- Pasta has been a pantry staple for families across the country as we continue to stay at home and cook more.
- So Insider asked “Chopped” judges Amanda Freitag, Scott Conant, and Aarón Sánchez how they transform leftover pasta into completely new dishes.
- Freitag and Sánchez love turning day-old pasta into noodle salads, or adding it to soups.
- Conant is a big fan of pasta bakes, and recommends turning leftover spaghetti into a pasta frittata.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Pasta is the ultimate comfort food. It’s quick and easy to make, always there to comfort us on a chilly night or after a long day, and tastes absolutely delicious.
It’s a pantry staple that many of us have turned to while we’re stuck at home, but even the most dedicated pasta lover probably doesn’t want the same spaghetti three days in a row.
So, Insider asked “Chopped” judges Amanda Freitag, Scott Conant, and Aarón Sánchez for their tips to make leftover pasta taste exciting and fresh again.
Amanda Freitag told Insider that pasta is one of her favorite things to make, so she always has some in her pantry just in case.
“It’s one of the easiest and quickest things you can make,” she said. “All you really need is butter and cheese, even just olive oil and cheese!”
And Freitag said there's no need to go to the grocery store if you want to get creative with your noodles.
"Even before I was a judge on 'Chopped,' I was really good at opening the refrigerator door and making something out of nothing," she said. "If you have pasta, just open your fridge and see what's in there! Oh, there's some olives? That's going to work. I see beans in my fridge so, of course! Beans and pasta."
If you're trying to spice up your leftover noodles with some beans, Freitag recommends turning to one of her favorite Tuscan pasta dishes.
"It's just white beans, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, and olive oil," she said. "That's a classic pasta dish, and probably every single person has that right now in their fridge and pantry."
Both Aarón Sánchez and Freitag are fans of turning leftover pasta into noodle salads the next day.
"You can make a noodle salad with any short-cut pasta," Freitag said. "And if you want something totally different, I would grab that can of tuna."
Freitag loves her mother's tuna noodle salad, which she said is a quick and easy dish to make with ingredients already in your pantry.
"She usually uses elbow macaroni, tuna, and there's always celery and some form of onion - either a red onion or a white onion," Freitag said. "She uses mayo, always, and a little splash of vinegar. And sometimes there's a random herb if she has one, like parsley or dried basil, and a little salt and pepper."
"It's really simple, but so good," Freitag added. "It's got protein, it's got carbs, it's a whole meal. Delicious!"
Sánchez loves adding leftover pastas to soups to "beef them up a bit," while Freitag and Scott Conant recommend taking those day-old noodles and sticking them in the oven.
"Once you make a baked pasta, all is forgiven," Freitag said with a laugh. "It can be slightly overcooked, it can be saucy, but that's an ooey gooey pasta dish that everyone will love."
Freitag recommends topping your leftover pasta with some Parmesan to turn it into a baked mac and cheese, or adding some ground beef or veggies to "zhuzh it up a little bit."
Conant likes to whip up a béchamel sauce to toss his pasta in before baking it in the oven, or simply throw the noodles in a pan and crack an egg on top.
"It's as simple and straightforward as it sounds," he said. "And if you make enough of it, that could be a couple days worth of food."
But Conant's favorite way to use leftover pasta is to turn it into a frittata.
"The best way to utilize yesterday's pasta, particularly if it's spaghetti and there's a bunch leftover, is to make a frittata," he said.
"I would take that spaghetti, crack three to four eggs inside of it, and season it again with Parmesan cheese. That's how Italians always utilize yesterday's pasta."
Sometimes even just using a different sauce the next day can help make your pasta dish taste fresh again, said Sánchez.
"You just have to keep changing it up so that you don't get sick of the same things," he added. "If you had pasta and tomato sauce, that's great. Now add new things to the mix."
"I would maybe add cream if I have it, or make a little garlic and sardine mixture to add and make it a totally different dish."
If you had spaghetti and meatballs the night before, Conant recommends using your leftover meatballs to create a brand new sauce for the next day.
"Chop those meatballs up, saute them with some pasta, add some tomato sauce and you have a faux bolognesa!" he said.
Want to transform just the meatballs? Conant recommends sautéing some garlic in olive oil, tossing it with spinach, and putting it on a pita with the meatballs.
Throw that in the oven with provolone cheese and voila! You've got a completely different dinner.
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