Creamy spinach and artichoke pasta recipe – a vegetarian, one-pot meal that’s like having your favorite appetizer dip in dinner form!
Do you like spinach and artichoke dip?
What about pasta?
Now put them together!
The easiest way to make a spinach and artichoke dip pasta would probably be to just add some spinach and artichoke dip to some cooked pasta.
But this way is still pretty easy too – because it only takes one pot!
It also slightly cuts down on some of the calories you’d get in the dip.
The good thing about one-pot pastas is there are fewer dishes and less steps.
The sometimes not-so-good thing about one-pot pasta dishes is that they can be tricky to cook without burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan!
Especially because this uses a milk base to cook the pasta in, the main tip I have for you is to not let the milk get too hot or especially not come to a rolling boil.
We don’t want the milk to curdle!
And stir, stir, stir.
If you don’t like the idea of one-pot pastas, you can also choose to cook your pasta as normal in water, and then just add the cooked pasta to the sauce on the last step instead.
Because this pasta is cooked with the sauce, there should be no need to thicken it with flour.
But you may need to add a tablespoon or two of flour to the sauce if you choose the above option of boiling the pasta in water instead.
You can use whatever pasta you like!
Though a thicker pasta might need more liquid, in which case I’d recommend having some vegetable broth on hand to add as needed.
(Or more milk, or even water if desperate.)
Up to half of the milk can be replaced with vegetable broth as well if you want to cut back further on the calories.
If you like a kick of spicy – maybe add some jalapenos!
Or a dash of red pepper flakes at the end.
Also – feel free to add more fresh spinach than the recipe calls for if you want.
It cooks down so much that there’s always room for more!
Other spinach dinner idea recipes you might love: spinach ricotta wrap, spinach baked ziti.
Creamy Spinach Artichoke Pasta
Creamy spinach and artichoke pasta - a one-pot meal that's like having your favorite appetizer dip in dinner form!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 1/2 cups milk (2% or whole works best)
- 8 ounces pasta
- 1 (15 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
- 4 ounces fresh baby spinach (more if you really like spinach)
- red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium pot (or large if doubling the recipe), melt the butter on medium heat, add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add the cream cheese to the pot and cook until mostly melted.
- Add the milk and pasta, making sure the pasta is fully covered (breaking pasta in half if needed and add more liquid if necessary, see notes). Cover the pot, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender and cooked. (Time will depend on type of pasta - start with the high end of the time range on package instructions.)
- Turn off heat and stir in the chopped artichoke hearts and fresh baby spinach. You can add more spinach if you have it since it wilts down so much!
- Top with a sprinkle of salt and black pepper (or red pepper flakes if you want it a little spicy!).
Notes
- It is important that the artichoke hearts don't have much extra moisture, so be sure to squeeze out the extra water after draining. Frozen spinach is not recommended for this reason.
- You can replace up to half of the milk with vegetable broth for a less-rich sauce. Also - if the uncooked pasta is not covered with liquid or it cooks down too much while cooking, add some broth to thin it out.
- Option to top finished pasta with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, or a sprinkle of herbs like basil or oregano.
- If you don't like the idea of cooking the pasta in the cream cheese, you can always cook it in boiled water like normal and then add it to the melted cream cheese!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Amount Per Serving: Calories: 330Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 56mgSodium: 197mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 12g
Nutrition information is calculated automatically by an online tool at Nutritionix. It is not always accurate. Please use your own tools to check if you rely on this information.
The stove-pot and mesh strainer I use can be found in the Trial and Eater amazon shop.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
You'll also get email updates with new recipes (you can opt-out any time).
Billy
Tuesday 10th of July 2018
This sounds like it would be so good. Can't wait to try making this for the fam - they love it when I make artichoke dip so I think this would for sure be a hit. Thank you so much for sharing!