Mushroom Piccata Pasta recipe.

Putting in the elbow grease for these squash ravioli will make you feel like a true chef, and the pasta will taste 10x better just knowing you made it from scratch. A homemade pasta is no easy feat, but trust us, it's 100% worth it.

Get the Butternut Squash Ravioli recipe.

If Julia Child taught America how to roast chicken, Marcella Hazan taught us how to make good pasta sauce. Her version is a little unconventional; the onion isn't sautéed, the sauce simmers for less than an hour, and there's a lot of butter. It's the easiest and, most likely, best red sauce you'll ever make at home.

Get the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe.

These are, by their soft, tender, and pillowy nature, very rustic—one might even call them ugly. But worry not: Once you sauté them in butter, herbs, and pistachios, they will look every bit as delicious as they smell. You can also use them as you would store-bought gnocchi, like in our creamy kale and gnocchi recipe.

Get the Carrot Gnocchi recipe.

This delicate, luscious pasta is the epitome of spring, showcasing under-appreciated fresh produce—radish greens, which taste slightly peppery and cook down in a flash, and the "tough" dark green tops of leeks, which take a little longer to cook than the pale and white parts, but taste just as delicious. 😍

Get the Pasta Primavera recipe.

This is a rich, creamy dish that’s sure to satisfy everyone, given its perfect balance of acidity and cream—and it can be whipped up as quickly as it takes to boil your pasta.

Get the Pasta Al Limone recipe.

There are lots of ways to add spice to your meals, but when we’re looking for something really special, we turn to Sichuan peppercorns. These peppers bring a unique herbal spice with a gentle numbing effect to the lips and tongue. Paired with a few other unexpected ingredients, these peppercorns add new intrigue to the old standby of pesto and pasta.

Get the Sichuan Pesto Noodles recipe.

Fans of creamed spinach will absolutely love this hearty, creamy kale and gnocchi bake that puts the classic side dish front-and-center on your plate with gnocchi as the main attraction. It's quick to put together since the gnocchi cook right in the sauce, making them extra-creamy and delicious.

Get the .

Creamy corn pasta has always been one of our favorite dishes to make for any summer occasion, from outdoor BBQs to celebratory dinners. Don’t be fooled by the name—this pasta has no cream. Instead, you’ll puree fresh corn, sautéed garlic, and scallions into a luscious sauce that’s topped with Parmesan, basil, and even more corn. With just these few ingredients, you can have a crowd-pleasing pasta dish on the table in only about 30 minutes.

Get the Creamy Corn Pasta recipe.

Making gnudi, or Italian ricotta dumplings, only sounds fancy. They're actually an easy pasta dinner anyone can pull off. If you love gnocchi as much as we do, you'll likely love these too. The only real difference? Gnocchi is made with potato, and gnudi is made with ricotta, which makes them even more tender, light, and plump.

Get the Ricotta Gnudi recipe.

If a bowl of creamy, earthy, umami-rich pasta sounds good to you, give this flexible recipe a go. It tastes great with any variety of mushrooms, and is easily adapted with alternate alliums, herbs, nuts, pasta shapes, and hard cheeses. We love the earthy flavor toasted pecans, but if nuts aren't your bag, toasted fresh bread crumbs or panko are great crunchy alternatives.

Get the Creamy Mushroom Pasta recipe.

Pumpkin fanatics: This spin on classic vodka sauce really hits the spot. A nice pour of vodka emphasizes the sweet pumpkin and tomato flavors in this richly flavored cream sauce. But don’t worry, most of the alcohol cooks off (and it doesn’t really taste like vodka!), so it’s a family-friendly dish you can serve up all season long—or year round!

Get the .

This recipe is proof that a killer tomato sauce doesn’t need a long simmer on the stovetop. You'll create a robust sauce by concentrating the cherry tomatoes' flavor through bursting them in the skillet, along with other classic enhancers, like olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Tomato paste intensifies the tomato flavor while also adding umami, which boosts the dish's savory qualities. Yum!

Get the Cherry Tomato Pasta recipe.