Our Most Popular Martha Stewart Recipe of All Time

In what should be a shock to no one, our Community’s most beloved Martha Stewart recipe is her One-Pan Pasta. Part of our Genius recipe series, this pasta is convenient, consistent, and absolutely delicious.

The recipe begins by combining spaghetti, basil, cherry tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a sauté pan. From there, you’ll add salt, pepper, and chili flakes, then cover the ingredients with 4 ½ cups of water and bring everything to a boil. Nine minutes later you’ll have a well-sauced, thoroughly flavored spaghetti.

As is the case with any “one-pan” setup, convenience drives much of this recipe’s appeal. While reducing the number of dishes used will trim cleaning time, it also makes cooking easier. Bringing a single pan to boil requires less technical ability than managing multiple pans, containing different ingredients, across varying temperatures.

There’s value in only needing a single burner, too. As anyone who has ever shared a kitchen knows, you don’t always have access to multiple burners. Knowing how to make yourself pasta with only one is a great way to work around a roommate’s overlapping cooking schedule.

Although likely unintentional, Martha’s spaghetti also happens to be the perfect campfire meal. Other than parmesan, the ingredients don’t have to be refrigerated, and because you just need the single pan, you’ll give yourself a much lighter pack. It’d be hard to beat a quiet night, looking out at something gorgeous, with basil, tomato, and garlic wafting through the air.

As always, don’t just take my word for it. Food52ers have left over 200 comments on the recipe page, nearly all of them positive. While many outline the various reasons why this one-pan pasta works, I found this comment from community member Bread & Roses especially adept at articulating the beauty of satisfying, low-effort, home-cooked meals: “It’s what I make when I have no energy but want to get back to real food…the colors and the scents of the fresh ingredients make me happy and the simple flavors are comforting.”

Have you made Martha’s one-pan spaghetti? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below!