Pasta with Spinach

Quick and easy pasta with spinach and garlic. This a delicious 30-minute recipe using frozen spinach, spaghetti, and other pantry ingredients.

Pasta with Frozen Spinach and Garlic

This recipe for pasta with spinach is so simple that I have difficulty finding something to say about it! Except that it is absolutely delicious.

A quick dish of spaghetti with spinach and garlic using mostly pantry ingredients, like pasta, frozen spinach, and Parmesan. Even the cream be bought as a pantry ingredient nowadays.

And another bonus when making spaghetti with frozen spinach: it takes less than 30 minutes to have dinner on the table.

Check out more super quick pasta recipes: Chicken Parmesan Garlic Pasta, Cream Cheese Pasta, or Chicken Fusilli Pasta.

Recipe ingredients

This spaghetti with spinach recipe can be made using entirely pantry ingredients, I know I never have to buy anything extra whenever I cook it. I often make this dish on a Sunday afternoon or evening when I cannot go shopping, and I don't have much fresh stuff in the fridge anyway.

Frozen spinach:

• Frozen spinach is a super convenient ingredient, I am sure I always have one or two bags of it in the freezer. I actually use frozen spinach much more often than I use fresh spinach.
• Fresh spinach is great, but it is rarely available where I live, so I can't plan in advance when I want to cook a spinach dish.
• Then, I really don't like cleaning it.
• It takes ages to remove all those stems, it always comes in huge packages that don't fit in the refrigerator, but once you've cooked it down a little, you are left with a handful of spinach.
• It doesn't keep long. Unless I cook it the day I bought it or the next day tops, I am sure to throw away quite a lot of it because it is already wilted. So, frozen spinach it is.
• I use it for making this spinach pasta dish, for soups, for dips, for making creamed spinach, for pretty much anything except for salads.
• You can easily remove the exact amount you need from the bag or box; it doesn't always have to be thawed before use; it is a great addition to many dishes.
• You can buy it in advance and always have it when needed.

Other ingredients:

• Pasta
• Milk and cream
• Garlic
• Parmesan
• Lemon juice
• Some spices

• All pantry ingredients, including the cream. Fresh cream has quite a long life in the fridge anyway, but I always have some long-life milk and cream in the cellar anyway, especially nowadays...
• Garlic also keeps well for a longer period of time. You should store it at room temperature in a room with moderate humidity and preferably in a dark place. Here is everything you have to know about storing garlic.
• Parmesan is also a kind of cheese that, when properly kept, lasts for months.
• Fresh lemon juice is always best, but if you don't have it, feel free to use a small amount of lemon juice from a bottle.

How to cook pasta with frozen spinach?

As mentioned above, you don't even have to thaw the frozen spinach in advance, and that makes this spinach pasta dish a super quick affair as well.

• Set the water for the pasta. While the water and the pasta cook, prepare the spinach sauce.
• Place the frozen spinach and a small amount of water in a saucepan. Stir until it defrosts. Of course, if you have thought about thawing it before, you can skip this step. But I really never think about it in time...
• Once the spinach is thawed and the water has almost entirely evaporated, add the milk, cover the pot, and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add the cream, grated garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir well and let the sauce thicken for about 2 minutes.
• Adjust the taste with lemon juice, more salt, and pepper.
• Add the Parmesan, stir well, and adjust the taste again.
• Mix with the cooked spaghetti and serve immediately with more Parmesan grated over.

More frozen spinach recipes

Pasta with Spinach Recipe

Quick and easy pasta with spinach and garlic. A delicious recipe using frozen spinach, spaghetti, and other pantry ingredients.

4.58 from 21 votes

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Course: Pasta and Rice

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 557kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 14 oz spaghetti 400 g
• ▢ 14 oz frozen spinach 400 g
• ▢ ¼ cup water 60 ml
• ▢ ⅔ cup milk 150 ml
• ▢ ½ cup heavy cream 125 ml
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves
• ▢ some nutmeg
• ▢ fine sea salt and pepper
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• ▢ ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan 50 g, Note

Instructions

• Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti according to the package's instructions.

  14 oz/ 400 g spaghetti
• Thaw spinach: In the meantime, place the frozen spinach in a small pot, add the water, cover, and let thaw stirring often. If your spinach is already thawed skip this step.

  14 oz/ 400 g frozen spinach + ¼ cup/ 60 ml water
• Cook spinach: When the spinach is thawed, and the extra water is almost entirely evaporated, add the milk to the pot, cover, and let the spinach cook for about 5 minutes.

  ⅔ cup milk/ 150 ml milk
• Add the cream, grated garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste and stir for another 2 minutes; the sauce should thicken slightly.

  ½ cup/ 125 ml heavy cream + 3 garlic cloves + nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste
• Adjust the taste with fresh lemon juice and more salt and pepper if necessary.

  1-2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice + salt +pepper
• Add the freshly grated Parmesan, stir well, and mix the sauce with the drained spaghetti.

  ½ cup/ 50 g Parmesan
• Serve immediately with more grated Parmesan, green salad, or tomato salad.

Notes

Parmesan: Use freshly grated Parmesan from a wedge of cheese. Pre-grated cheese contains additives that will prevent it from melting nicely and that will make the sauce grainy. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 557kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 624mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 4g

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