Leftover Pasta Recipes

What can I make with leftover pasta?

• Baked pasta

  Mix the pasta with sauce and cheese and bake until the top browns. Try Leftover Pasta Bake.

• Cold pasta salad

  Dress cold pasta with something tangy and add whatever protein you have. Try Tuna Pasta Salad.

• Pasta in soup

  Stir cooked pasta into a vegetable soup near the end of cooking. Try Minestrone Clean-Out Soup.

• Noodle stir-fry

  Cooked strands fry well in a hot pan with vegetables and sauce. Try Egg Fried Noodles.

• A creamy skillet

  Warm the pasta straight in a pan sauce so it doesn't dry out. Try Russian Beef Stroganoff.

Got more than pasta to use up? Find recipes with what you have.

How to decide what to make with your leftover pasta

The right dish depends on the state the pasta is in, not on the recipe you feel like cooking. Find yours below.

Already sauced

Bake it. Sauced pasta plus cheese in a hot oven is the one route where slightly soft pasta is an advantage, not a problem.

Plain, cooked, no sauce

Dress it cold as a pasta salad, or fry it. Cooked strands crisp beautifully in a hot pan with oil, garlic and whatever vegetables you have.

A small amount of short shapes

Drop it into a soup at the very end. Minestrone and brothy vegetable soups are built for a handful of leftover penne or macaroni.

How long does cooked pasta keep, and how to store it

Toss plain pasta with a little oil

It stops the whole container welding into one block, so you can break off what you need.

Three to five days cold

Sauced pasta keeps at the shorter end of that range, especially with dairy or seafood in it.

Freeze baked, not boiled

A finished pasta bake freezes and reheats well. Plain boiled pasta comes out of the freezer mushy.

The best way to reheat leftover pasta

Give it liquid, not more boiling

Warm pasta in a pan with a few tablespoons of sauce, stock or pasta water. Reboiling it takes it straight past al dente.

Fry it if it is already soft

Once pasta has gone past its best texture, crisping it in a pan is a better answer than trying to rescue the bite.

Mistakes worth avoiding with leftover pasta

• Rinsing leftover pasta under cold water — you wash off the starch that helps sauce cling.
• Reheating cream sauces on high heat; they split.