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One pan, 20 minutes – The easiest, healthy Spinach Pastina recipe you’ll crave! It doesn’t get any better than that! This dish is so cozy and comforting, the flavors are unreal, and the mascarpone on top is FIRE🔥
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Spinach Pastina Recipe
This spinach pastina recipe is full of flavor and also super easy to make. The spinach and basil add that herby and fresh taste and then the mascarpone adds the creamy touch, it is amazing. This is one of my favorite comfort foods, it’s easy clean up and only takes 20 minutes to make, so it’s perfect for a weekday meal or if you just need to whip up something very quickly!
How To Prep
If you have everything ready to go for this Spinach Pastina recipe, everything will be smooth sailing!
Gather:
- Spinach: 2 cups, packed
- Water: 4½ cups
- Basil leaves: 12
- Garlic: 1 clove
- Shallot: 1
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive Oil: 1 tbsp
- Acini di Pepe: 1 cup
- Butter: 2 tbsp, cold
- Mascarpone
Grate/Zest:
- Parmigiano Reggiano: ¾ cup, freshly grated + more for topping
- Lemon: 1, zest
- Chives: to taste, chopped
🫶 And that is it, subscribe for more!
Substitutions
- You can use ricotta or burrata instead of mascarpone.
- I also topped mine with basil because I think that goes great with the Spinach Pastina in this recipe, but you can top with your favorite herbs.
🔥Chef Nadia’s Tip🔥
Make sure you add the spinach basil water one cup at a time, this is a recipe that the pastina needs to absorb the liquids slowly.
The Perfect Pairings
A deliciously funky (in a good way 😉) Milky Dirty Martini with Stracciatella Cheese Dip is a great to start your night out. Then, for your main the Spinach Pastina with Toasted Ciabatta and an Arugula Fennel Side Salad.
Cocktail Hour
Milky Dirty Martini 🍸🫒
Appetizers
Stracciatella Cheese Recipe
Butters
Toasted Ciabatta
Sides
Arugula Fennel Salad
Spinach Pastina: Questions Answered
My favorites are Di Stefano and BelGioioso, you can also use ricotta or burrata if you’d prefer.
3-4 days in the fridge. Make sure you let the Spinach Pastina cool before refrigerating and don’t add the mascarpone or other toppings until you’re ready to serve.
Spinach Pastina
Equipment
- blender
- pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups spinach, packed
- 4½ cups water
- 12 leaves basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 shallot
- salt, to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup acini di pepe
- ¾ cup parmigiano reggiano, grated and more for topping
- 1 lemon, zest
- 2 tbsp butter, cold
- mascarpone, to taste
- chives, to taste, for topping
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To a blender, add spinach, water, basil, garlic, shallot and salt. Blend until smooth. Strain, you’ll have about 4 cups of liquid.
- Add oil to a pan and toast the pasta on medium-high for 2 minutes, until slightly golden.
- Add the spinach-basil water 1 cup at a time to the pasta, letting each cup slightly absorb. Add a bit of salt and pepper and simmer until paste is al dente, about 9-12 minutes. There will be water left over.
- Add parmigiano and lemon zest. Cook mixing together for 1 more minute.
- Turn off the heat and add the butter. Taste and add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve topped with more parmigiano, mascarpone, chives, black pepper and that is it!
Kitchen Cam
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you do anything with the pulp, maybe add it into the pasta? Feels bad to waste it… will try it and report back.
Hi Margarita, Spinach pulp is very fibrous and will completely change the texture of the pasta. I don’t think it would go well adding it in but if you do try please let me know what happens.
I also felt bad wasting the pulp. Put some on top on my second helping and liked it. Both ways were good. I don’t feel bad wasting fruit juice pulp, so I guess veggie or herb pulp is no different.
This was excellent, and super easy to make. Thank you for the amazing recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it Stacey 🤗
Loved it. I made it as directed. But, on my second helping, I did add some of the filtered pulp on top because I felt bad throwing it away too. I liked it. Both ways were good.
That’s great to know Cindy! I haven’t tried it that way and I’ve been wondering since Margarita asked. Thanks for checking it out!