I stumbled on Martha Stewart’s One Pot Pasta recipe and was curious. Could it really work? Martha was my inspiration, but after researching I found that Italians have been cooking One Pot Pasta for centuries.
Believe it or not you’ll throw everything into a large skillet and have a delicious meal in under 30 minutes. That’s hard to beat. The original recipe lacked flavor and had a texture that I didn’t’ care for so I tweaked the recipe a bit.
How To Make One Pot Pasta
I was amazed how well cooking the entire pasta meal in one pot was. But Martha Stewart’s One Pot Pasta left some flavor lacking. By sautéing the vegetables first and using chicken stock instead of water, I was able to bring the flavor profile up significantly.
Slice the onion, mince the garlic and wash the tomatoes.
Add 2-3 Tablespoons of oil to the large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until it gets soft and starts to take on some color.
Finally add the garlic and red pepper flakes for 30 seconds. Stir. Add tomatoes. Pour in 4 cups chicken broth, increase heat to bring to a boil.
Once boiling add the linguini. Push the vegetables to the side so that the pasta is lying directly in the bottom of the pan. The pasta should be submerged under the chicken broth. Cover and cook for 9 minutes.
Every few minutes stir with tongs. Meaning pull the pasta on the bottom of the pan to the top so that all the pasta gets a chance to sit in the liquid and be close to the heat. After 9 minutes the linguini should have a little chew to it, close to al dente.
Once the liquid is almost gone, reduce the heat to medium and add 1 cup cream. Cook 2 minutes.
Add salt and pepper if necessary. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Other nice toppings are crisp crumbled bacon, basil or capers.
What To Serve With One Pot Pasta
A green salad is first on my mind. You may like our Olive Garden copycat recipe. Crisp garlic bread is a great side too.
What’s The Best Thing About One Pot Pasta?
One pan to clean.
It’s delicious.
It’s easy.
It’s fast.
OK, that’s four things.
Time Savers And Make Ahead Tips For One Pot Pasta
You can cut the onion and mince the garlic up to 3 days ahead of time, storing in a container or baggie in the refrigerator.
Wash and dry tomatoes a few days ahead of time.
Substitutions For One Pan Pasta
Chicken Broth – just use water. Water works just as well as chicken broth but lacks the depth of flavor.
Red Pepper Flakes – The flakes add just a subtle pop of heat. But if you have eaters that don’t care for any kind of heat then just leave out.
Olive oil – Use canola oil or other mild oil.
Onion – Use shallots for a more mellow onion flavor.
Linguini – use spaghetti. You want a flat noodle that can stay submerged in the beginning of the cooking process.
Grape Tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes. Or use canned diced tomatoes. If you use the juice from the can, then reduce the chicken broth or water by about ¼ cup.
Cream – 4 to 8 Tablespoons butter
How To Store
Store in a container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
How To Reheat One Pot Pasta
Microwave covered for 1 minute per portion reheated. If the pasta is dry, add a little cream or milk, about a tablespoon. Stir and then reheat.
How To Take One Pot Pasta On The Go
Want To Make Martha Stewart’s One Pan Pasta?
Here’s Martha Stewart’s One Pot Pasta recipe. You can follow the link for more directions or use the ingredient list and directions below.
One Pot Pasta Ingredients
- 12 oz linguine
- 12 ounce cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 T Extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper
- 4 1/2 cups water
- Parmesan cheese
Martha Stewart has you put all ingredients except the Parmesan cheese in a skillet and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 9 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and top with basil, oil and cheese.
The main difference with my recipe is that we use chicken stock instead of water to add flavor. We also add cream at the end for a nicer texture.
The vegetables are also prepared in a simpler, easier manner and we saute them in the same pan first to add a deeper, richer flavor.
Thanks Martha and classic Italian cooks for the basis of this recipe!
One Pot Pasta – Quick Easy Meals
In less than 30 minutes you can have our one pot pasta on the table. Healthy and delicious and only one pan to clean!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces linguini
- 1 small onion sliced, I like sweet onions the best
- 1 pint grape tomatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes my family uses 1/2 teaspoon
- 2 medium cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
- 1 cup cream
Toppings
- 1 cup Parmesan Reggiano shredded
- Fresh basil, capers, crumbled bacon optional
Instructions
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Slice the onion, mince the garlic and wash the tomatoes.
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Add 2-3 Tablespoons of oil to the large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion for about 5 minutes until it gets soft and starts to take on some color. Stir a couple of times.
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Finally add the garlic and red pepper flakes for 30 seconds. Stir. Add tomatoes. Pour in 4 cups chicken broth, increase heat to bring to a boil.
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Once boiling add the linguini. Push the vegetables to the side so that the pasta is lying directly in the bottom of the pan. The pasta should be submerged under the chicken broth. Cover and cook for 9 minutes.
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Every few minutes stir with tongs. Meaning pull the pasta on the bottom of the pan to the top so that all the pasta gets a chance to sit in the liquid and be close to the heat. After 9 minutes the linguini should have a little chew to it, close to al dente and very little liquid left.
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Once the liquid is almost gone, reduce the heat to medium and add 1 cup cream. Cook 2 minutes. Taste noodles to make sure they are to your liking, continue cooking if they are still too stiff.
Add salt and pepper if necessary. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Other nice optional toppings are crisp crumbled bacon, basil or capers.
Recipe Notes
See post for ingredient substitutions, the most important being that the chicken broth can be substituted with water.
Toppings are optional, the noodles with the chicken broth and cream are so good you don’t need to add the toppings
If you use 1 pound of linguini then increase liquid to 5 cups, all other ingredients stay the same quantity
So easy. Thanks.
Made this today, turned out amazing! Big hit and that’s hard to come by in this house, have two very picky autistic boys that don’t like anything new/different! Thank you!!!