All the tastes you adore from one of your favorite appetizers are here in one creamy, delicious serving of pasta! This recipe for Spinach Artichoke Pasta will satisfy your appetite for a traditional dip while serving up a full and nutritious meal! Better still, it just takes 20 minutes to prepare!
Meet our new favorite luscious, creamy pasta, friends! Although I adore spinach and artichoke dip, I wanted to transform it into a bit more substantial and healthful meal. Enjoy our Pasta with Spinach and Artichokes! All the wonderful aspects of a spinach artichoke dip, now in pasta form! Our newest quick and simple vegetarian spaghetti recipe!
With only a few basic ingredients, this quick 20-minute pasta dish has a traditional cheesy artichoke and spinach taste without being too creamy. I adore my kids’ enthusiasm for eating so much spinach and how simple it is to put together!
Ingredients Needed
- Pasta – This tastes great with any of your favorite pasta dishes, but we really enjoy it with whole wheat penne!
- We always have fresh spinach on hand so it’s available for any of our dishes, but frozen spinach can work too.
- Artichoke Hearts: For this dish, we use the oil-packed artichoke hearts that we get from Costco. You may use freshly cooked artichokes or your favorite canned artichoke hearts; we just give them a quick washing before cutting and using them in the recipe.
- Cream Cheese and Half and Half: To enhance the traditional cream cheese flavor and creamy sauce of your beloved spinach and artichoke dip! An excellent method to finish off any of our own cream cheese!
- The ingredients for a roux—butter, flour, and garlic—are what produce a creamy sauce.
- Stock: Use vegetable or chicken to keep it vegetarian.
- Lemon juice: Just enough to give the sauce the perfect amount of acidity in the end!
- Spices: parsley, thyme, and onion powder. For this dish, we prefer dried, but fresh would work just as well; the conversion is indicated in the recipe notes.
- Parmesan cheese: on top and in the sauce!
Step-by-Step Instructions
This spinach artichoke pasta is very simple to make, which is why I adore it!
- Mix the flour, butter, and garlic to make roux.
- Add the spices and artichokes to the stock.
- Simmer the cheese, cream, and half-and-half after adding them all.
Your pasta is cooking in the meantime, waiting to be completed in the pot with this deliciously creamy sauce!
However, add that gorgeous fresh spinach before you add the pasta!
When the pasta is cooked through, transfer it to the pan to continue cooking all the deliciousness of a creamy spinach artichoke dip!
Recipe Tips
Making the roux
In this really easy spaghetti dish, this is the step that requires the most attention. To make a lovely light roux that will be just enough to help thicken that creamy, cheesy sauce, whisk together the butter and flour, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Raw or Defrosted Spinach
For this dish, fresh spinach works best because it’s the simplest to utilize! Simply add it right away and stir to allow it to wilt. Naturally, frozen spinach may also be used; simply defrost it and wring off the liquid before adding it to the meal, which will lessen the richness of the sauce.
Which sort of asparagus should I use?
Fresh, oil-marinated, and canned or jarred. Whatever you have is excellent. We use roughly 10 ounces of this, although a 14 ounce can of artichoke hearts may also be used. Whichever you choose, make sure to drain and rinse them, particularly if they have been marinated in oil.
Cook the entire artichoke and then chop off the heart to use fresh. This tutorial is excellent. Five to six tiny artichokes can be obtained from a single 14-oz container.
Well incorporate the cheese.
When the cream cheese and cream are added, carefully whisk the cream cheese into the sauce until it melts completely and is entirely incorporated while the mixture simmers. This will guarantee a wonderful, tasty, creamy sauce!
Allow the pasta to cook through in the sauce.
This applies to our other pasta recipes as well as this one, especially with fresh pasta! Let the pasta continue cooking in the sauce after cooking it for just about one minute less than necessary. By doing this, the pasta will be able to absorb the sauce without being too done.
Add the Parmesan cheese last.
Just before the pasta and after the spinach, we add the Parmesan cheese. But don’t forget to preserve some—or use more—to drizzle over the spaghetti!
The finest part is finally plating, serving, and savoring this spinach artichoke pasta!
Your spaghetti meal will taste just as good as your favorite cheesy dip when you top it with more Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley, if you have some!
Satisfy your appetite for spinach and artichoke dip with this pasta dish that goes well with any vegetarian supper!
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Spinach Artichoke Pasta
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pasta
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups artichoke hearts chopped 10 oz rinsed and drained or about a 14 oz can
- 1 1/2 cup stock vegetable or chicken
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup cream cheese 2 oz
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 cups fresh spinach packed 4 oz
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese finely grated plus more for finishing
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- fresh parsley to finish optional
Instructions
- Bring a big saucepan of well-salted water to a boil over high heat.
- Meanwhile, add butter to a sizable sauté pan (at least 3 quarts) that has been heated to medium. Allow to slightly melt before adding the flour and garlic. While the remaining butter melts, carefully whisk in the flour to make a light roux. To keep the garlic from burning, make sure it’s also covered with butter.
- Whisk in your preferred stock gradually as you blend it with the roux. Add onion powder, thyme, parsley, and artichokes. After bringing everything to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat back to medium and simmer it gently for three to five minutes.
- Put the pasta in the boiling water. Allow one minute shorter than the recommended cooking duration.
- Incorporate the cream cheese into the sauce with a gentle whisk, allowing it to melt and blend well. As the sauce thickens and the cream cheese melts, simmer for an additional three to five minutes.
- In order for the fresh spinach to wilt, add it to the sauce and mix thoroughly. After the spinach has wilted, mix in the lemon juice.
- After the pasta is cooked, drain it and immediately add it to the skillet. Cover with sauce, return to a vigorous simmer (if needed, increase heat a little), and allow pasta to continue cooking in sauce for an additional minute or until sauce thickens.
- Add the Parmesan cheese at the end and mix until it melts. After that, plate and proceed to serve!
- If preferred, sprinkle fresh parsley or more Parmesan cheese over top.
Notes
Refrigerator: Keep fresh for three to five days.
Freezer: Like other cheese-and-cream sauces, this may be frozen, but when it thaws out, it could have a little gritty consistency. We discover that it reheats most effectively in a saute pan with a bit extra Parmesan cheese added.
Replacements
Garlic: You can add around 1/4 teaspoon of dried garlic to the meal along with the other spices if you prefer not to use fresh.
Parsley: Use 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley in place of the dry.
Thyme: Use 1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh thyme instead of dry.
Spinach: To replace the fresh spinach, defrost out 5–6 ounces of frozen spinach and squeeze out all of the extra liquid before adding. Choose your favorite pasta! Just be careful not to boil for longer than the recommended one minute on the box, or for only ninety to one hundred seconds if using fresh.
Half and Half: For an even creamier sauce and taste, heavy cream works well as well.
Artichokes: After marinating them in oil, we drain and rinse them. Any canned or jarred artichoke hearts that have been washed and drained will work. For information on utilizing fresh artichokes, refer to the recipe recommendations mentioned above.