Our 25 favorite pasta dishes

The all-time classic, loved by kids and adults alike. And if you ever get bored with just regular ol' beef meatballs, you can try switching to turkey meatballs or even just spice up your beef meatballs by stuffing them with cheese!

Another simple dish that has stood the test of time. And while many still prefer the traditional dish, modern mac and cheese enthusiasts have added all sorts of goodies to their offerings, including bacon, jalapeños, or even lobster. Some even take it out of the bowl all together, creating 'squares' like the one pictured here. 

Baked ziti is normally covered in marinara, cheese, onions and other traditional Italian goodies, but those looking for something lighter can try something similar to baked ziti with asparagus and fresh tomato sauce, pictured here. 

Layers upon layers upon layers of cheesy, meaty heaven, lasagna remains one of the more popular pasta dishes... for good reason. 

The go-to dish for pasta lovers looking for a meal minus the marinara. Also, another dish where various creative add-ons can really create a whole separate eating experience. Grilled chicken is often preferred, but like every other food on Earth, bacon goes quite well with fettuccine Alfredo. 

Made famous (or more accurately, infamous) by an episode of 'Seinfeld', pasta primavera, with its mix of vegetables, is not only pleasing to the palate, it's also one of the more healthy pasta dishes out there.  

They often say the best ideas are the most simple ones, and the ravioli is unimpeachable proof of that. Take one square of fresh pasta, place just about anything edible on top of it, and cover with another pasta square and, voila! You have yourself one of the best and most popular pasta dishes you can find. 

Also known in the U.S. as stuffed shells, manicotti is the more opulent, larger open-ended cousin of the ravioli. 

A favorite in pasta salads, the tubular penne is also great with a number of sauces, and accompanied well by various meats or seafood, such as the smoked salmon pictured here.

Linguine (Italian for 'little tongues') is wider than its cousin, spaghetti, and is traditionally served with seafood or pesto rather than spaghetti's common meat and tomato pairings.

Another tube-shaped pasta, rigatoni is larger than penne and ziti, and is characteristically ridged ('ridged' also being its Italian translation) down its length, all the better to hold sauces and grated cheese. A favorite in southern Italy, rigatoni makes a tasty offering when baked with cheese and meat.

Health-conscious eaters look away. This delectable combo of eggs, cheese, bacon and black pepper is combined with pasta (typically spaghetti, though rigatoni, fettucine and others can be used) to complete one of the richest, savoriest of dishes.

A great accompaniment to barbecue and other picnic-style dishes, macaroni salad is served cold and usually tossed with dill or sweet pickles, raw diced onions, and celery, though its contents vary from region to region.

Pomodoro, Italian for 'tomato', is a simple recipe based on its namesake. With its light base of olive oil, fresh tomatoes, and basil on pasta, it's a great alternative to heavier dishes.

Cavatelli resemble minature hot dug buns, and to that end, serve well in retaining sauces. The tomato and bread crumbs recipe, pictured here, is a tasty, light treat, but to be truly decadent, a lobster, spring peas, and mascarpone recipe is a true highlight.

Typically stuffed with cheese, meat, or both, the ring-shaped tortellini does great with a variety of sauces, though purists would argue it belongs in broth, where it functions as a dumpling.

'Pasta fazool', as it's typically known in the States (thanks, Dean Martin!), is a traditional pasta dish composed of small pasta (like elbow macaroni) and beans, along with a base of olive oil, garlic, onion and other spices. 

Though linguine is often the pasta associated with seafood, the thinner spaghetti combined with clams ("vongole") makes for a popular dish, particularly in bianco, in which it's prepared with nothing more than oil, garlic, parsley, and a splash of white wine.

Simple often translates to tasty, and cacio e pepe ('cheese and pepper') with pasta certainly fits the bill for both descriptions.

Orecchiette translated from Italian means 'small ear'—not all that appetizing of a name, which is why Americans just say 'orecchiette'. It's most often paired with broccoli, not unlike the dish pictured here, which is simply known as orecchiette with mixed greens and sausage.

If you saw the word 'conch' in the name conchiglie and said 'shells', well, aren't you just the smartest? One of the more popular pastas around, conchiglie can be paired with just about any sauce, with standard tomato-based meat sauces being the most popular.

Another pasta that is not much different than fettuccine, aside from having more of a curvature to its shape, as opposed to being flat like fettuccine. Tagliatelle is often served with meat sauces, such as Bolognese or marinara-based sauces infused with sausage or meatballs.

Colloquially known as bow-tie pasta, farfalle actually means 'butterfly' in Italian. Bow-tie pasta is popular amongst kids for its shape, but can also be used in dishes for people whose palates are a bit more refined as well.

Trenette is quite similar to fettuccine is both shape and texture; however, trenette is typically mostly only used in pesto-based dishes such as the aptly named trenette al pesto.

Spaghetti's slightly fancier cousin, with the only main difference being that bucatini is tube-shaped and slightly larger in nature, but other than that, there really isn't much difference between the two. Bucatini all'Amatriciana is a great way to explore this pasta with its spicy, bacon (pancetta) red sauce.