Use your noodle.
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Raise your hand if you love pasta.
(That's what I thought.)
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So do I. And whenever I go out to dinner, I usually splurge on a ~fancy~ pasta dish. But when I cook it at home, I tend to play it safe and stick to something basic like spaghetti in marinara sauce.
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So I decided to experiment a bit with my favorite food. I found a bunch of pasta cooking hacks that sounded either too far out there or too good to be true, and I tested them at home.
Here are 10 of my favorites that actually worked.
Hack #1: Make better-for-you gnocchi using just two ingredients.
The idea: Gnocchi is one of those foods that sounds super complicated to make, but it's actually pretty simple. There are plenty of ~fancy~ gnocchi recipes around the internet, but the truth is all you really need is potato and flour. To give traditional gnocchi a healthy-ish twist, you can use sweet potatoes, which are loaded with vitamin A and fiber. I found a promising recipe on B.Britnell for three-ingredient gnocchi (which is actually more like two-ingredient gnocchi, since one ingredient is salt). It sounded really easy: Bake a sweet potato, grate it over flour, combine and roll out, then boil in water.
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Hack #3: Instead of water, boil pasta in cream-based sauce for an easy, one-pot meal.
The idea: Everyone loves a good one-pot pasta recipe because they require almost no cleanup. But I've tried making several one-pot pasta recipes in tomato-based sauces, and the result is always underwhelming. But then I found this recipe on Damn Delicious, one of my go-to cooking blogs. The recipe —
which used a milk-based sauce — seemed almost too simple to be true: Heat olive oil and garlic in a large skillet or saucepan, stir in chicken broth, butter, milk, and pasta, bring it to a boil, and cook until the pasta is al dente. But did it taste good?
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The results: This recipe was incredible. It's not something I'd make every day since it was so rich and buttery — but it couldn't have been easier to prepare. At first, it seems like there is going to be a ton of sauce, but as the sauce boils, it thickens and the fettuccine absorbs it. So when you go to plate it, your pasta is already coated with an absolutely delicious, creamy sauce. I'll definitely be making this again the next time I have a group of friends over and want something easy and crowd pleasing. It would also make for an affordable big-batch family meal.
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The results: Was this lazy gal's recipe as good as real Italian spaghetti carbonara? Maybe not. Was it good enough to whip up on a weeknight? Hell yes. It's basically a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich in pasta form. I made this recipe twice, and the big takeaway is that in order to get the yolky, creamy sauce everyone loves about carbonara, you have to turn the heat off the stove before cracking the egg over the pasta (or else the egg will scramble). I turned the heat off, let the pasta sit in the frying pan for about 15 seconds, then cracked the egg and very slowly mixed the yolk into the pasta.
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Hack #5: Use cauliflower to make a lighter but equally delicious version of Alfredo sauce.
The idea: Alfredo sauce, which is traditionally made with loads of butter and heavy cream, is delicious...but it can be overwhelming. So when I came across a cauliflower-based alfredo sauce recipe on Just a Pinch, I had to give it a try. Instead of heavy cream, it uses just a half cup of milk — plus butter, garlic, and boiled cauliflower.
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Hannah Loewentheil / BuzzFeed
The results: Honestly? I couldn't believe that something this decadent tasting was made mostly from vegetables. It was garlicky and creamy and totally delicious. It tasted lighter than classic Alfredo sauce, but it still felt indulgent. I used whole milk to make my Alfredo, but you could very well use any type of milk you like best — like soy or almond milk. The recipe made a ton of sauce, so I used what I needed and then I froze the leftovers in individual plastic baggies to thaw and use on everything from seafood and chicken to veggies and (of course) more pasta.
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Hack #10: Make mac 'n' cheese in the microwave in a single mug.
The idea: Microwaveable meals are sort of a godsend. Turning on the oven or the stove is a process, but pressing a button on the microwave is essentially zero effort. Plus, microwavable mac 'n' cheese is a perfect meal to whip up in the office cafeteria or even a college dorm room. It's made from start to finish in one mug, and it's a perfectly sized single serving. According to The Kitchn, you put noodles and water in a mug and microwave it at 2-minute intervals until the pasta is cooked. Then you add the cheese and microwave it at 30-second intervals until the cheese is melted.
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The results: Obviously, this didn't taste as good mac 'n' cheese made from scratch, but let's be honest...that takes a ton of freakin' work. This microwaveable version is way better than the boxed stuff, and it takes half the time. You can get as creative as you want with the microwaveable version (add multiple cheeses, veggies, and a dash of cayenne pepper or garlic powder). I'd suggest adding a little bit of butter or milk to make it even creamier. My dog gave this recipe two paws up.
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