Spinach Pesto Pasta

Spinach Pesto

Prior to this experiment, I’d never made spinach pesto. I’d seen plenty of recipes that went on and on about how easy it was, but I opted not to make my own version because I was convinced that the one I frequently purchased from Trader Joe’s was good enough.

Well, one day that changed. I don’t know what came over me, but I decided to give it a try. After all, it looked pretty easy, I was hungry, in the mood for pasta, and I hadn’t purchased any pesto from Trader Joe’s.

Spinach Pesto Pasta

I glanced into my refrigerator and pulled out some ingredients that I thought would be fitting for a good spinach pesto. In my research I learned quite a bit! I often think of basil as being the most dominant green in the mix, but I learned that there are a variety of other options that would serve well in addition to the basil. For my pesto’s base, I decided to go with spinach. It’s packed with nutrients and I happened to have a ton of it on-hand.

Spinach Pesto Pasta

Most traditional pesto sauces use Parmesan cheese, but as a substitute I decided to go with good ol’ nutritional yeast. To be honest, I’ve never been too crazy about nutritional yeast. I don’t think it tastes all that “cheesy” but I use it in recipes anyway to be on the safe side (I’m pretty sure it’s in the vegan handbook somewhere). In addition, most recipes typically use pine nuts but I didn’t have any on hand.

Spinach Pesto Pasta

To my surprise, the combination of roasted pecans and cashews worked out really well. Until this, I didn’t realize how easy it was to roast nuts. For whatever reason I thought it was some big deal, but it wasn’t. Probably the easiest thing I’ve done in a while. Measure out the pecans and cashews, place them on a tray and let them cook for 5 minutes. Easy peasy!

Folks, it just doesn’t get much easier than this. In fact, I’m not even sure if this spinach pesto really counts as cooking! After all of the ingredients are combined, be sure to add generous amounts of the sauce to your pasta, or else it’ll taste bland. Trust me, it makes all the difference!

Spinach Pesto Pasta

My next venture with this will be experimenting with it as a pasta salad. You know, like a cold version with some veggies mixed in. This spinach pesto is delicious spread over bread too!

Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments below! I know you’ll love it!

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Spinach Pesto Pasta
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5 from 2 votes

Spinach Pesto

Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Keyword Pasta, Pesto
Prep Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Add all pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend until all ingredients are well combined
  • Stir into cooked pasta until well coated and enjoy!

Notes

Makes about 1.5 cups
 
If you have leftovers, store the pasta and the pesto separately. If meal prepping, put the pasta in your dish and add a few spoonfuls of the pesto sauce overtop. DO NOT mix. If mixed, the sauce will seep into the noodles and make the pasta dry instead of creaming and flavorful 🙂 

4 Comments

  1. Lucretia Anderson

    5 stars
    I absolutely love this dish!! Easy to make, great for any occasion and tastes great! Love love!!

  2. Is it 1/3 cup of each nut or a total of 1/3 cup combined?

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