7x comfort food pasta dishes

Of course, we eat pasta all year round. But the colder it gets, the meatier and cheesier the sauce should be. The cold is the perfect excuse to stay indoors and let a ragû simmer for hours. These are our favorite comfort food pasta dishes, some of which are fortunately ready much faster too.

Bourdain’s ragû and sausage

Ragû made with slowly cooked oxtail and sausage too? It really doesn’t get more comforting than this. Rich, meaty and savory. With a good helping of Parmesan on top, this pasta solves all your problems.

Mushrooms

Creamy sauce with mushrooms fried in butter and “as much Parm as you can physically grate”, according to the recipe. We can’t argue with that.

Spaghetti & meatballs

Italians have never heard of this dish, but for Italian Americans, spaghetti and meatballs is the ultimate comfort classic. The sauce has to simmer for three hours, and the meatballs are made from ground beef, veal and pork for maximum yumminess.

Cacio e pepe

This one falls into the category of weekday comfort food. After a busy day, this Roman classic is on the table within fifteen minutes. Cheese everywhere.

From the oven

Put any kind of pasta in the oven with a good layer of cheese on top and comfort is near. This simple recipe by Nigella Lawson only uses tomato sauce, which is enough as far as we’re concerned. But feel free to add spinach, sausage or any other favorite food.

Duck

Ragû doesn’t always have to be rustic and hearty. By making the sauce with duck and prosciutto, you suddenly find yourself with a very fancy plate of comfort food.

Braised pancetta

At Spaghetteria, they’re kings of slowly cooked pasta sauces. This strozzapreti with braised pancetta and tomato sauce is the perfect example.