Pasta with Creamy Pesto Sauce
Pasta with creamy pesto sauce is a delicious mash up of fettuccine alfredo and pesto pasta. The result is a decadent, flavorful dinner that tastes like it came from your favorite Italian restaurant that’s ready in almost no time at all!
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Who doesn’t love a good pasta smothered in a creamy pesto sauce?
And let’s be honest, who doesn’t mind a meal that takes less than 20 minutes to prepare??
Our pasta with cremy pesto sauce combines both these over-powering desires into one easy dish that makes for an easy weeknight dinner or a fancy feeling at home date night dinner.
It’s as easy to make as boiling water and melting some butter and perfect when you want to eat well but have zero energy to do much more than boil water and melt some butter.
And that’s pretty much all you have to do: boil water and melt some butter with some garlic, stir in the pesto and some cream.
Then bam, dinner’s done.
Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies
Here’s what you need to make pasta with creamy pesto sauce:
- Pasta – You can use just about any pasta you like, but we tend to prefer fettucine, linguine, or bow tie for creamy pesto.
- Butter – You use this to saute the fresh garlic before adding in the pasta.
- Fresh Garlic – You want to use freshly crushed or minced garlic.
- Pesto Sauce – You can use store bought or make your own following our easy pesto sauce recipe or basil pesto sauce with walnuts. For a lemony flavor, you could try our lemon pesto sauce. Both are incredibly easy and come together as the pasta boils.
- Heavy Cream – You can use light cream, half and half, or milk. Just keep in mind, the lower the fat content, the less creamy it will be.
- Parmesan Cheese – You can use shaved, shredded, or grated parmesan cheese for this to add into the pasta and top it. You can also add additional Italian cheeses to top if you like.
You will want to get out your:
How to Make Pasta with Creamy Pesto Sauce
1. Boil your pasta.
This may be one of the hardest parts of this entire recipe: bring a pot of water to boil and then add in your noodles.
You will want to cook them according to the package instructions (about 9 to 12 minutes).
2. Prepare your skillet.
When the pasta is just about done cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet.
Crush or mince the garlic and saute for about 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant.
Using tongs or a slotted spoon, add the pasta to the skillet directly from the pot of water.
Toss gently with the butter and garlic to coat.
3. Toss and serve.
Reduce heat to low and add the pesto sauce and use your tongs or spoon to toss to fully coat.
Next, pour in the cream and toss.
Finally, finish it with some shaved Parmesan.
Remove from heat and serve with more parmesan cheese on top.
Serving
This dish is delicious as is, but if you want to add some protein to the equation serve some Easy Italian Grilled Chicken or some shrimp over top of it.
Serve pasta with creamy pesto sauce with your favorite sides, such as:
- Caesar salad
- Homemade Garlic Bread
- Easy Homemade Bread
- A side salad
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts
- Garlic Roasted Broccoli
Storing
Pasta with creamy pesto sauce is best served fresh from the skillet.
But if you find you have too much or want to make it ahead, you can store it for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge in an air tight container.
Keep in mind that the pasta will absorb the sauce as it sits in the fridge so you may need to liven refrigerated pesto pasta up with a little extra heavy cream before heating it up.
To reheat it, microwave individual servings or toss it with cream in a skillet over medium low heat.
Tips and Tricks
- While technically you can use any pasta shape, a wider pasta works much better than a delicate pasta. Wide pasta like fettuccine or parpadelle or pasta like bowties is perfect for the heavier creamy sauce.
- If you find that you’ve added too much cream and your sauce is too thin, stir in grated Parmesan. It’ll thicken the sauce right up.
- On the other hand, if you find the sauce is too thick, stir in a few tablespoons of pasta water. It’s a magical ingredient that loosens the sauce a bit without making it runny thanks to the starch from the pasta.
Other Easy Pasta Recipes
Looking for other pasta recipes for nights when you just don’t wanna cook but still want to eat something tasty? Try these:
- Pesto with Linguine
- Lemon Pasta
- Easy Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Creamy Chicken and Pasta
- Chicken Spaghetti Pesto
- Easy Homemade Meat Sauce
- Italian Tomato Sauce
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Equipment
- 1 pair of tongs
- 1 pasta pot
- 1 garlic press
- 1 large skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound fettucine
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup pesto sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Prepare the pasta according to package instructions. This is ussually about 9 to 12 minutes.
- In the last minute to two of cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Crush or mince the garlic and saute in the butter for about1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- When the noodles are ready, remove from heat and use tongs or slotted spoon to add directly to the garlic and butter.
- Toss the pasta to coat in the butter.
- Reduce heat to low and toss in the pesto sauce.
- Pour in the heavy cream and toss to combine.
- Once coated, add in the parmesan cheese and toss to combine.
- Remove from heat and serve directly from the skillet. Top with additional cheese as desired.
Notes
- Save a bit of the pasta water and use it to thin the sauce out if it is too thick. It will loosen the sauce without making it runny.
- This is best right after you make it but it will store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat it in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove and stir in a little more heavy cream to rehydrate the sauce if needed.
- Serve it with grilled chicken or shrimp and a side salad or roast veggies to fill the meal out more.
- You can really use any thicker pasta. Fettuccine, bow ties, parpadelle, etc. all work well. Avoid thin pasta like spaghetti or angel hair.
