15 Pasta Sauce Recipes
Ready to take your pasta nights to the next level? Whether you’re craving something rich and creamy, light and fresh, or bold and savory, the right sauce can transform a simple dish into an unforgettable meal.
From comforting classics to creative twists, these irresistible sauces will have you savoring every bite. Imagine twirling your fork through silky, flavorful goodness that pairs perfectly with any pasta shape.
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or whipping up a quick weeknight meal, these sauces are easy to make, bursting with flavor, and guaranteed to please. No complicated techniques or fancy ingredients—just delicious, homemade magic in every spoonful.
Get ready to impress your taste buds and discover how a great sauce can turn your pasta game from ordinary to extraordinary.
So, grab your favorite pasta, gather your ingredients, and let’s dive into a world of mouthwatering flavors. Your next pasta masterpiece starts here!
1- Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Put down the jarred spaghetti sauce—all you need is an hour and a handful of staple ingredients to make this classic pasta sauce right at home.
2- Alfredo Sauce
Put the store-bought jar down—our easy Alfredo will make you a homemade pasta sauce believer. Because it’s so simple to make, we highly recommend really taking the time (and choosing the right ingredients) to make this sauce the best it can be.
3- Pesto Sauce
Put the store-bought jar down. It’s truly worth it to make pesto at home. Bursting with fresh basil flavor, homemade pesto is incredibly easy to make (just 5 ingredients and 15 minutes!) and endlessly versatile in its applications (it’s a sauce! a spread! a condiment!).
4- Sunday Sauce
Sunday sauce sounds like a project but it’s easier to make than you think. It’s meant to be cooked all day from morning to mid-afternoon right before you bring that pot of water to a boil for your favorite rigatoni or spaghetti.
5- Arrabbiata Sauce
Pasta is one of the easiest, tastiest weeknight dinners you can make. And while we love a quick marinara, creamy pesto, or garlic butter sauce, sometimes we’re craving something with a little more punch. On these nights, arrabbiata sauce is our go-to.
6- Fresh Tomato Sauce
When summer tomatoes start popping up, we always find ourselves with too many than we know what to do with. Not a bad boat to find ourselves in, we know!
7- Creamy Pumpkin Vodka Sauce & Penne
One of our favorite Italian-American pasta sauces, vodka sauce, just got a super-tasty touch of fall flair with the addition of pumpkin and sage! Pumpkin fanatics:
8- Best Bolognese Sauce
Bolognese, also known as ragu alla Bolognese, is so much more than just a standard meat sauce. It’s the ultimate way to transform a package of ground beef into something show-stopping.
9-Vegan Alfredo Sauce
Thanks to cashews, you can make an ultra-creamy, velvety smooth Alfredo sauce sans dairy! No need to find a specialty item like nut milk, we’ll be making our own cashew cream! All you have to do is soak cashews in milk and blend them up.
10- Carrot Top Pesto
You bought gorgeous carrots with those cute little green tops still attached. Now what? Surely you’re not…going to…just toss them away, are you?
11- Asparagus Pesto
Say hi to spring with this amazing pesto.
12- Kale Pesto
If you’re a kale-aholic, this dark-green pesto will become an instant fave. This recipe makes enough sauce for a pound of pasta!
13- Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
If you’ve got the classic green basil pesto down, why not venture into slightly new territory with a fruitier, red, tomato pesto? Using sun-dried tomatoes here—preferably packed in olive oil for the richest flavor and softest, jammy texture.
14- Broccoli Pesto
Get your broccoli on with this delicious pesto.
15- Copycat Carbone Spicy Rigatoni
Every dish at Carbone, the nouveau red sauce joint in lower Manhattan, is a mind-bendingly delicious, updated take on Italian American classics, though none may be more famous than the Spicy Rigatoni, which features their version of a booze-spiked vodka sauce.
