A quick and easy veggie-packed meal that's fresh-tasting, nourishing and delicious! Warm tender-crisp Broccoil & Asparagus tossed with a dairy-free Lemony Spinach Pesto, sun dried tomatoes and your favorite gluten-free pasta.
Pasta with Lemony Spinach Pesto and Veggies
Easy, Flavorful and Satisfying!
This super quick and easy pasta dish is a new Spring and Summer favorite!
It’s gluten-free, vegan, packed with fresh veggies and soooo yummy!
It’s simply quickly boiled broccoli and asparagus tossed with a Lemony Spinach Pesto, your favorite gluten-free pasta and sun dried tomatoes.
This simple dish comes together in less than 30 minutes and is packed with flavor and goodness!
First, using the same boiling water that you’ll use to cook the pasta, you quickly boil the broccoli and asparagus for 1-2 minutes. This will both warm the veggies and cook them so they are tender but still crisp.
Remove them with a slotted spoon, set aside and cook the pasta in the same water.
While the pasta cooks, make the Lemony Spinach Pesto. This simple pesto is fresh tasting and so yummy!
All you need is fresh baby spinach, lemon juice and lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), lightly toasted pine nuts plus salt and pepper.
Pulse is all together in a food processor and that’s it! Creamy, fresh, zesty and delicious!
Plus isn’t the color great?
Then simply add the cooked hot pasta back to the sauce pan and mix with the pesto, broccoli, asparagus and sun dried tomatoes.
That’s it! And dinner is served!
Enjoy as is or add sauteed chicken or Parmesan cheese, feta or goat cheese depending on your tastes.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Scroll down for recipe and leave a comment if you try.
An easy veggie-packed pasta dish that's both nourishing and delicious! Comes together in less than 30 minutes for a super quick meal. Enjoy as is or add sauteed chicken and serve with Parmesan, feta or goat cheese according to tastes.
Author: Healthy Gluten-Free Family
Recipe type: Dinner, Veggies, Sides
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Serves: 3-4 servings
Ingredients
1 8-12 oz container gluten-free pasta (here we used Le Veneziane Gluten-Free Rigatoni)
2 heaping cups broccoli florets
1 cup asparagus, cut into 1½ -2 inch pieces
½ cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, cut into pieces
Lemony Spinach Pesto
2 cups lightly packed fresh spinach
¼ cup toasted pine nuts (to toast, heat in a dry skillet over medium high heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently so as not to burn)
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons lemon zest (I always prefer more zest to less but if you're unsure start with 1 teaspoon and add more)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
⅛ -1/4 teaspoon salt, according to taste
pinch black pepper
Optional for serving
Parmesan cheese, feta or goat cheese
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (I tend to not use a ton of salt and only use about ¼ teaspoon, especially with this dish because the sun dried tomatoes are salty. Feel free to add more to taste)
While water boils, cut the broccoli and asparagus is you haven't already and toast the pine nuts for the pesto if you haven't already.
Quickly boil Broccoli and Asparagus
Before cooking the pasta, add broccoli florets and asparagus pieces to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes until color brightens and tender crisp (they can be pierced easily but still a bit of crunch to them). Cook longer for softer vegetables.
Using a slotted spoon, remove broccoli and asparagus from boiling water and place in a strainer. (Do not drainer water; use the same water to cook the pasta)
Set aside.
Cook pasta
Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, generally on the low end of the recommended cooking time on the pasta package.
Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water before draining into colander.
While pasta cooks, make the pesto
Lemony Spinach Pesto
Place spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse several times to combine.
With the food processor running, stream olive oil into the top of the food processor. Scrape down the sides as needed and run food processor until well combined and mixture is smooth.
Add salt and pepper. Pulse to combine.
Can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Just bring back to room temperature before using.
Combine
Add cooked hot pasta back to the sauce pan, add blanched broccoli and asparagus, and pesto. Toss to combine adding any reserved water as desired. (I have not needed to add the reserved water to this dish but always a good idea to have it just in case!)
Add sun dried tomatoes and toss to combine.
Serve as is or top with Parmesan, goat cheese or feta. Enjoy!
4 thoughts on “Pasta with Lemony Spinach Pesto and Veggies”
This recipe is so good! I used black bean pasta and I also added garlic to my pesto, but it was delicious without as well! I added some lentils because I had them in the fridge. This recipe will definitely be a repeat!
Yay! So happy you made it right away and loved it too! Great idea making it with black bean pasta and garlic is always a good idea! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your recipes. I suffer from GERD along with Celiac so I always have to eliminate my trigger foods from recipes. But you really help when it comes to ideas of what to put together. Pesto is my go to sauce since I can’t eat any tomato based sauces. This dish helped me make a yummy pesto pasta with apple sausage and broccoli using your ideas and technique. Love your page!!
Hi! My name is Karen, and I’m the mom in our Healthy Gluten-Free Family. My posts and pictures here and on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter are labors of love that allow me to share a very personal journey with you, one our family has taken together — learning, experimenting and sharing how to raise a healthy happy gluten-free family. Read more ...
This recipe is so good! I used black bean pasta and I also added garlic to my pesto, but it was delicious without as well! I added some lentils because I had them in the fridge. This recipe will definitely be a repeat!
Yay! So happy you made it right away and loved it too! Great idea making it with black bean pasta and garlic is always a good idea! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your recipes. I suffer from GERD along with Celiac so I always have to eliminate my trigger foods from recipes. But you really help when it comes to ideas of what to put together. Pesto is my go to sauce since I can’t eat any tomato based sauces. This dish helped me make a yummy pesto pasta with apple sausage and broccoli using your ideas and technique. Love your page!!
Thank you so much for your kind message! I’m happy my recipes are helping you. And I really appreciate your words and your support!:)