one-pan caramelized onion pasta

When I ran a poll on what this year’s easy-but-fancy holiday menu should star, beef tenderloin won out. I’ve been wanting to develop a beef tenderloin recipe here on What To Cook for years now so I was excited, and I cannot wait for y’all to try it! BUT I was also excited about the idea of developing an easy-but-fancy pasta dish, so I decided that this week, I’d follow that tenderloin-focused menu up with a new pasta that’s worthy of a special occasion (or any cold-weather weeknight!) and is EXTREMELY easy!

This pasta marries the rich, sweet, savory flavor of caramelized onions with the feels-like-magic ease of a one-pot pasta dish and the sauciness that every bowl of pasta deserves. Also, Boursin. It’s time for another Boursin recipe. It’s almost entirely hands off — it bakes in the oven! — so is ideal for entertaining, or for any night when you can’t park yourself in the kitchen for an hour to cook dinner. It’s also almost fully vegetarian. The only ingredient that isn’t is the anchovy paste, but I have a great sub for you in the notes section if needed!

PS, this recipe is a close cousin to one-pan creamy boursin pasta, which I posted about recently and so many of you asked for another version! Ask and you shall receive!

If you were hoping for a holiday entertaining menu starring pasta (or that was vegetarian friendly), make this dish the star of your show! Pair it with the merry and bright kale salad and bacon balsamic Brussels (omit the bacon if you want to avoid meat).

It would also be great with the beef tenderloin. Tenderloin, caramelized onion pasta, and kale salad would be a fabulous holiday meal.

This recipe is totally prep-ahead-able. Up to a day in advance, follow the recipe until just before you add the hot water. Cover the baking dish with foil and store it in the fridge. Pull it out, add the hot water and proceed with the recipe.

PS, for anyone that was hoping for an easy-but-fancy menu with seafood (the third option I gave in the IG poll!), see the “must have meat” note below the recipe for how to add shrimp to this pasta. One other seafood idea: You could swap the beef tenderloin in the OG menu with pan-seared scallops.

I love it when older WTC