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The Pasta Queen: 100+ Recipes and Stories

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

TikTok sensation and beloved home cook Nadia Caterina Munno, a.k.a. The Pasta Queen, presents a cookbook of never-before-shared recipes featuring the signature pasta tips and tricks that are 100% authentic to Italian traditions—and just as gorgeous as you are.

In the first-ever cookbook from TikTok star and social media sensation Nadia Caterina Munno—a.k.a. The Pasta Queen—is opening the recipe box from her online trattoria to share the dishes that have made her pasta royalty. In this delectable antipasto platter of over 100 recipes, cooking techniques, and the tales behind Italy’s most famous dishes (some true, some not-so-true), Nadia guides you through the process of creating the perfect pasta, from a bowl of naked noodles to a dish large and complex enough to draw tears from the gods. Whether it’s her viral Pasta Al Limone, a classic Carbonara, or a dish that’s entirely Nadia’s—like her famous Assassin’s Spaghetti—The Pasta Queen’s recipes will enchant even the newest of pasta chefs.

Featuring a colorful tour of Italy through stunning photographs and celebratory tales of the country’s rich culinary heritage, along with stories about Nadia’s own life and family, The Pasta Queen is a cookbook that will warm your heart, soothe your soul, and spice up your life. And best of all? It’s just gorgeous .

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 8, 2022

173 people are currently reading
10520 people want to read

About the author

Nadia Caterina Munno

4 books50 followers

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5 stars
222 (60%)
4 stars
92 (24%)
3 stars
43 (11%)
2 stars
9 (2%)
1 star
3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
Profile Image for Mom Reads Romance.
712 reviews26 followers
November 9, 2022
I’m half Italian and have always loved well made Italian food. When I started following her on Instagram, I knew if she released a book I was buying it. Her recipes are amazing and always turn out well for me.

Her love of her culture and food just oozes off the screen and the same can be said of her beautiful cookbook.

I pre ordered the kindle or ebook version but will def be buying the hardback bc it is just gorgeous.

The ebook version reads smoothly. And the links work too. Some of the recipes have a video link to watch her cooking!

And if you have an ereader you can use your phone to watch the video. The clips worked smoothly while reading my kindle paperwhite and using my iphone to grab the link and watch.

The recipes are varied and while even the quickest options take time, I feel like it is worthwhile.

She has so many tips, stories and pictures in this book, it makes you feels like you are sitting with her in her kitchen like an old friend.

It is going to be a well loved in my kitchen.
Profile Image for Shannon.
754 reviews6 followers
February 3, 2023
Don't make pasta from scratch unless you're prepared for the consequences. Store bought pasta will never taste as good.
Profile Image for Stormy.
559 reviews3 followers
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June 2, 2023
What fun to read about the easy, delicious cuisine of Italy.
Profile Image for Katie.
117 reviews9 followers
January 9, 2023
I received this cookbook as a Goodreads Giveaway. When it arrived I thumbed through it, remarking on the map I found inside, as well as the beautiful photographs and illustrations. The table of contents is very well organized, with fun chapter titles and illustrations included on these pages as well. There are recipes spanning from homemade pastas and cheese, to pesto, to recipes designed to "impress your guest". I liked the layout of the recipes, which features the list of ingredients on the left side of the page, easy to follow instructions, with some photos of the finished recipe. The author also includes family photographs and stories of how she learned to cook.

I have not made any of the recipes yet, but I look forward to making these recipes soon:
Goddess of Love, The Rebellious Carbonara (vegetarian), and The Drunken Salmon, just to name a few. I think this cookbook would make a great gift.
1,917 reviews
January 10, 2023
Although i am a little wary of a good looking woman prominently photographed claiming a large title - this book, behind the flash, has good to great authentic and homey pasta and sauces recipes. Italy is large enough to have many regional flavors and dishes and i found this book to contain good representations of some and great in depth representations of a few. Overall, a very good pasta book.
Profile Image for Tania Matthews.
4 reviews2 followers
June 26, 2023
Entertaining, inspiring and exciting, just like her videos!
Profile Image for Katie Isbell.
4 reviews8 followers
November 30, 2022
I LOVE this cookbook!! First of all, the book itself is gorgeous from start to finish, which always makes me love a cookbook just a bit more. The recipes are incredible and there is such a range! I really appreciate that, in addition to recipes to make different types of pasta from scratch, each pasta dish recipe in the book gives you recommended pasta shapes if you aren't making the pasta from scratch. As someone who often doesn't have a ton of time to make dinners on weeknights due to grad school and work, I love that I can still make the wonderful recipes without the extra step of making the pasta from scratch. It makes it so I can still enjoy these delicious dishes on nights that I forget to plan ahead for dinner. I really, really have enjoyed the "Family First" section of recipes because they're quick and easy. The Fettuccine Alfredo recipe is to die for! I can't wait to make my way through the entire book and learn more about making pasta from scratch in particular.
Profile Image for Ashley.
2 reviews
November 30, 2022
I love this cookbook! It is full of great pasta recipes, and any pasta lover would love some if not ALL of them. Everything is explained really well and includes QR codes on how to cook some of the dishes. The fun stories in between set a nice, true-italian mood to make you feel inspired and also give insight to the pasta queen’s background. I’ve already tabbed so many recipes I can’t wait to try :)
Profile Image for Jessica.
207 reviews30 followers
May 1, 2024
It may be a pasta cookbook but by the gods this is one of the best cookbooks I own and I am going to give it a rating and a review.

5 stars, obviously.

Nadia knows pasta like the back of her well-manicured hand.

These recipes are fantastic and delicious and I feel like these recipes have just generally improved my cooking too. The instructions are clear, the book itself is stunningly beautiful and well-designed. Nadia describes her family's history of making pasta in Italy, her childhood in Italy eating and making pasta with her family with so much care and love that the cookbook literally does feel like a labour of love.

I literally read the entire thing, cover to cover, and enjoyed every second of it.

I've made almost 10 recipes from this book so far and they've all been delicious. My parents have also had great compliments towards my pasta dishes ever since. My dad especially loves the Green Temptation pasta.

(writing this in September 2023, and posting this in mid 2024 because life*. I've made more pasta and this has been amazing to have. Truly a cookbook to pass on to the next gen.)
Profile Image for Linda Romer.
866 reviews60 followers
December 29, 2022
I loved this cookbook, The Pasta Queen is so talented, informative and loads of fun. Nadia's recipes are instructive, flavorful and delish. I loved the tips and stories about her family. Her creative recipes will keep me busy for a long time. Nadia's tricks and tips are awesome. I love how you can choose which pasta to use in the recipes.

I give The Pasta Queen 5 stars for its expertise.
I would recommend this book to all food lovers.
2 reviews
January 9, 2023
This cook book is one of my favorites! I love The Pasta Queen on Tik Tok and youtube but having a physical book to make recipes from is so much better! The photos inside and beautiful, tons of easy recipes and lots of great stories. There are even QR codes inside that take u right to the video of her making the recipe!
Profile Image for Sandy.
2,791 reviews72 followers
March 19, 2025
I’m a pasta lover! Seriously, I love my pasta! Ok, let me rephrase that, I love pasta that doesn’t have anything to do with fish. I’m not a fish person. Nevertheless, I was excited to get my hands on a few of the pasta books at the library. From how she got started cooking, to what a cook needs to make pasta, to recipes, this book has a little bit of everything in it.

I enjoyed reading how Nadia began her career and learning about her family’s history. Sharing these recipes, she hopes that she is keeping her family’s traditions alive and bringing together her family’s history with society today. Nadia explains the tools, terms and items that are needed to make good Italian recipes even before providing any recipes to her readers. She then puts her recipes into 6 chapters in this book. There are also some closing remarks from her, a resource guide (where to locate items), a pasta by category page, and a great index. The six chapters are:
Pasta Basics, Where It All Began, Be My Guest, Family First, Falling in Love With America, The Pasta Renaissance.

With each recipe you get: a list of ingredients (grams and cups), total prep and cooking time, how many it will serve. Some recipes have an icon to scan so you can watch the recipe if you scan the icon with your phone. Some recipes also tell you how much/how many the recipes make. Some of the recipes are titled in their Italian name which left me boggled sometimes but Katie puts on the page what it means in English.

I liked that this book spends a lot of time discussing and showing how to make the different kinds of pasta. I’ve been meaning to do this, and I think I can tackle this now. I also like how most of her recipes don’t take a lot of ingredients to make. Using fresh tomatoes, I like how she adds a few more ingredients, her pasta and there’s a new dish. There are not a lot of fish recipes, and I think I could tweak most of the recipes to make them something I would enjoy. What I didn’t like about this cookbook was that every recipe didn’t have a picture. Now, I’m not expecting a huge picture each time but something small would be nice. I think around 80 % of the recipes had their accompanying recipe pictures with them. Some of the recipes had no pictures and some had pictures of Nadia or Nadia and her family. I still think this cookbook is a keeper. 4.5 stars for me
Profile Image for Paul Sutter.
1,263 reviews13 followers
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July 8, 2023
All hail the Queen! Well the pasta queen that is. Nadia Caterina Munno had become quite the Internet sensation thanks to TikTok. But it was because of a rather mediocre pasta recipe being noted on TikTok, that piqued her interest in writing about her passion.
Early in this book she says that she was looking at her daughter’s TikTok app, making sure she wasn’t watching anything not suited for a young girl. Then on came someone who was trying to cook pasta all the wrong ways. It really made her blood boil badly, when she saw this person making a mockery of the pasta process. That set the wheels in motion for Nadia to bring her expertise to the forefront, as pasta was definitely one of her passions.
She says she thought back to her childhood, and how so much care was taken when pasta was made. Soon, she was creating her own pasta perfection, and gaining quite an impressive audience to boot. It was only a logical extension for her to next create a book, that had more than 100 recipes, so that people could see what pasta was all about, adding her Italian heritage and love for the food. Readers will enjoy her book immensely, because she covers all facets of pasta from choosing the right one, to what sort of implements you need in the kitchen to never bring out the best in the pasta. There are pasta machine instructions, that allow readers to duplicate her recipes, and there is no reason why you cannot become the pasta queen (or king) of your household.
The recipes in the book definitely give people the best of all worlds and tastes. Some of the recipes found in the book include: Lasagna vegetariana conm sfoglia verde, minestra di spaghetti, fettucine al ragu di polpo, ricotta and mushroom tortelloni filling, risotto alla cream di scampi, lemon temptress, the assassin’s spaghetti, and vegan lady of the night.
Some are most exotic sounding, but the bottom line is you will enjoy them. Photos are included to tempt your taste buds, and give you a clue to the finished product. Let the pasta queen rule over your kitchen, and your pasta passions in the process.
8 reviews
March 26, 2023
This book is wonderful.  The pictures are beautiful, and the recipes are great.  There are so many wonderful recipes from Lemon Ricotta Delight, which sounds delicious to Radiatori al Forni ( Italian mac and cheese) to classics like Fettuccine Alfredo, so many different varieties.  It is very informative and detailed explaining ingredients and different types of pastas.   I like that many of the recipes seem very simple. It is perfect for someone like me who is unfamiliar with how to make pasta. My husband received a pasta maker attachment for the holidays and we are very excited to make recipes from this book. 
Profile Image for Christina.
24 reviews
February 14, 2023
This gets a mediocre rating just because I am meh about pasta in general. I love The Pasta Queen's videos and I wanted to support her by buying her book, but I don't really like actually eating pasta. If she could write a cookbook The Rice Queen, I would be all over that. If you love eating pasta, particularly good pasta, buy this book and ignore my review.
Profile Image for Mara.
792 reviews4 followers
June 15, 2024
Yea… she knows what she’s doing. Every pasta is amazing. Like everything is tested.

One note a lot of the recipes are really salty. Cool it with the salted pasta water. No it should not taste like soup unless you want hypertension.

Also a little weird the vast amount of photos of her. Most recipes are photographed. But there might be more of her than the food…
17 reviews
July 1, 2025
Good recipes, but TMI about the author

I love the cooking of Italy and found a few good recipes here. What I did not appreciate was the general tone and focus of the book - it was less about food and more about the author in exaggerated poses. I would have liked to see more pictures of the food and fewer of the author dressed up and posing.
Profile Image for Heather.
19 reviews
November 21, 2022
I received this book as a part of a giveaway. I was unfamiliar with the author, but love books, pasta and fresh ingredients. I was pleased with the entire book. Pictures and stories were well done and recipes are laid out nicely. I am ready to dig in.
Profile Image for Laroy Viviane.
367 reviews3 followers
November 27, 2022
Toutes les recettes connues de la Queen sont dans ce livre. Beau formal, soigné et belles photos. Le point fort? Les indications pour faire ses propres pâtes fraîches et ne plus les acheter déshydratées. Just gorgeous.
Profile Image for Sandy.
673 reviews29 followers
January 17, 2023
What a beautiful cookbook! We had literally just come home from a week in Italy and the book was waiting in the mail...several recipes we had had in Rome and Florence we are now able to recreate for ourselves. A just gorgeous cookbook is no exaggeration!
Profile Image for Emily.
23 reviews3 followers
January 17, 2023
I was nervous when I first saw homemade pasta and thought, oh no. But she quickly assuaged my fears and gave accessible and delicious recipes. I foresee reaching for this cookbook many times over the years.
Profile Image for M..
10 reviews
January 27, 2023
Classic Italian recipes that are so simple to make and incredibly delicious. I wanted to give this book 4 stars originally because of the large quantity of pictures of Nadia (quite narcissistic), however the outcome of her dishes surpassed this.
Profile Image for Brindi Michele.
3,642 reviews54 followers
October 10, 2024
this book will make you fall in love with everything pasta...ha! as if you need something to convince you. i have great aspirations of this, and would love to own, but not sure how much i'd actually make out of here. but maybe it will encourage me to make homemade pasta more often!!
Profile Image for Matthew Sciarrino.
227 reviews
December 2, 2024
Great cookbook. Gorgeous pictures, wonderful stories. Very easy to follow. Even has Q Codes for videos of done of recipes. A very modern looking cookbook featuring many classic and updated classic dishes.
Profile Image for Christina Walsh.
4 reviews
February 15, 2025
I recently took a pasta making class and purchased this cookbook after watching "The Pasta Queen" cooking series on Amazon Prime. The recipes look fairly simple to execute and Nadia is a very entertaining storyteller. I can’t wait to try some of these recipes!
44 reviews1 follower
November 21, 2022
Excellent addition to my cookbook collection. The title does not disappoint! It truly is just gorgeous and filled with delicious recipes.
6 reviews
November 24, 2022
love it!

Such a fun creative cookbook! Anyone who loves pasta should purchase this book. The recipes are very easy to make.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews

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