5 Easy Ways to Add Flavor to Pasta Without Sauce

Pasta is such a versatile ingredient. It can be made into a flamboyant, fancy, and very complex dish, or it can be cobbled together for a quick and easy, but no less tasty, dinner-on-the-go. From humble origins in the 4th century B.C., where archaeological evidence points to the Chinese making noodles from millet, to some rare and very expensive dishes made today, like tonnarelli alle uova di riccio (tonnarelli with urchin eggs), pasta is accessible to pretty much everyone.

Bringing it back to our average joe, pasta is probably one of the easiest ingredients to quickly prepare for a filling dish (complete with leftovers for lunch the next day). But what do you do if you don’t have a sauce or ingredients to make a sauce on hand? Pasta with salt and pepper? Don’t worry — you probably won’t have to resort to that. A deeper look into your pantry and refrigerator will likely yield some wonderful ingredients that you can combine to make a delicious flavoring that will bring your pasta to life. Here are five simple ideas to spark your creativity.

Four ingredients that always work well together are lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese (as evidenced by this lemon spaghetti recipe) — and they’re ingredients that most people have in their pantries and refrigerators. This recipe only takes 15 minutes to make and is light with a delightful tang. Cook up a good handful of spaghetti or whatever type of long pasta is lurking in your pantry to just done (al dente). Drain, keeping 1 cup of the pasta water aside. In a skillet on medium heat, fry 1 teaspoon of crushed garlic (or 3 to 4 finely chopped cloves) in 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil, depending on how “saucy” you want your pasta. 

For extra optional richness, you can melt 2 tablespoons of butter into your olive oil before frying the garlic. Turn off the heat, then stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice until heated through. Mix in your pasta along with salt and pepper to taste, then add ⅓ to ½ cup of parmesan (more if you want a stronger, cheesier dish) and use your reserved pasta water as needed for consistency. Dish up a generous portion, and enjoy. If you don’t use it all in the recipe, here are the absolute best uses for leftover pasta water.

If you want to create a super simple but deliciously creamy and meaty pasta dish, this baby will make your day! Mixed with smoked pancetta, Boursin cheese, mushrooms, and fresh basil, this is also a 15-minute job. Start by cooking up your pasta. We love macaroni or a type of pasta that can really hold your homemade sauce with each mouthful, like penne or your shell-type pastas. Drain and keep a cup of pasta water aside for your sauce. 

While the pasta is cooking, put your hob onto medium heat and start heating your skillet, greasing it with non-stick spray as it heats. Add 4 to 6 ounces of diced pancetta and dry-fry it to crisp it up and release the oils and flavors. Add 8 ounces of chopped mushrooms — we love porcini mushrooms for their flavor — and fry until softened in the gorgeous pancetta oils. You can either replace the fresh mushrooms with rehydrated ones (1 ounce dried, then rehydrated in your pasta water), or have your rehydrated mushrooms as well.

Turn the heat down to low and add your pasta water and Boursin cheese. You can also use the cream cheese you have available in the fridge, but delicious Boursin cheese brings a wonderful creaminess to your sauce, with natural hints of garlic and herbs. Check out our ranking of six popular Boursin cheese flavors for ideas. When melted and combined, stir in your pasta making sure it’s thoroughly coated. Remove from the heat and lightly stir in a handful of shredded basil. Dish into bowls and top with parmesan cheese if you’d like.

This slightly weird but wonderful dish takes a little longer to make — 25 to 30 minutes — but it’s worth every extra minute. Plus, your peas give you some extra nutrients, like vitamins B1 and C. Cook up your pasta, keeping 1 cup of pasta water aside. For this dish, we enjoy using strip pastas like spaghetti or fettuccini. You’ll need 1 cup of frozen peas, thawed, 4 ounces of room-temperature goat cheese (plus extra for garnishing), about 1 tablespoon of lime juice, plus a teaspoon of zest, ½ a cup of fresh, chopped mint, and ⅓ cup of more flavorful extra-virgin olive oil. 

You can substitute your frozen peas for fresh or canned mushy peas — this will save you mashing time, and bring extra moisture to your dish. Pop half your peas into a bowl and mash with a fork until they form a rough puree. Add 4 ounces of goat cheese, 1 tablespoon of lime juice, and 1 teaspoon of zest (you can use lemon if you don’t have limes on hand), half the mint, and olive oil, and then salt and pepper to taste. Mash these additional ingredients into your peas. 

Spoon this mixture into a pot, add your remaining unmashed peas and your pasta water, and heat on medium heat, stirring to blend. You may need to add more water to thin out the sauce — do so 1 tablespoon at a time. When it’s creamy, stir in your pasta. Dish into your bowls and top with the extra crumbled goat cheese and the remaining mint.

If you’re a lover of seafood and you’ve got a packet of shrimp in your freezer, this homemade pasta flavoring is absolutely heavenly. It does take a bit of extra time to defrost your shrimp safely, but there are some quick thawing hacks that you can use if you’re hungry and watching the clock, such as popping them into a colander and running cold water over them for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Of course, we start with getting your pasta cooking — and yes, keep that cup of pasta water aside. While that’s going, remove the tails, heads, and entrails of your thawed shrimp and rinse them well. Pat them dry to remove excess water. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and 4 tablespoons of butter in a skillet on medium heat, adding 1 teaspoon of crushed garlic to the hot mixture to cook. Add your shrimp (be careful not to overload your pan or your shrimp won’t cook evenly), and sauté until the shrimp turn a light pink color. 

Season with ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes and ¼ teaspoon of paprika, or, if you’re just using paprika, ⅔ teaspoon of paprika. Add salt to taste. To this mixture, add 3 to 4 cups of spinach (keeping in mind that spinach wilts down to at least half the volume) and wilt it. Turn off the heat, then mix in a tablespoon of lemon juice and a quarter cup of parmesan. Dish into bowls, and top with fresh herbs like basil or coriander — and more parmesan.

We love sun-dried tomatoes: tangy, rich, and with a subtle sweetness, they bring so much to a dish — especially a pasta dish when there’s no ready-made sauce around. Combine this with the salty creaminess of feta and you’re A for away with a pasta dish that’s not just great as a quick family dinner, but one that guests will love, too. To make it, first cook your pasta to al dente doneness (check for firmness a touch of white in the center). 

While that’s bubbling away, cut up the sun-dried tomatoes from an 8.5-ounce jar, keeping 1 tablespoon of the oil aside. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat, then add a tablespoon of crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Next, add your chopped up sun-dried tomatoes along with a can of crushed tomatoes and 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey and bring to a boil. If you don’t have honey, you can use a teaspoon of sugar. If you happen to have some artichoke hearts lying around, you can also add ½ to 1 cup of the cut-up hearts. 

Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 4 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Mix in a cup of shredded basil, 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese, and if you have some on hand, ¾ of a cup of grated parmesan. Let the cheese melt, then season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, chuck your cooked pasta in and mix well to get all the pieces nicely coated with sauce.