I tried easy weeknight pasta recipes by Ina Garten and Ree Drummond. One earned a spot in my dinner rotation.

When temperatures start to drop, few things quite hit the spot like an easy pasta dinner, especially on busy workweek nights or during the back-to-school rush.

Ree Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman, and Ina Garten are both beloved for their approachable, comforting dishes, making their recipes ideal for a cozy meal that doesn't require hours in the kitchen.

I made one of each chef's simplest pasta recipes. Although they used different ingredients and ultimately created very different dishes, both came together with minimal effort, simple ingredients, and required very little cleanup.

Here's how I made Ina Garten's and Ree Drummond's easy weeknight pasta recipes, and which one I'd make again.

For seasoning, you'll need olive oil — and Garten, of course, specifies that it should be "good" — along with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and crushed red-pepper flakes.

Garten's recipe calls for 4 pints of cherry tomatoes to serve six people. Since I was making a much smaller portion, I used a pint and a half instead.

After adding the tomatoes to a large mixing bowl, I added my julienned basil leaves and three cloves of minced garlic. I then seasoned everything with half a teaspoon of salt, a few dashes of red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.

This was virtually the only prep the recipe required. To make it even more weeknight-friendly, you can use jarred minced garlic — because, as Garten famously says, "store-bought is fine."

I used about half the olive oil Garten recommends. It was enough to cover the tomatoes and create a "sauce" base at the bottom of the bowl.

I gave everything a good mix and then covered the bowl with plastic wrap.

Garten recommends leaving the mixture at room temperature for about four hours, so resist the urge to refrigerate it. Just before the four hours were up, I made the pasta noodles.

I loved how hands-off the recipe was. Aside from boiling the pasta, it had the same set-it-and-forget-it appeal as a slow-cooker meal.