Summer Pasta Recipes

A Round up of No-Cook Pasta Sauces

I think a lot of people have this misguided notion that pasta is a heavy dish and not suited for summer. And I totally agree - if you’re talking about recipes like lasagna, bolognese, or tortellini. But pasta is actually my savior all summer long. And no, I’m definitely not talking about pasta salad - I'll just pretend you didn’t even think that.

My sisters and I actually call my favourite version summer spaghetti. When we first moved to Rome in 1972 with our parents, this became one of our all-time favourite dishes - something we’d never had before. In fact, pasta just wasn’t much of a thing when I was growing up in St. Louis. Yes, there were definitely toasted ravioli (it’s a St. Louis thing). And I have fond memories of SpaghettiOs as a special treat, but beyond that, I don’t think pasta ever made it into my mom’s repertoire. She was a pretty good cook, but her inspiration leaned more toward faux-French dishes like Chicken Jubilee (yes, with canned cherries) and Boeuf Bourguignon—all from her trusty cookbook Thoughts for Buffets.

I don’t remember the exact moment we discovered what we started calling Spaghetti Estate, but it became a staple of the summers we spent with our dad in Italy. The brilliance of it lies in its simplicity: no cooking required beyond boiling the pasta. No sweating over a hot stove. It’s light, fresh, and exactly what my body craves when the temperature rises. And if you want to cut back on the pasta (although, why would you?), you can always up the tomato ratio and let the tomatoes take center stage.

Over the years, I’ve created countless variations on the theme of pasta + vegetables + minimal stove time. One involves adding mozzarella or ricotta salata to the tomatoes. Another swaps in zucchini, which you cook along with the pasta, then toss with ricotta or tuna. And of course, there’s the classic summer pasta: pesto. Sure, you can keep it simple with just the pesto, but it’s even better—lighter and more summery—when you throw in a summer veggie like green beans while the pasta cooks.

The one thing that ties all these variations together is that the only pot that sits on the stove is the one used to cook the pasta.

Since we are officially in summer, I thought now was the perfect time to share a roundup of my favorite summery pasta recipes - all in one place. I’ve included a couple of videos, along with downloadable PDFs of the recipes which include optional variations. Enjoy!