My Go-To 3-Ingredient, 15-Minute Dinner with a Genius Shortcut

Deciding what to cook for dinner can be tough, especially when you’re not in the mood to spend hours in the kitchen. We’ve all seen those so-called “quick” meals that begin with chopping onions. But when I say “lazy meal,” I mean no knives necessary at all.

That’s why, when I saw the three-ingredient pasta going viral on TikTok, I knew it was going to be a regular in my dinner rotation. TikTok user ​​@Consciouschris shared his simple recipe for what he called a “lazy Trader Joe’s meal.”

The recipe is super simple: pasta, store-bought pasta sauce (tomato basil flavor), and cream cheese. While the original video used ingredients from Trader Joe’s, feel free to use your preferred brand of sauce and cream cheese.

How to Make TikTok’s 3-Ingredient Pasta

The recipe is as simple as it gets: just boil your pasta, then heat the pasta sauce and cream cheese on the stove until the cream cheese melts, creating a smooth, creamy sauce. Combine it with the pasta and top with optional Parmesan for extra flavor.

TikTok users rave about this dish because it's not only delicious but also a shortcut to making something similar to traditional pink sauce. Pink sauce is a creamy blend of tomato and heavy cream, usually made from scratch with tomatoes, butter, sugar, basil, and a few other spices. While the classic version takes under 30 minutes, this easy hack gets you there in under 10 minutes—it's hard to beat.

Of course, using cream cheese and store-bought pasta sauce won't recreate the exact taste of traditional pink sauce, but it does make for a creamy, cheesy version that's just as satisfying.

You can use any brand of ingredients and pasta shape for this recipe. I went with fusilli, Rao’s Tomato Basil sauce, and whipped cream cheese. I preferred the whipped version because its lighter texture melted smoothly into the sauce, creating a creamy consistency.

Honestly, this three-ingredient recipe works with any type of pasta, red sauce flavor, or cream cheese you have available. You could even swap in Boursin cheese for a fun twist on the creamy base.

The possibilities are endless. Once you try this dish, I guarantee you'll find plenty of reasons to make it over and over again.