7 Easy Capellini Pasta Recipes

Capellini pasta looks like spaghetti from a distance and is confused with angel hair pasta up close. Don’t confuse Capellini with other varieties, though, as it’s worth using in dishes rather than the other traditional styles. Size-wise, it sits in the gap between spaghetti and angel hair. It’s lighter than spaghetti and doesn’t break down into mush as angel hair often does.

7 Easy Capellini Pasta Recipes

Capellini with Garlic Lemon and Parmesan

To be fair, there aren’t that many pasta dishes out there that take a long time, but this is a genuinely quick and simple but incredibly tasty Capellini dish. For mid-week tang and zing, you can’t get better than the zing of garlic, zestiness of lemon, and sharpness of Parmesan. Teri and Jenny of Spoon Fork Bacon absolutely nail this recipe, and it’s one I keep going back to again and again. It’s as simple as cooking the pasta, cooking some of the ingredients, and tossing them together.

“Capellini pasta looks like spaghetti from a distance and is confused with angel hair pasta up close. Don’t confuse Capellini with other varieties, though, as it’s worth using in dishes rather than the other traditional styles.”

Garlic Scape and Zucchini Blossom Pasta

Yummly is rapidly becoming one of my go-to recipe collections, and for a good reason too! Their Garlic Scape and Zucchini Blossom Pasta is a light, fresh, delightful little pasta dish that makes the most of seasonal ingredients. If you’re an avid horticulturist and are growing your own zucchini at home, grab a few of the blossoms for this recipe. Remember to pick them moments before you cook with them for the freshest flavor. They tend to wilt quickly if picked too soon.

Interesting note, only the female blossoms will create actual zucchini, so you’re free to harvest the males without reducing your output. The male blossoms tend to open first on a plant (usually a day or so before the female) and have narrower flower stems. Don’t get over-enthusiastic, though; you need some males to pollinate the females.

Ten Minute Arugula Pesto with Pistachios and Lemon

This wouldn’t be a pasta recipe list without a pesto dish. Lisa from Panning the Globe’s arugula pesto with added pistachios and lemon is a fresh, light delight. If you make the pesto in advance and store it in the fridge, you can be eating this dish in less than 5 minutes. The arugula pesto makes for a lighter take on the usual Genovese basil-based pesto.

Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro with Shrimp

Lindsay over at Pinch of Yum regularly creates stunning recipes that have a touch of class about them. Her Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro with Shrimp is no exception, and this pasta dish would feel perfectly at home on the table of any swanky dinner party. It’s a stunningly tasty, rich dish that takes less than 30 minutes to create. Perfect for when you want to focus on entertaining rather than cooking but still deliver a quality meal.

“Lindsay over at Pinch of Yum regularly creates stunning recipes that have a touch of class about them. Her Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro with Shrimp is no exception, and this pasta dish would feel perfectly at home on the table of any swanky dinner party.”

Let’s be real; adding garlic butter to anything makes it incredible. Add garlic butter to both pasta and shrimp. Now we’re in heaven.

Capellini with Shrimp, Capers, and Tomatoes

Another shrimp Capellini dish, but this time rather than the silky butteriness of the previous recipe, this one comes with the traditional Italian tang of capers. They’re not to everyone’s taste, but I personally love the little burst of acidic saltiness that comes from an exploding caper. The recipe from Food and Wine has literally only one step, which is to throw everything together and enjoy (I’m paraphrasing, but it’s not far off). The key element is the pre-sautéed shrimp in a garlic sauce. Not that shrimp take that long to cook…

Olive Garden Capellini Pomodoro

Desperate for that classic Olive Garden taste but need to cook at home? Head over to the immensely popular Copycat. The website has made its name for creating perfect copy versions of recipes from popular food chains. Olive Garden is especially popular, and the Capellini Pomodoro is wonderful to recreate at home. To get the recipe right, make sure you invest in fresh ingredients. That means basil leaves from a plant, not a jar, and decent Parmesan cheese you can grate rather than from a tube. If you want to add your own variation to the dish, you can add some balsamic vinegar to add a depth of tangy flavor, add a little sugar to reduce acidity, or a few chili flakes to add a kick to it.

Capellini Pasta with Tuna and Garlic Oil Sauce

This Capellini Pasta with Tuna and Garlic Oil Sauce, created by Italian food giants Delallo, is quick, traditional, and made with easily findable ingredients (not unsurprisingly all Delallo branded). The tuna makes for a salty freshness alongside the zing of the capers. As there’s no sauce as such, you might want to go liberally with the extra virgin olive oil. In my opinion, you can’t have too much of that silky goodness.

Key Takeaways

Now I really like food, especially Italian food, so it’s no surprise that pasta dishes were going to come thick and fast during this article. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try adding your own small touches here and there. Just don’t ever break the pasta, or Italians will hunt you down in your sleep.