Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta Recipe | My Favorite Spinach Pasta (2024)

Diethood » Recipes » Meal Type » Vegetarian » Creamy Garlic Butter Pasta with Spinach

Jump to RecipeRate This Recipe

Katerina

4.72 from 39 votes

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

This Garlic Butter Pasta with Spinach recipe is made with fresh spinach and bow tie pasta tossed in a creamy garlic-butter sauce.

Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta Recipe | My Favorite Spinach Pasta (2)

My Favorite Pasta Recipe with Garlic Butter and Spinach

Easy recipe for garlicky and buttery pasta with fresh spinach. A quick and easy meatless main or healthy side dish your family will love!

One of the meals I’ve made for Goce every week for the last several years is this Garlic Butter Pasta. He is my pasta-obsessed husband, and even though he’s mainly low-carb, sometimes a boy’s gotta eat what he wants to eat. ?

I add whatever leafy greens I can find – kale, spinach, chard – and suddenly it looks healthier and a lot more inviting.

What sets this pasta apart from other pasta dinners is that it’s without a heavy sauce, like alfredo. We are only dealing with butter and garlic, plus a pinch of cream cheese and milk.

Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta Recipe | My Favorite Spinach Pasta (3)

I’m tellin’ you, never underestimate the power of a good pasta dish. No… a GREAT pasta dish! This Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta recipe is seriously amazing.

I told you once before that we do pasta thrice a week; Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta, Cheesy Chicken Orzo, Baked Eggplant Penne Pasta… you get the point.

How To Make Pasta with Spinach

This pasta with spinach dish is a once-a-week deal. My other half is obsessed with garlic. Even more obsessed with pasta. The man can live on spaghetti… and chocolate CAKE!

  • Boil the pasta according to the directions on the box. I use Whole Grain or Whole Wheat Bow Tie Pasta and it takes about 12 minutes of boil time to get that al dente cooked pasta.
  • Melt butter in a skillet; add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. (I actually just wait for the pasta to be done, then I drain it and use the same pot to melt the butter and create the sauce. Who needs another pot or skillet to wash, ya know whadda mean? ?)
  • Add mounds of baby spinach and cook until wilted.
  • Stir in cooked pasta; add cream cheese and milk; cook until creamy and hot.
  • Serve!

Clearly, in order to enjoy this, you really need to love garlic. And butter. Cream cheese, too. Did I hear a ‘HELL YEAH!’?! Of course I did!!

Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta Recipe | My Favorite Spinach Pasta (4)

This is a 20-minute meal that’s completely fool-proof and a perfect quick dish for weeknights that will please even picky eaters.And it is the fastest Olive-Garden-Chef’s-Special type of food you’ll ever make!

How To Store Pasta Leftovers

Transfer cooked pasta to an airtight container; add a drizzle of olive oil and stir through. Cover and keep refrigerated for 3 to 5 days.

ENJOY!

Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta

Katerina | Diethood

This Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta recipe is seriously good. Fresh spinach and bow tie pasta tossed in a delicious and creamy garlic-butter sauce.

4.72 from 39 votes

Rate this Recipe!

Servings : 4 serves

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces bow tie pasta
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 8 ounces fresh baby spinach
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  • fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings, for garnish
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • ¼ cup milk

Instructions

  • Prepare pasta following the directions on the package.

  • Melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet or dutch oven.

  • Add garlic and continue to stir and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

  • Add spinach; season with salt, pepper, and basil, and cook until spinach is wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Depending on the size of your skillet, you might have to cook the spinach down in batches.

  • Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the spinach mixture; add the cream cheese and milk.

  • Mix and stir until everything is well incorporated, and the cream cheese is melted.

  • Taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly.

  • Top with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings.

  • Serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 385 kcal | Carbohydrates: 46 g | Protein: 11 g | Fat: 18 g | Saturated Fat: 10 g | Cholesterol: 47 mg | Sodium: 201 mg | Potassium: 483 mg | Fiber: 3 g | Sugar: 3 g | Vitamin A: 5882 IU | Vitamin C: 17 mg | Calcium: 112 mg | Iron: 3 mg

Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.

Course: Dinner, Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: easy pasta dinner, easy spinach pasta recipe, spinach and garlic pasta, spinach pasta recipe, vegetarian dinner recipes

Did you make this recipe?Leave a Rating!

Categories:

  • Dinner Recipes
  • Pasta
  • Quick Dinner Ideas
  • Vegetarian
Garlic-Butter Spinach and Pasta Recipe | My Favorite Spinach Pasta (2024)

FAQs

How long do you cook spinach before putting it in pasta? ›

Plunge the spinach into the water, and cook until it wilts, less than a minute. Drain quickly, allowing some water to cling to the pasta, and toss pasta and spinach in the bowl with the garlic and olive mixture.

What can I add to pasta to make it more interesting? ›

1–6. Veggies
  1. Broccoli. Broccoli is a nutritious and versatile vegetable that makes a great addition to any pasta dish. ...
  2. Mushrooms. Mushrooms can bring a creamy taste and texture to pasta dishes, along with a host of health benefits. ...
  3. Peas. ...
  4. Spinach. ...
  5. Tomatoes. ...
  6. Asparagus.
Apr 11, 2022

Can you cook spinach in pasta water? ›

If you're making a pasta recipe that involves spinach, you can use the water that your pasta's been boiling in to wilt it.

Are spinach noodles healthy? ›

The combination of fiber, vitamins, and minerals in spinach pasta can help lower cholesterol levels, maintain healthy blood pressure, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Can you taste the spinach in spinach pasta? ›

Remember that. The latter pasta smells really strong (sniff the box next time) and the taste is questionable (does it even pass for spinach?). Fresh spinach pasta is so light and subtle, you'd hardly know it was spinach pasta at all. On that note, please do not drown this pasta in sauce.

Is spinach pasta better for you than regular pasta? ›

Actually, it is not. Spinach pasta contains a healthy amount of iron, though not as much as enriched white and whole wheat pasta. Both are good for you, but the whole wheat does a slight advantage.

What not to do when making pasta? ›

Cooking pasta: 5 mistakes
  1. Toss the pasta when the water is cold. This is probably the most common and also the most serious mistake you can make in cooking pasta. ...
  2. Using the wrong measure of salt. ...
  3. Cooking pasta in a small pot. ...
  4. Overcooking the pasta. ...
  5. Drain the pasta too much.
Sep 14, 2023

What makes pasta taste better? ›

The water you cook pasta in should be as salty as the Mediterranean sea – add about 2 teaspoons of fine grain sea salt per litre (33 ounces) of water. That way your pasta has some flavour before you add the sauce – so you need to work less hard to make everything taste amazing.

How do you keep spinach from clumping in pasta? ›

To do it, simply fill a colander with fresh spinach, place it in the sink, and strain your cooked pasta directly into the colander. The hot water that you'll be straining anyway is the one-stop tool for wilting baby spinach leaves on contact.

Why do you put milk in pasta water? ›

But sauce isn't the only option you can turn to -- cooking your pasta in milk can give your dish a uniquely luscious, creamy texture. Mac and cheese is a prime example of a dish you can try this with, as the water-to-milk swap creates a more efficient cooking process with a richer sauce.

Does water spinach taste like spinach? ›

Its flavor is like a cross between spinach and watercress. Notice the hollow stems. This is an easy way to recognize this vegetable at the market. This Vegetable grows in wet subtropical areas and has several names in English: water spinach, water convolvulus, Chinese watercress, and sometimes morning glory.

What is the healthiest pasta to eat? ›

6 Healthy Noodles You Should Be Eating, According to a Dietitian
  • Whole-Wheat Pasta.
  • Chickpea Pasta.
  • Veggie Noodles.
  • Red Lentil Pasta.
  • Soba Noodles.
  • White Pasta.
Jul 13, 2023

Can diabetics eat spinach pasta? ›

Diabetics can eat any kind of pasta; however, it is important for people with diabetes to consider the amount and type of carbohydrates found in their pasta to maintain control of their blood sugar.

What is healthier rice or pasta? ›

For lower calorie and carbohydrate content, rice comes out top. But if protein and fibre is your aim, pasta wins over rice. That said, both can play a part in a healthy diet - and as the nutritional differences are quite small, it often comes down to which you would prefer.

Do I need to cook spinach before blending? ›

They noted that one of the best ways to maximize the amount of lutein is to make a smoothie and add healthy types of fat from dairy products. “Best is not to heat the spinach at all. And even better is to make a smoothie and add fat from dairy products, such as cream, milk or yogurt.

Should you boil spinach before blending? ›

Highlights. Spinach is a green leafy vegetable that we all know to be really healthy, due to the presence of high levels of antioxidants in it. However, the best way to eat spinach is not after blanching or boiling it, but rather adding it to your smoothies or juicing it, says a new study.

Can you overcook spinach in sauce? ›

Can you overcook spinach? Yes, you can. You want to cook the spinach just until it's completely wilted. It'll go slowly at first, but the process will speed up and before you know it, all those huge handfuls of spinach you put into the pot will have shrunken into hardly anything.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Edmund Hettinger DC

Last Updated:

Views: 6592

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (58 voted)

Reviews: 81% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Edmund Hettinger DC

Birthday: 1994-08-17

Address: 2033 Gerhold Pine, Port Jocelyn, VA 12101-5654

Phone: +8524399971620

Job: Central Manufacturing Supervisor

Hobby: Jogging, Metalworking, Tai chi, Shopping, Puzzles, Rock climbing, Crocheting

Introduction: My name is Edmund Hettinger DC, I am a adventurous, colorful, gifted, determined, precious, open, colorful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.