Bolognese To Pesto: 7 Types Of Pasta Sauces That Are A Must-Try

Pasta is a popular Italian dish that is now loved all over the world. It is a straightforward dish that comes in various forms. The flavour of the pasta, however, depends primarily on the sauce that is used to make it. There are several types of sauces and all of them have their own following. Since they are so popular, whatever sauce you pick, you won't be disappointed, but you sure can have your preferences since there are a lot of options. So make sure you try to make pasta at home using any of these sauces, as you don't have to be a highly skilled cook to get the pasta right. Sounds pretty amazing, right? So, let's get started and learn more about the pasta sauces.

Read more: Pasta For Kids: 6 Nutritious And Interesting Recipes To Try

Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese is a traditional Italian pasta sauce that is typically served with long pasta noodles such as tagliatelle, spaghetti, or fettuccine. Bolognese is a meat-based spaghetti sauce that originated in the Italian city of Bologna. It is generally heavy on the meat and light on the tomatoes.

Bolognese has grown in popularity outside of Italy, although it is more of a tomato-based sauce in the United States. Cooked ground beef is blended with a tomato sauce before being incorporated with long spaghetti noodles.

Alfredo Sauce

Made with melted butter, heavy cream, and a hefty portion of parmesan cheese, Alfredo sauce is a flavorful pasta sauce. It differs from carbonara sauce in that its taste is entirely derived from butter and cream. On the other hand, the earthy essence of carbonara sauce comes from the guanciale.

Regarding savoury foods, a lot of individuals enjoy combining meat and seafood—particularly chicken and shrimp—with Alfredo sauce. A glass of white wine goes well with these foods.

Carbonara Sauce

Carbonara sauce, like Alfredo sauce, is made mostly of heavy cream and a few additional components. Try Carbonara if you're yearning for something else than the typical tomato-based sauce. It also has a lot of bacon, pork, eggs, and shredded cheese.

The egg is unquestionably what sets carbonara apart from other pasta sauce varieties. When you cook the pasta and sauce simultaneously, they will adhere to the pasta.    

The flavour of the carbonara sauce is incredibly creamy and delicious. When preparing long, thick spaghetti noodles, people frequently pour this sauce straight on top of the noodles.

Marinara Sauce

Typically, fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs are used to make tomato sauces like marinara. Other variants include adding wine, capers, or olives. It can greatly enhance the flavour of your pasta and provide a vibrant and deep tomato taste.

It is one of the most versatile sauces that you can use in many dishes, like chicken parmesan and lasagna. But make sure you don't confuse marinara with other tomato-based sauces.

Pesto Sauce

Basil, fresh herbs, olive oil, pine nuts, spices, and a lot of cheese—typically Parmesan—combine to make a hearty and nutritious pesto sauce. Its characteristic green colour comes from the basil plant and it tastes quite sharp.

Any pasta meal can benefit from the substitution of pesto sauce for traditional tomato sauce. It's also a great sauce to put on sandwiches or include in salad dressing.

Ragu Sauce

Ragu is the meatiest pasta sauce and is occasionally confused with Bolognese sauce. Bolognese is a kind of Ragu, just to be clear. The majority of the meat in this thick sauce is beef; however, occasionally there is also chicken, hog, veal, or even horse meat. The ideal accompaniment is long noodles.

Olive Oil Sauce

Another tomato-free pasta sauce that's really simple to make at home is aglio e olio. All you need for this simple sauce are two ingredients, along with some pasta.

Garlic and oil, or aglio e olio, is a basic foundation that is frequently enhanced with parmesan and chilli. This is the greatest spaghetti sauce you can make with modest time and resources if you're short on both. It's tasty while being straightforward.