The Pioneer Woman’s ‘Pantry Pasta’ Makes Great Use of All Your Canned Goods

Canned goods collections sometimes spring out of nowhere. One day you have a single can of black beans, the next day you have an entire pantry shelf dedicated to preserved foods. And although you may be in a great spot if your power gets knocked out for weeks (and weeks), you probably don’t need to keep quite as many pantry items in stock at all times — so that’s where Ree Drummond’s ‘Pantry Pasta’ recipe comes in.

“My pantry pasta is just a go-to basic pasta that you can make with whatever you have in your pantry,” Drummond says in the below segment. It’s the perfect dish to help clean out your pantry and feed a hungry crowd.

Drummond first starts by sauteeing some onions and garlic in a pan while her pasta of choice boils. This is a great dish to use up all your odds-and-ends pasta shapes, too. To the onions and garlic, Drummond then adds a can of diced tomatoes with the juice, chopped olives, and artichoke hearts, with a splash of chicken stock (white wine would work well, too).

Then, once the sauce has cooked down and bit and the pasta is al dente, Drummond adds the strained pasta straight to the sauce with a heaping tablespoon of jarred pesto and a handful of feta cheese. And just before serving, Drummond adds some pinenuts for crunch.

You can see how this dish can also be customized to whatever ingredients are in your pantry. Jarred capers or even a few diced anchovies would add a nice, salty spin to this pasta. Or use sun-dried tomato paste instead of pesto to keep the dish firmly in the tomato sauce realm.

However you decide to make Pantry Pasta, you’ll find that your canned goods collection will be a lot less overwhelming after dinner.

Before you go, check out Garten’s best dinner recipes below: