9 Old-School Pasta Dishes You Probably Haven’t Had In Years

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Thanks to Italian immigrants, pasta arrived in America sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Spaghetti swirling in marinara was one of the earliest popular dishes, but by the late 1920s, there were dozens of Italian-American staples, with brands like Chef Boyardee (known then as Chef Boiardi) canning everyone’s favorites. America saw pasta as a blank canvas, and that introduced loads of quirky pasta dishes like cheesy casseroles, sandwiches, and even dessert pasta.

The postwar landscape further influenced the Italian-American culinary scene. American soldiers got a taste for things like pasta and oregano while stationed in Italy. Additionally, Chef Boyardee’s tinned spaghetti was eaten by thousands of U.S. troops during their service. Once word of the country’s newfound love for pizza and pasta got around, Italians started taking their recipes out of the kitchen and into restaurants. 

Between rationed foods throughout the 1940s, financial woes, and general culinary curiosity, pasta recipes were now everywhere. In many regions of the U.S., these somewhat outdated meals are forever comfort foods. They’re still enjoyed on occasion, but these days, you’ll probably only hear of the following nine old-school pasta dishes by word of mouth or in a dusty cookbook.

Pasta primavera was the “it girl” of pastas in the 1970s and ’80s. As The New York Times’ Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey even stated at the time, it was “by far, the most talked-about dish in Manhattan.” It is a vegetable-heavy pasta served in a delicate cream sauce. Primavera, meaning spring, was popularized by a team of chefs at NYC’s Le Cirque restaurant to celebrate the season’s bounty of fresh vegetables. Pasta primavera recipes often include a medley of veggies like bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Before pasta primavera, pasta was always associated with heavy sauces that would put you to sleep, like spaghetti with fatty meatballs or a rich chicken Alfredo. It wasn’t on Le Cirque’s menu for long before every other Italian-American restaurant started adding it to their own menu. Soon, pasta primavera was as commonplace as chicken cacciatore or puttanesca. Bright green vegetables weren’t regular guests in pasta; they were more often slow-roasted or sauteed into a soft sauce, so America ate this dish up. These days, it’s kind of boring, and the cream sauce can take away from the fresh veggies.

There was a time when tuna noodle casserole was on every American household’s dinner menu. Casseroles boomed in popularity during the postwar landscape. Just about anything could be mixed with noodles and tossed in the oven, making both cooking and cleanup a piece of cake. Campbell’s had a hold on families at the time, pushing its condensed cream-of-whatever soups onto consumers. Tuna noodle casserole typically utilizes the cream of mushroom soup, along with egg noodles, tuna, and breadcrumbs. Simple to prep, simple to make, and simple to eat.

Canned tuna was the star of many dishes, even having its own cheesy sandwich — the tuna melt — but it wasn’t as common in main courses. Tuna noodle casserole, or tuna wiggle as it was known in many New England households, was first recorded sometime in the ’30s, but it went on to become an American classic, with recipes adapted by Betty Crocker in the ’50s. Tuna noodle casserole remains a go-to for quick dinners, often upgraded with herbs like fresh dill and cream of celery soup. When considering all the different ways to stretch a can of tuna, the casserole route is one of the best bangs for your buck.

Here we have yet another casserole, but this time with spaghetti. Most casseroles are made with smaller bites of pasta so portions can be easily scooped, but chicken tetrazzini requires more of a fork. It’s an ooey-gooey, cream-based casserole made with chicken, mushrooms, and plenty of cheese. Originating sometime in the early 1900s, perhaps as early as 1911, the comforting dish remained relevant throughout the entirety of the 20th century.

The pasta’s creator was allegedly inspired by the Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini and created the dish in her honor, although the recipe has more French influence than Italian; it’s prepared with both chicken veloute and hollandaise. Chicken tetrazzini is still enjoyed today, often in elevated recipes that take advantage of modern ingredients. Turkey is regularly swapped for the chicken, especially when there’s a surplus of leftovers after the holidays.

Savory pies are nothing new. Europeans have been feasting on meat pies since the Roman Empire, and America adapted Britain’s 16th-century chicken pot pie centuries later. This ultra-American fusion is known as spaghetti pie, a distant cousin of lasagna. Cooked spaghetti is mixed with eggs and cheese to create a sort of custard that’s then pressed into a pan and baked. Popular mix-ins include ground beef, tomato sauce, and often more cheese to make a bubbling crust.

Since it all started with cooked spaghetti, it was a perfect recipe for cleaning out the fridge. Adored for its ease and filling nature, this wallet-friendly dinner was a classic. Spaghetti pie is often compared to pastitsio, a baked Greek pasta, but there’s one glaring difference — the pasta. Pastitsio uses tubular pasta rather than spaghetti, giving it an entirely different body and weight. This American pasta pie is rarely seen now. It might be a textural thing, but slicing into tangled spaghetti always felt a little wrong somehow.

The macaroni loaf feels so unapologetically 1950s. In the advertisements of the era, pre-made food products were on every other page, and savory loaves were the next sensation. They were sometimes called macaroni and cheese loaves, as that’s basically what they really were. Not too different from the spaghetti pie, it was made with cooked pasta (elbow macaroni, of course) and a cheese-heavy batter. The mixture was then baked in a loaf pan until it was congealed enough to slice. Although unlike the spaghetti pie, this loaf was typically served chilled.

Ham, peas, or one of the cherished Campbell’s condensed soups often made their way into macaroni loaves. It was also often mixed with tomato sauce, like the Hunt’s-brand advertisement pictured above. The ad also recommends thinly sliced green peppers for a pop of color. Remember, this was the era of gelatin-encased meats and molded salads, so visually unsettling seemed to be the vibe.

Many people have discovered this sloppy sandwich in the same manner: under the glare of the fridge light at 1:00 a.m. in a ravenous haze. Everyone seems to prepare these sandwiches differently, but the general consensus favors leftover spaghetti smashed between two pieces of Wonder Bread; but any spongy white bread will do. A slather of mayo or butter and a few slices of cheese don’t hurt, either.

Most of these old-school pasta dishes were created with leftovers, but that doesn’t discredit them whatsoever. This is one of those quirky dishes with a dozen origin stories, and even more variations. Some grill it with cheese, while others broil their sandwich open-faced style. In 2024, a version of this sandwich was a star offering at the North Carolina State Fair. If you like a slab of crunchy garlic bread with your spaghetti and meatballs, then why not put them together? Elliot Moss, chef and author of “Buxton Hall Barbecue’s Book of Smoke,” brings his childhood favorite back to life with buttery garlic bread (always toasted) and cubes of cheddar or Parmesan cheese.

Behold: the baked noodle ring. This is another baked pasta dish, but this one takes shape. Bundt cake pans were wildly popular for decades. From the 1950s all the way into the ’90s, it felt like every single dish was served in that peculiar shape, and pasta was no exception. The base of the baked noodle ring wasn’t very different from the others. Noodles were baked with eggs, milk, and cheese to hold their shape and seasoned with whatever was on hand.

Vegetables, chicken, and creamed condensed soups were easy additions, but those were typically added during presentation — poured into the center of the ring. Some recipes don’t even bother with the custard base. A 1986 “Illustrated Good Housekeeping” cookbook features a recipe that only calls for cooked noodles, butter, and a Bundt pan.

This Midwestern favorite is like an American goulash, made with ground beef, tomato sauce, and cheesy noodles. Thought to originate in Ohio’s cherished Italian restaurant, Marzetti’s, it was allegedly named after the owner’s brother-in-law. Teresa Marzetti was the real woman behind the curtain, but because she never put the recipe down in writing or plastered it on the menu, the Marzetti company lays official no claim to the dish. That said, the credit still belongs to Columbus, Ohio, with local papers printing variations of the delicacy as early as 1916.

Once baked ziti and lasagna rolled into the scene, Johnny Marzetti started losing its appeal in surrounding towns, but never in Ohio. It was once a school lunch staple in Columbus, but it faded out of the lineup ages ago. In 2010, the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act encouraged vegetable-forward lunches, and Johnny Marzetti didn’t make the cut. Many passed-down family recipes include sugar and a generous blend of American and Mozzarella cheese.

It’s probably been a while since you’ve heard of frog eye salad, if ever. It’s less of a forgotten pasta dish and more of a mysterious one, adored by the Mormon community and much of the American West. Don’t let the name steer you away, as this is neither a frog-based dish nor a salad. Though not the only chilled dish on this list, it is technically the only pasta salad, but at the end of the day, it’s a dessert. It kind of has the texture of rice pudding, just using tiny pasta in place of rice.

Frog eyes refers to the tiny pieces of pastina (traditionally acini de pepe) that make up the base of the “salad,” before being tossed in a custard made of sugar, flour, eggs, pineapple, and juice. It was such a staple in the Western states that Creamette-brand acini de pepe even had a recipe for frog eye salad on the side of the box for decades. That recipe added canned fruit cocktail with the pineapple as well as mini marshmallows.