Recipes
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When all you want is a big hug on a plate, cheesy pasta is almost always the answer. (The other half of the time, it’s pie.) Pasta cooked with cheese is comfort food in its truest form. And it’s a dinner just about anyone can get behind, no matter the night of the week.
Here, you’ll find a dead-simple, roux-free macaroni and cheese that you’ll want to pull out for the holidays, a parm-heavy vodka pasta you could whip together on Tuesday night, and pastas that use blue cheese, mozzarella, aged cheddar, and more. In short, these cheesy pasta recipes are sure to fill that void inside you. (We mean hunger.)
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman
Recipes BA’s Best Baked Ziti
We don’t use “best” lightly. This cheesy pasta is rife with gooey melted mozzarella cheese pulls and a creamy Parmesan béchamel, plus it features salty, porky bits of pancetta in every forkful.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley, Prop Styling by Beth Pakradooni
Recipes Ravioli and Mushroom Skillet
What do you get when you cook frozen cheese ravioli in a mushroom-cream sauce enriched with a cup of Parmesan cheese, then scatter an extra handful of parm over the top? This no-separate-pasta-pot-required pasta dish that’s both plenty cheesy and plenty easy.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Emilie Fosnocht
Recipes Cottage Cheese Lasagna
When our friends at Epicurious held a cottage cheese taste test, their favorite for cooking was Good Culture for its rich, cheesy flavor. Use it in this truly excellent lasagna, and you’ll see why this other tub cheese isn’t necessarily a downgrade from ricotta.
Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr, Prop Styling by Christina Allen, Food Styling Emilie Fosnocht
Recipes Broccoli Cheddar Orzotto
Part of our Fourth Trimester series for new parents, this recipe is as much a soul-nourishing dish for adults as it is one toddlers will happily gobble up.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman
Recipes BA’s Best Mac and Cheese
This homemade macaroni and cheese recipe is our Platonic ideal. It is intensely cheesy, thanks to Gruyère, Fontina, and sharp cheddar, and has a crispy crust. Plus, the recipe easily doubles for a crowd.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley
Recipes Cacio e Pepe
This streamlined pasta has just five ingredients. The headliner is cheese—Parmesan and Pecorino Romano—plus freshly ground black pepper and butter. You’ll also need salt, so…okay, six ingredients.
Photo by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie
Recipes Spicy Tomato Feta Pasta
A dose of Calabrian chile paste lights up our version of the vial baked feta pasta. Unfamiliar? You just dump a brick of feta and a pint of cherry tomatoes in a baking dish and stick it in the oven, boil some corkscrews (or whatever), then marry the two in a creamy, briny, saucy delight.
Photograph by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell
Recipes Mapo Chili Mac
Midwestern chili mac meets mapo tofu in this blend of ground pork, elbow pasta, and doubanjiang (Chinese chili bean paste). The dish is further flavored with garlic, ginger, and scallions; saucified by canned tomatoes; and turned velvety with tons of melted cheddar cheese.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Kat Boytsova, prop styling by Gerri Williams
Recipes Creamy Ricotta Gnocchi
Think you can’t make pasta from scratch? Well you can make ricotta gnocchi. These homemade dumplings come together without fuss and are as pillowy and cheesy as can be.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Sean Dooley, prop styling by Gerri Williams
Recipes Spinach-Artichoke-Dip Pasta
While we wouldn’t judge you for eating spinach artichoke dip for dinner, this inspired dish may be a better approach. It’s a cheesy pasta dinner recipe you will surely add to your regular roster.
Photograph by Guang Xu
Recipes Fresh Fettuccine With Vegemite and Aged Cheddar
Even the vegemite skeptics among us were rocked by the depth of flavor in this luscious pasta from chef Shaina Loew-Banayan of Hudson, New York’s Cafe Mutton. The nutty intensity of aged cheddar works especially well with the yeast paste, but Parmesan, grana Padano, or aged Gouda also work well.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton, Prop Styling by Gerri Williams
Recipes Shortcut Baked Rigatoni With Spicy Italian Sausage
A full pound of low-moisture mozzarella goes on top of this easy baked rigatoni. And in case you’re wondering: That’s the shrink-wrapped kind of mozzarella, not the fresh, stored-in-salted-water kind.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca
Recipes Spinach Lasagna With Ricotta
When baked, ricotta can become grainy. This vegetarian lasagna offers a simple solution: Mix it with cream cheese and heavy cream to transform it into the luxe layer it was always meant to be.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Heather Greene
Recipes Sausage and Ricotta Baked Cannelloni
Don’t fuss with fiddly tubes. Instead, cook pasta sheets (like those you’d use for lasagna), then roll them up with the filling inside. Or, make this a dish of large stuffed shells instead.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Taneka Morris, prop styling by Tim Ferro
Recipes One-Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Combining Monterey Jack and sharp cheddar cheeses gives this one-pot pasta balance, while a heap of vegetables only makes it better. We call on frozen broccoli for ease, but if you have leftover roasted or grilled broccoli, feel free to swap it in.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li
Recipes Baked Pasta Alla Norma
“Perfect!” praised one reader of this baked eggplant and spaghetti skillet, based on pasta alla Norma. Fresh basil, salty capers, and plenty of grated cheese add dynamic flavor. Though she thinks she may have underseasoned her pot, she confessed, “I kept eating more!”
Photograph by Joe Lingeman, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell, Prop Styling by Maggie DiMarco
Recipes The Gooiest Baked Mac and Cheese
The easy recipe’s cheese sauce skips the roux, relying instead on American cheese for supreme meltability. Add more shredded cheese, melted butter, onion, milk, and spices, and that’s a dinner win in our books.
Photo by David Malosh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Cindy Diprima
Recipes Spicy Baked Pasta With Cheddar and Broccoli Rabe
If broccoli cheddar soup is your jam, you’ll want to make this cheesy pasta dish ASAP. It delivers all those familiar flavors with an upgraded twist, thanks to bitter broccoli rabe, sharp cheddar, and crunchy, olive-oil-soaked breadcrumbs.