Creamy Tomato Rigatoni Pasta

This Creamy Tomato Rigatoni Pasta is the perfect family-friendly weeknight dinner. It’s a 25-minute recipe made with tender rigatoni noodles that are tossed in a rich, creamy, and flavorful tomato sauce and finished off with a sprinkle of parmesan.

What is Rigatoni?

Rigatoni is a tube-shaped pasta, slightly more significant, and has ridges outside. This pasta is quite popular in southern Italy. The shape of this pasta helps soak all the good flavors of sauce without being too soft or mushy. It’s fun and delicious. Readily available in almost all grocery stores. However, you can always replace this with your choice of pasta.

How to cook Pasta?

Cooking any pasta is tricky; if it’s rigatoni, you must be more careful about the texture. Al dente texture makes any pasta taste great, and rigatoni is no exception. Al dente means it has to have a bite. Soft pasta without any chew texture is not considered technically correct.

Ingredients:

This pasta dinner is ready in 25 minutes, is made with incredibly simple ingredients, and comes together to create a deliciously rich, creamy, and flavorful meal.

1. Rigatoni Pasta: Smaller pasta shape if preferred.
2. Aromatics: We’re using onion and garlic to create a flavor base for the sauce.
3. Seasonings: A simple blend of salt, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, and black pepper takes the pasta sauce flavor up a notch. Feel free to experiment with your favorite herbs.
4. All-Purpose Flour: Helps thicken the creamy tomato sauce.
5. Heavy Cream: Lighter cream can be used, but the sauce will be less rich.
6. Tomato Pasta Sauce: Marinara or another type of tomato pasta sauce works great. Just use your favorite.
7. Parmesan Cheese: A sprinkle of salty parmesan is exactly what you need to finish off this creamy pasta dish.

How to Cook?

1. Cook the pasta: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, then cook al dente according to package directions.
2. Make the sauce: Melt butter in a skillet. Add in the onion and cook until beginning to brown. Stir in the garlic and seasonings, then cook for another minute. Add in the flour, followed by the cream and tomato sauce. Stir until combined, then simmer until slightly thickened.

   

3. Combine: Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, then stir in just enough pasta water so the pasta and sauce come together.
4. Finish and serve: Sprinkle the assembled pasta with parmesan cheese, then serve and enjoy.

Variations:

1. Make it meaty: Bulk your meal up by mixing in cooked chicken, Italian sausage, ground beef, ground turkey, or even crumbled bacon. You can also cook whatever meat you wish with the onion. Simply brown it in the skillet until it’s cooked through, then assemble the rest of the sauce as instructed.
2. Add veggies: Take the nutrition up a notch and cook even more veggies right along with the onion. Try peas, asparagus, broccoli, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, you name it. This is a great way to use up leftover veggies!
3. Make it cheesier: You can never go wrong more cheese! If you want to melt more cheese over the pasta, transfer the finished pasta to a baking dish, then layer it with the cheese of your choice (mozzarella would be delicious.) Broil for just a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted, then serve!

How to store?

Leftover creamy tomato rigatoni pasta will last in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. I don’t recommend freezing it because the texture of the sauce can be affected. To reheat, warm on low on the stove until heated through.