Using Up Leftovers: Fried Pasta

I am not convinced that we should get to have pasta without also getting to have fried pasta. I grew up eating this, despite not being Italian, but evidently this is a thing that mainly only Italians/people of Italian descent do. Didn’t know!

It’s a thing everyone should do, though, because it’s freaking magical.

I almost always make extra pasta when I make pasta, because it gives me leftovers to fry. For those of you who’re a bit weirded out by the concept of this, it’s basically the Italian version of lo mein (sorry, Italians, for describing it like that). This particular pasta in the pictures is not the puttanesca from last week, because I’d planned to show y’all this prior to when I planned to eat puttanesca. I promise the leftover puttanesca also got fried, though! This is pasta with the only jarred sauce I like, which evidently is a lot cheaper from Imperfect Foods than it is from the manufacturer. They also make amazing pestos and bruschetta toppings, including their new lemon artichoke pesto. I use that one on pizza, though spoon to mouth is also yes. No, Cucina & Amore is not paying me to plug them, but I definitely did include my referral code in the link for Imperfect Foods. If you don’t want a referral link to check them out, just go their site directly without the referral code.

I’ve been really into recipes through pictures again, and that’s totally happening in this one, too.

Here’s what you’ll need

leftover pasta (I generally go w/ half to a full pound, whether plain or with sauce)

1/4-1/2 cup of oil (I favor olive here)

Lemon pepper (optional; I only use this if I’m frying unsauced pasta)

Here’s what you’ll do

Put your skillet on the stove and set it to medium-high heat. You don’t want to be standing there all day, after all. Once it’s heated, toss your oil in there. I favor heavier amounts of oil than you might, so monkey with it and make it your own.

Get your leftovers out of the pot and into the frying pan!

You can see here that there’s not a ton of oil in the pan still, because the pasta soaks it all up. You can also see that the pasta is starting to cook nicely. I let it sit there and think about what’s happening for a while before stirring. Some people like their fried pasta like this, though I can’t claim I understand it.

Keep on frying! Most people I know like it more like this, but for me? Still frying!

This is how my family like theirs, though I often want even more char than that. I was super hungry, though, so I pulled it here since that’s good enough even if not perfectly charred.

So basically, you cook it until you’ve decided it’s cooked enough, and then you eat it. Now you’ve got one less leftover to worry about and a whole new favorite easy meal!