Pasta with Creamy Pesto

This pasta with creamy pesto is a simple, flavorful dish, with a protein-packed creamy pesto sauce. Perfect for a quick, easy dinner!

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Listen, I know cottage cheese is everywhere. I resisted a long time, too! But truly, it is such a versatile ingredient! And between the cottage cheese pesto sauce and a higher protein pasta, this creamy pesto pasta packs 19 grams of protein per serving – all vegetarian!

Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe:

• Vegetarian – no time to cook meat or just not feeling an animal protein one night? This creamy pesto pasta is a great vegetarian dinner option.
• Protein-Packed – no meat required! You certainly can add some shredded rotisserie chicken or another protein, but with a protein-rich pasta and the cottage cheese pesto sauce, one serving packs 19 grams of protein as is.
• Sneaky Veggie – I’m not one for hiding veggies and lying about it, but I do love a good no effort, sneaky veg moment, like the spinach blended into the pesto sauce. Extra nutrition with no extra effort!
• Family-Friendly – if your kids don’t like red sauce, try this green sauce with them! Bonus points, tell them it’s Hulk sauce or green monster sauce, if they’re into that kind of thing. ; )
• 20 Minute Dinner – yep, 20 minutes (or less!) and dinner is served. Boil your pasta, make the sauce, toss to combine, boom – done!

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions:

For a full ingredient list with quantities, please check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Pasta – I like to use Barilla Protein+ pasta, as it has more protein and fiber than traditional pasta, but tastes absolutely delicious (my kids never notice when I use it!). You can also use a whole wheat pasta, gluten-free pasta, or a legume-based pasta (like Banza).
• Cottage Cheese – this makes the pesto sauce taste creamy and decadent, while also making it lighter and higher in protein. Blending it makes the texture super smooth and creamy, too!
• Pesto – basil pesto adds so much flavor! You can use store-bought or homemade. As someone with a severe nut allergy and who prolifically grows basil, I typically make my own with my nut-free pesto recipe.
• Spinach – why not? This sneaky veg adds a little extra nutrition and color to the sauce, without impacting its taste. Win-win!
• Reserved pasta cooking water – once the pasta has cooked, you’ll want to reserve about a cup of the cooking water that you’ll use to both heat the sauce and help make the sauce a delicious consistency.

How to Make Pasta with Creamy Pesto

For complete instructions, please check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Bring the pasta to a boil, preparing to package instructions. Once the pasta is al dente, reserve a cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta and returning it to the pot (removed from heat). To a blender, add the cottage cheese, pesto, spinach, and half a cup of the reserved cooking water and blend until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, continue adding reserved cooking water until creamy and smooth, yet pourable. Toss with the pasta, serve, and enjoy!

Tips and Variations

• Forget to reserve some pasta cooking water? No worries, I have before, too. While the reserved pasta cooking water does work best, you can also use water and a pinch of salt or chicken or vegetable broth in a pinch.
• Don’t overcook the pasta. Especially if you’re planning to have leftovers, overcooked pasta will end up like mush!
• Add extra protein. If you’re looking for an additional protein and nutrient boost, try adding shredded rotisserie chicken, meatballs, white beans or chickpeas, or crispy tofu.
• Mix in other vegetables. When you’re adding the sauce to the pasta, add some steamed broccoli, frozen peas, or roasted zucchini for another veggie boost. Note that if you’re adding a ton of vegetables or other additions, you may want to double the sauce!

Meal Prep: Storing & Reheating

As meal prep’s biggest fan, I’ll be honest — this pasta with creamy pesto tastes best when fresh.

That said, you can reheat leftovers or use this for meal prep, but the absolute key is you will need to add more water or broth. A lot of the moisture from the sauce is absorbed by the pasta when refrigerated (why it’s important to not overcook the pasta if you want leftovers!). So you will need to add another tablespoon or two of water before reheating to help get the saucy consistency back.

I don’t recommend freezing, unfortunately.

To reheat, microwave for 1-2 minutes, until warmed through.

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More Pasta Recipes to Love

• Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce
• Mushroom Zucchini Pasta
• Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

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