25 Pasta Recipes Worth the Effort

Some Sunday mornings, when the light is coming through the kitchen window and nobody needs to be anywhere, I pull out a Dutch oven and commit. Three hours later, the apartment smells like slow-simmered meat, garlic, and butter, and I have enough lasagna to feed my family for a week. These are the recipes I make on those days — the ones that ask for patience and reward you with flavor you can’t get from a weeknight shortcut. There’s something meditative about the long, slow stir of a bolognese, the way the milk absorbs into the meat, or the patient toasting of peppercorns for carbonara. Time is the ingredient you can’t buy at the store, but when you give it freely to a great pasta recipe, the dish gives back tenfold. I’ve pulled together twelve of my favorite “worth the effort” pasta dishes, from a slow-simmered bolognese to a 5-hour lasagna to a classic carbonara that takes ten minutes but a lifetime to master. Bookmark this one for the next rainy Sunday — and clear your afternoon, because once you start, you won’t want to stop until dinner is on the table.

What’s Inside

1. Classic Carbonara
2. Classic Ragù Bolognese
3. BA’s Best Lasagna
4. BA’s Best Bolognese
5. Best Bolognese Sauce
6. Carbonara Lasagna
7. Lasagna Bolognese
8. Pasta alla Norma
9. Pasta Puttanesca
10. Cacio e Pepe
11. Bucatini all’Amatriciana
12. Easy Pasta Puttanesca

The 12 Recipes

From slow-simmered ragù to hand-rolled pasta sheets, these are the dishes that ask for an afternoon and give back a lifetime of flavor.

Classic Carbonara

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Carla Lalli Music

Carla Lalli Music’s traditional carbonara is the dish that ruined all other carbonaras for me — toasted peppercorns, crispy guanciale, egg yolks, and a careful emulsion of pasta water that turns the sauce into velvet. No cream, ever.

Classic Ragù Bolognese

Recipe via Bon Appétit — David Downie

David Downie’s slow-simmered ragù is the one I make when the weather turns cold. Beef, veal, pancetta, and milk build layers of flavor that take 3 hours but taste like they took 3 days. A true Sunday project.

BA’s Best Lasagna

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Chris Morocco

Chris Morocco’s BA’s Best Lasagna is a 5-hour project you’ll make once and then dream about forever — pork and beef meatballs that melt into the sauce, a velvety parmesan béchamel, and noodles cooked just enough to hold their shape. The best lasagna in America.

BA’s Best Bolognese

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Andy Baraghani

Andy Baraghani’s bolognese is the practical, weeknight-friendly version of the classic — chunky beef, pancetta, milk, and stock simmered for 2 hours until the meat is falling apart. Serve with wide pappardelle and a snowstorm of parmesan.

Best Bolognese Sauce

Recipe via The Daring Gourmet — Kimberly Killebrew

Kimberly Killebrew’s classic Italian bolognese is the most approachable version I’ve found — a touch of cream, a touch of tomato, and a long, gentle simmer that lets everything meld. Tastes like Bologna in a bowl.

Carbonara Lasagna

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Anna Hezel

Anna Hezel’s carbonara lasagna is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever baked — layers of fresh pasta, crispy pancetta, fontina, ricotta, and a parmesan cream sauce, finished with a runny egg baked right into the center of each serving. Worth every minute.

Lasagna Bolognese

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Sue Li

Sue Li’s lasagna bolognese layers a slow-simmered meat sauce with béchamel and pasta for the most traditional lasagna you’ll ever make. Bechamel instead of ricotta is the secret — that’s how they do it in Bologna.

Pasta alla Norma

Recipe via The Daring Gourmet — Kimberly Killebrew

Kimberly’s pasta alla Norma is a celebration of three Sicilian ingredients — roasted eggplant, San Marzano tomatoes, and salty ricotta salata. The eggplant gets caramelized in the oven first, which gives the sauce a deep, smoky sweetness.

Pasta Puttanesca

Recipe via The Cozy Apron — Ingrid Beer

Ingrid Beer’s puttanesca is the bold, briny pasta I make when I have nothing in the pantry but a can of tomatoes, a tin of anchovies, and some olives. Ready in 30 minutes, deeply savory, and unapologetically punchy.

Cacio e Pepe

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Mark Ladner

Mark Ladner’s classic Roman cacio e pepe is the dish that proves three ingredients can be transcendent — pasta, pecorino romano, and black pepper, emulsified with butter and pasta water into a creamy, peppery sauce that coats every strand.

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Recipe via Bon Appétit — Sarah Tenaglia

Sarah Tenaglia’s bucatini all’Amatriciana is the dish my Roman friends insist is the only proper pasta — crispy guanciale, tomato, onion, and a serious amount of pecorino, tossed with hollow bucatini that traps the sauce inside.

Easy Pasta Puttanesca

Recipe via Salt & Lavender — Natasha

Natasha’s easy puttanesca is a weeknight version that hits all the right briny, savory notes in just 20 minutes. Whole tomatoes get crushed by hand, then simmered with anchovies, capers, and olives for a sauce that tastes like it cooked all day.

That’s a lot of pasta

If I had to pick one to start with, it’d be BA’s Best Lasagna. Yes, it takes 5 hours, and yes, you need to make a béchamel and a ragù and a mountain of meatballs. But once you slice into that bubbling pan on a Sunday night, you’ll understand why I make it twice a year and call it a holiday. The classic carbonara is the weeknight gateway into this list — ten minutes, four ingredients, and a lifetime of perfecting. Save the bolognese for the day you want to feel like a grandmother, and the puttanesca for the night you only have 30 minutes but want something that tastes like you cooked for hours. Trust me on this one — cook them all, take your time, and don’t forget the bread and a glass of red. That’s how Sunday was meant to feel.

—Elowen Thorn

Sources & Credits

A heartfelt thank you to the food writers, test kitchen cooks, and home cooks who developed and shared these recipes. Every dish below is credited to its original creator and source publication — please visit their sites, leave a comment, and support their work.

1. Classic Carbonara — Bon Appétit (recipe by Carla Lalli Music)
2. Classic Ragù Bolognese — Bon Appétit (recipe by David Downie)
3. BA’s Best Lasagna — Bon Appétit (recipe by Chris Morocco)
4. BA’s Best Bolognese — Bon Appétit (recipe by Andy Baraghani)
5. Best Bolognese Sauce — The Daring Gourmet (recipe by Kimberly Killebrew)
6. Carbonara Lasagna — Bon Appétit (recipe by Anna Hezel)
7. Lasagna Bolognese — Bon Appétit (recipe by Sue Li)
8. Pasta alla Norma — The Daring Gourmet (recipe by Kimberly Killebrew)
9. Pasta Puttanesca — The Cozy Apron (recipe by Ingrid Beer)
10. Cacio e Pepe — Bon Appétit (recipe by Mark Ladner)
11. Bucatini all’Amatriciana — Bon Appétit (recipe by Sarah Tenaglia)
12. Easy Pasta Puttanesca — Salt & Lavender (recipe by Natasha)