Host a Pasta Bar

Try setting up a pasta bar for your next family dinner or gathering! It's a fun and interactive pasta experience that’s perfect for guests of all ages and easily fits any budget and dietary needs. Everyone gets to be their own chef and choose from a variety of sauces, toppings, and pasta shapes to make a dish completely customized to their taste. It works great for fancy or casual events and turns boring meals into a way for everyone to enjoy their favorite pasta. We tried this for a birthday party and it was a hit! We've made a detailed tutorial for you to follow so you don't need to worry about the details of a perfect pasta bar

1. Pasta

Make sure you offer different shapes of pasta for your guests to choose from. We recommend 3-4 shapes. We chose penne, fettuccine, and farfalle. Make the pasta bar gluten-free by offering gluten-free pasta shapes. We cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packaging and tossed it in a little olive oil once drained to keep the pasta from sticking together.

2. Pasta Sauce

Choose a variety of sauces to top your pasta. They can be homemade or store-bought. We chose alfredo and tomato pasta sauce. Some other options are basil pesto, garlic butter, or meat sauce. We warmed up our sauce in a saucepan on the stove for a couple minutes before serving and then poured them into our serving dishes.

3. Pasta Toppings

Prepare lots of toppings for your guests to add to their pastas. We recommend at least one protein, a couple of veggies, and at least one cheese. We chose grilled chicken for our protein but a couple other options are sausages, meatballs, or tofu. We also had sliced cherry tomatoes, sautéed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and diced bell peppers. You can prepare your toppings ahead of time by cutting them but wait to cook your vegetables until the day of serving for maximum freshness. Our toppings also included grated parmesan.

4. Salad

We recommend serving a salad on the side for your guests. Our salad consisted of chopped romaine lettuce hearts, sliced cherry tomatoes, and shaved carrots. We also had Caesar salad dressing and croutons. You can choose whatever you want for your salad or choose to skip this step altogether.

5. Garlic Bread

Garlic bread or breadsticks pair perfectly with pasta. We chose to serve garlic bread but we recommend having at least one of the two at your pasta bar. You can even use frozen garlic bread or breadsticks to save time.

Tried This Tutorial?

We'd love to know how it turned out!

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