Easy Pesto Pasta
Published 8/24/2023
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This pesto pasta is made with salty parmesan, homemade pesto, and delicious sautéd vegetables making for such a flavorful and easy pesto pasta dish you can enjoy any night of the week.
Now that you know how to make homemade pesto we thought we’d teach you how to make this super flavorful pesto pasta recipe. There is nothing better than a delicious bowl of pesto pasta tossed with tasty sautéd vegetables 😀
Ingredients You Need for Pesto Pasta
- Fresh basil: traditional pesto is made with fresh basil and we stuck to tradition for this pesto! Get the freshest basil you can find! No, you can not used dried basil.
- Parmesan: do not skip the parmesan in this pesto! It adds the salty and nuttiness that makes the pesto so delicious.
- Fresh lemon juice: brighten up your vegan pesto with fresh lemon juice.
- Garlic cloves: you can’t have any pesto (vegan or not) without garlic.
- Pine nuts: to thicken up your pesto we recommend sticking to the traditional pine nut. It adds the best nutty flavor to every pesto.
- Olive oil: you can use olive oil to thin out your pesto and add amazing flavor!
- Pappardelle pasta: we chose a simple pappardelle pasta for this dish!
- Bella mushrooms + cherry tomatoes: these delicious pesto does most the flavor work in this pasta dish, but the mushrooms and tomatoes add earthiness and a good serving of vegetables.
- Salt: we suggest waiting to add salt to this pasta until the end because the pesto and parmesan are both salty and delicious.
Tools You Need for Pesto Pasta
Top Tips for Pesto Pasta
Make it a creamy pasta: If you want to make this pesto pasta creamy, add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream to the pan when you add the pesto. Combine all the ingredients together and toss with the pasta.
Make it vegan: You can make this pesto pasta vegan by replacing the pesto with vegan pesto and vegan parmesan. The saltiness and deliciousness are still there.
Add a meat protein: our chicken pesto pasta recipe is a perfect alternative to this vegetarian version.
Pasta recommendations: We used pappardelle pasta for this pesto pasta, but you can use any pasta you’d like. Any of the following would be delish:
- rigatoni
- penne
- orecchiette
- fusilli
Easy Substitutions
The sky is the limit when it comes to adding other ingredients to this pasta. You can mix up the vegetables, add some spice, or anything else you’re craving. Here are some ideas:
- white onion
- bell pepper
- shallot
- fresh mint
- fresh arugula
- red pepper flakes
try it!
Easy Homemade Pesto
It’s bursting with freshness and a perfect way to use up your garden basil. This pesto recipe is excellent for bread dipping and is so delicious used in this pasta.
Storage
Store your pesto pasta in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat the pasta over low heat, adding a bit of olive oil if needed to thin out the pesto sauce.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this pasta with one of our delicious salad recipes:
- Spring Mix Salad: This spring mix salad is made with a combination of fruit, vegetables, cheese, and sesame roasted cashews. It is topped with a simple dressing and you can serve it with your favorite lunch or dinner recipes.
- Butter Lettuce Salad: This butter lettuce salad has a combination of vegetables, fruit, nuts, cheese, and is drizzled with a simple lemon vinaigrette. Everything on a bed of tender butter lettuce makes a perfect and delicious salad.
- The Best Arugula Salad: This is a simple and delicious arugula salad recipe. It is made with arugula, dried fruit, veggies, and fruit. It is the perfect side dish to any meal!
Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
Homemade Pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, or this vegan parmesan
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 medium clove garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
Pesto Pasta
- 8 oz. pappardelle pasta
- 8 oz. Bella mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, separated
- 10 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2/3 cup pesto, or vegan pesto
- 2 tablespoons pasta water
- grated parmesan, for topping
Instructions
- First, follow the directions in our homemade pesto post to make the pesto. Note that this recipe calls for 2x the pesto in that post so that it yields around 2/3 cup. Set aside.
- Next, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta to the pot. Stir periodically so the pasta does not stick together.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet pan over medium/high heat. Add olive oil.
- When olive is fragrant add the cherry tomatoes to the skillet and sprinkle them with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Toss the tomatoes in the olive oil and let them cook for 2-4 minutes or until excess tomato water has evaporated.
- Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté for 5-6 minutes or until brown.
- Set aside ¼ cup of pasta water before straining the water from the pasta when the pasta is cooked to al dente. Set pasta aside.
- Next, add the pesto and 2 tablespoons of the pasta water to the skillet with the tomatoes and stir until all the ingredients are combined.
- Heat the pesto until it is just before boiling. If you would like a saucier pasta, add an additional 2 tablespoons of pasta water to the pan.
- Add pasta to the skillet and toss the pasta with the pesto and tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Serve with grated parmesan cheese and enjoy.
Tips & Notes
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
Super tasty! I replaced the olive oil in the pesto with two table spoons of water, I didnt miss the oil at all 🙂
Super easy and delicious to make. Meal prepped them for my lunches this week and it’s always a good sign when I can look forward to eating the same thing 4 days in a row! I added some chicken breast to up the protein and the two extra tablespoons of pasta water and it was the perfect amount of saucy. Will definitely be making this again!
Ooo love the idea of meal prepping this for lunches to look forward to!