Pasta is a great choice when looking for a side dish to make with your fish. Fish is a great source of protein, which can be filling but not enough on its own unless you're eating a lot of fish. Pasta is a great way to add in some carbohydrates that will help feed the whole family. If you're looking for some easy and delicious pasta pairings to go with your fish, then you are in the right place. We're going to take a look at some recipes that will pair well with your fish, whether you're cooking salmon, tilapia, halibut, or other common types of fish. Many of these recipes can be prepared quickly, only requiring about 30 minutes. Some of them are one-pot recipes that will make your cleanup a breeze. Others only require five ingredients or less. No matter which recipe you choose, your family is bound to love it.
Creamy Pasta Primavera
Pasta Primavera is a great pasta side dish option if you're looking to make sure you have enough veggies. Pasta primavera translates to “pasta of the spring” because it has vegetables like zucchini and asparagus. But this recipe can be customized, and you can add any veggies that you like or that you have on hand. But if you want a classic primavera, choose fresh and crisp vegetables. This recipe also calls for chicken breast, which makes it a full meal in itself, but you can remove the chicken to make it a side dish for your fish.
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Butternut Squash, Chard, and Spinach Lasagna
This butternut squash, chard, and spinach lasagna is another great way to get in your veggies with your pasta side dish. This recipe, in particular, is great to get in your leafy greens. Swiss chard is a great source of vitamins A, C, and K. Spinach also contains a lot of important minerals our bodies need. Pair this together in a lasagna with your fish for protein, and you'll have a well-rounded meal.
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Garlic Parmesan Pasta
This garlic parmesan pasta is creamy, buttery, and everything you want in a pasta dish. This dish is great if you have any picky eaters in your home. It's hard not to like buttery noodles. It's also great if you're in a pinch for time. This can be cooked in under 30 minutes. What makes this dish so delicious is that the pasta cooks in a sauce made with chicken broth, butter, garlic, and cream.
Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta
This creamy tomato basil pasta is full of flavor. It's easy and simple to make and is great in the Summer when the basil and tomatoes are in season. So, if you have a garden and are growing excess tomatoes, this recipe is perfect to keep on hand. This is another dish that can be ready in about 30 minutes. It pairs super well with a fish accompaniment and a crisp white wine. While the pasta is cooking, you'll mix together and cook all the ingredients to make the delicious sauce.
Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta
This is a one-pan creamy tomato basil pasta. One-pan recipes are great because of how easy they are. This recipe is also great because the ingredients require little prep, which means it's also quick to pull together. All you have to do is cut up some tomatoes, and everything else can be used as is. These ingredients include basil, cream, marinara sauce, spinach, mozzarella, and seasonings.
Spaghetti Alla Nerano
This spaghetti alla nerano is delicious and is loved by actor Stanley Tucci, who featured this dish on his show “Searching for Italy.” He stated that this dish is one of the best things he's ever eaten, and we agree. Spaghetti alla nerano is creamy but light and has a great texture. What's fun about this dish is that the zucchini is fried, giving it a crunch that you might not be used to in pasta, but it is delightful. This dish also requires minimal ingredients. The recipe calls for zucchini, oil, basil, spaghetti noodles, and parmesan cheese.
Garlic Parmesan Broccoli Pasta
This garlic parmesan broccoli pasta is another one-pot pasta recipe. It's full of flavor as the noodles are cooked in the delicious sauce. It's also another great recipe to get in those veggies. This recipe is very simple and calls for noodles, broccoli, chicken broth, milk, cream cheese, parmesan, garlic, white wine, olive oil, and seasonings. You can substitute your pasta for different shapes, but small kinds of pasta are best, like large elbow macaroni or medium shells.
Cilantro Lime Pasta Salad
This cilantro lime pasta salad is a great way to keep your meal bright if you want citrus to be a prominent flavor in your fish dinner. It's also loaded with veggies and is a great recipe in the Summer. This recipe calls for bowtie pasta, tomatoes, corn, red onion, garlic, avocado, greek yogurt, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and seasonings. Although it calls for bowtie pasta, you can use another type of short pasta like rotini. While the pasta boils. all you need to do is cut up the tomato, onion, and cilantro and mix together all the ingredients for the dressing. Then, you mix all the ingredients with the pasta to get this delicious pasta salad.
Simple Sesame Noodles
This sesame noodles recipe is a great side dish if you're making an Asian-inspired fish like teriyaki salmon. If you've never had sesame noodles, you're in for a treat. These noodles have a deep umami flavor that is so good you'll keep going back for seconds. It's also really easy and only requires that you make a pan sauce to mix in your noodles. This sauce is made with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, dried ginger, chili garlic sauce, and garlic. It's important to note that this dish is on the drier side and isn't super saucy, so if you like a lot of sauce, double the amount of ingredients for the sauce. Also, if you want to take this recipe to the next level, you can use fresh ginger and garlic for that extra burst of flavor.
Coleslaw Orzo Salad
This coleslaw orzo salad is a fun twist on pasta salad. It's crunchy, citrusy, and has some sweetness. In a lot of Caribbean cultures, they will pair a bright and citrusy coleslaw with a piece of cooked fish. That's why this pasta salad will pair super well with your fish dinner. This recipe calls for orzo pasta, coleslaw mix, slivered almonds, dried cranberries, scallions, orange juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, honey, dijon mustard, and seasonings. Although you can add in the slivered almonds as is, if you want to add some more flavor, you can toast them to bring out their warm, nutty flavor.
Pasta E Piselli (Pasta and Peas)
Pasta e piselli is a super easy yet tasty dish. It's Neapolitan-inspired and is made with a short pasta and peas. It can almost be described as a cross between a soup and a pasta dish. It's super easy and can be pulled together in under 30 minutes with minimal ingredients. This recipe calls for ditalini pasta, frozen peas, parmesan, one shallot, olive oil, and fresh bail.
Garlic Mushroom Pasta
This garlic mushroom pasta is full of flavor. It is a deep and savory dish, but it can be brightened up easily with some lemon juice or zest. Cooking with mushrooms is so fun because they soak up whatever flavor of the ingredients you're cooking them in. In this case, you'll cook them with garlic and butter. If you want to brighten it up, this is when I would add in the lemon juice. Once the mushrooms are sauteed, you add in chicken broth to finish cooking them. Then add in the pasta and mix it all together with some parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste, and this dish is ready to go.
Vegan Lemon Pasta
This creamy lemon pasta is great if you need a vegan and gluten-free pasta dish. How do you make this pasta creamy if it's vegan? Easy answer! Instead of using a cream, you'll use coconut milk, and for the cheese, purchase a vegan parmesan cheese. While you boil the noodles, you'll cook together the delicious creamy and zesty sauce. Once the noodles are ready, you'll mix them into the pan with the sauce and top it with fresh parsley.
Caprese Pasta Salad
If you love fresh mozzarella, then this caprese pasta salad is for you. This pasta salad combines all the flavors and ingredients of a caprese salad but adds in pasta to make it more filling. It's super simple and only requires a few ingredients: grape tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, fresh basil, pasta, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and seasonings. All you'll have to do is cook the pasta, cut the tomatoes and basil, and then mix all the ingredients together.
Pesto Pasta Salad
This is similar to the pasta salad above! But make it pesto. This recipe calls for many of the same ingredients as the caprese pasta salad but adds in a few more flavors. In this recipe, add pesto sauce, red onions, and pepperoncini to brighten up the flavors. Although you can purchase pesto at the store, the best way to make this recipe the most delicious is to make homemade pesto. If you've never made homemade pesto, it's so easy and absolutely worth the extra bit of effort to make. It's made with oil, basil (or kale or spinach if you don't have basil), and a nut like pine or walnuts.
Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
If you've never tried sun-dried tomatoes in your pasta, then this is a great recipe for you to try and pair with your fish. Sun-dried tomatoes bring a bright and tangy flavor to your dish, which balances out this recipe well since you'll be making a creamy sauce. This recipe is super easy and can be ready in under 30 minutes with minimal ingredients. It calls for pasta, butter, garlic, flour, white wine, heavy cream, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese, and seasonings. Not only is this dish delicious, but it's colorful and will look beautiful on your plate.
Lemon Ricotta Pasta
This one is for all the ricotta lovers out there. This recipe tastes fresh and is easy and delicious. Although you can use low-fat ricotta if you're trying to reduce calories, it is recommended to use full-fat ricotta because of its flavor and texture. This recipe is super easy and quick, where you make the sauce while the pasta is boiling. Mix together the lemon juice, ricotta cheese, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. If you want to add in some spice, you can use red chili flakes in the sauce, or you can top it on each dish when it's served.
Creamy Cauliflower Rigatoni Pasta
This is another great recipe to help sneak in some vegetables, especially if you have picky eaters. The cauliflower in the recipe is easily hidden since cauliflower has such a mild flavor, and it's cooked down and dissolved into the sauce. Although you can use fresh cauliflower for this recipe, it will take less time and effort if you decide to use frozen cauliflower. If you'd like to add in some texture and crunch, you can also make garlic breadcrumbs to top the dish with. This recipe calls for cauliflower, onion, fresh garlic, thyme, stock, and cream. If you decide the make the breadcrumbs, then you'll need butter, garlic, and ciabatta bread.
Spinach Artichoke Pasta
This spinach and artichoke pasta is great for anyone who likes spinach artichoke dip. Take that, but make it into a full side dish! This recipe is also great if you want to keep your meal bright. The artichokes in this meal offer a great bright and tangy flavor, and the spinach ensures you're getting tons of nutrients. This dish is made creamy with cream cheese but has a good flavor from the vegetable stock. This dish can also be made with all types of pasta, even though the recipe calls for penne. But you can use any other kind like spaghetti, fusilli, or linguine.
Tortellini with Pesto and Roasted Veggies
Not only is this tortellini with pesto and roasted veggies beautiful with all of the colors it's full of, but it's also full of flavor and absolutely delicious. This recipe is a great way to dress up tortellini. As you may know, sometimes tortellini can be a bit dry. But all the veggies in this dish bring a liquid that balances it out. This recipe calls for cheese tortellini, red bell pepper, red onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, garlic, oil, pesto, and parmesan cheese. Don't forget, if you really want this dish to stand out, try to make fresh pesto sauce! It takes little effort and really makes a difference in your dish.
One-Pot Greek Spaghetti
This one-pot is great if you're wanting to make a Mediterranean meal. There are so many ingredients in this recipe that have bright and bold flavors that make it super yummy. And because this is a one-pot recipe, it's super easy, and you can have it ready in under 30 minutes. This recipe calls for noodles, minced garlic, capers, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and fresh basil leaves. First, you saute the garlic, then add in the cooked noodles, cut-up vegetables, and feta cheese. Mix it all together until the flavors combine and everything is coated in the sauce made from sauteeing the garlic. Although this dish calls to be served warm, it's similar to pasta salad and can be served cold if preferred. But, to serve cold, I would suggest a different style of pasta noodles.
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