Green Pasta Sauce

Learn how to make a spinach sauce with basil, pistachios, parm, and lemon to serve over spaghetti or your favorite pasta. It's a flavorful, quick, and easy recipe that both kids and adults love!

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings 2-cup servings

Calories 451kcal

Author Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN

Equipment

Food processor (or high-powered blender)

Ingredients

12 ounces spaghetti or pasta of choice
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
4 heaping cups baby spinach loosely packed; about a 6-ounce bag
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup fresh basil packed
½ cup pistachios dry roasted, unsalted
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese use one labeled vegetarian if needed; plus more for serving
2 tablespoons lemon juice from about ½ lemon, more to taste
¼ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente according to package instructions. **Reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water before draining.**
Warm 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the spinach and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the spinach is wilted and the garlic is fragrant (but not burnt). This usually takes about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Put the cooked spinach and garlic in a food processor fitted with the S-blade or a high-powered blender. Add the basil, pistachios, parmesan, lemon juice, salt, and the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides to promote even blending as needed. You may also need to drizzle more olive oil into the processor/blender to promote blending. It should resemble pesto.
Transfer the sauce to the pot where you cooked the pasta. Add the cooked pasta and toss with tongs until coated, pouring in splashes of the reserved pasta water as needed to thin the sauce.
Serve topped with more parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon juice if desired. Enjoy!
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Notes

This sauce freezes very well. Transfer to freezer-safe containers, seal tightly, label, and store in the freezer for up to 6 months. Consider freezing in small containers or individual portions if you don't plan to use it all at once. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
Leftover sauce will also last in the fridge for up to 5 to 7 days. It's best to keep leftover sauce separately from pasta and just make a fresh batch of pasta to use with it later. But if you already tossed the sauce with pasta, you can store that in the fridge instead and reheat in the microwave for a minute or 2 until warmed through or enjoy cold.
Use a legume-based pasta if you want the dish to be gluten free and/or to have more protein. You can also add white beans, chicken, or fish.
If making for baby led weaning or kids under 1, consider omitting the parmesan cheese and salt to reduce the sodium content. Remember that this recipe also contains common allergens (nuts).

Nutrition