Made in under 30 minutes, this One Pot Tomato and Spinach Pasta can easily become your new weekday favourite dinner.
One-Pot Tomato and Spinach Pasta
Besides this one-pot tomato and spinach pasta being a winner in the delicious department, it is also super easy and quick to prepare.
Made in under 30 minutes and in just ONE POT makes it a winner in the ‘fast food’ department in my home too.
The great thing about this dish is that the pasta is not boiled separately.
Rather it is boiled and cooked with the sauce. This allows the pasta to absorb all the delicious flavour of the sauce and creates a creamy texture.
You know that most pasta needs to be served immediately after cooking. Well, this is actually the only pasta dish that I can make in advance and does not dry out.
Overview: How to make one-pot tomato and spinach pasta
In this recipe, I use a can of tomatoes and chopped or halved baby tomatoes. Baby tomatoes are one of my favorite to use in pasta dishes. I find them sweeter and less acidic compared to the larger tomatoes.
With the canned tomatoes and chopped baby tomatoes cooking for about 2 minutes, the milk and cream are added to create the sauce. Straight after goes in the uncooked pasta.
Cooked altogether the pasta absorbs all the delicious flavor of the tomatoes and sauce. 5 minutes into the cooking time I add in the chopped spinach.
A great substitution for spinach is kale or rainbow Swiss chard. The red, green, and yellow stems add beautiful color to this dish. So use whichever you prefer.
With the spinach added, It is cooked for about 5 more minutes and then removed from the heat.
The pasta will be cooked but still firm when you bite into it.
I leave it covered in the pot on the kitchen counter and as it absorbs the sauce it continues to soften. Just follow the instructions for the cooking time on the box and follow it in this recipe.
Although in this recipe you are not going to be boiling the pasta separately as most instructions on boxes suggest, so just use this as a guide on how long to cook it with the sauce.
Quick easy delicious and best of all One pot...what's not to love about this dinner right.?
Enjoy ♥
One Pot Tomato and Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 small onion chopped about ¼ cup
- 1 small green bell pepper chopped
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 1 can / 410g / 14 oz chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup / 150g baby /cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon / 5 ml cayenne pepper or chilli powder adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried mixed herbs
- 2½ cup / 625 ml milk
- ½ cup / 125ml heavy / pouring / fresh cream
- 4 cups / 250g uncooked pasta any shape. I used spiral pasta
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat about 1 Tablespoon (15ml) of oil in a large pot and sauté the onion for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and pepper and cook for one more minute.
- Add canned tomatoes,baby tomatoes, cayenne pepper,and mixed herbs and cook for two minutes.
- Pour in the milk, cream and pasta and stir occasionally to ensure that the pasta does not stick together. Season with salt to taste. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the chopped spinach and cook for a further 5 to 8 minutes until the pasta is cooked but still firm. SEE NOTE 1
- Remove from the heat and set aside, As the pasta will continue to absorb more of the sauce, it will also continue to soften.
- Serve with freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan if preferred.
We are so into pasta !! Thank you so much Ashika !
Thank you and you are welcome...I am glad that you like this recipe too 🙂
I have a great idea: let's be neighbors and share the cooking duties. I'll provide dessert if you'll make this every night for dinner! Tomatoes and spinach are two of my very favorite veggies. Combining them with pasta is a dream come true! Have a great weekend, my dear!
Haha...perfect idea, but only if you promise to make one of your amazing cheesecake reipes everyday for dessert 🙂
Thank you, I am glad that I created your dream pasta...hope that you try it out soon.
Have a great weekend as well Kelsie 🙂
You know me Ashika, I love all in one pot meals, and I love my pasta bakes, so this hits the spot perfectly. What a fun and simple recipe!
Aww thank you Neil, one pot meals are truly the best and I am glad that you like the recipe too 🙂
This looks so yummy and I love how effortless it is.
What a yummilicious one pot pasta recipe idea! Love love love one pot meals and spinach-tomatoes together.
One can never have enough one pot recipes. Especially if its a pasta recipe. Children will devour this pasta I love your addition of spinach for added color and sneaky nutrition. This is a keeper Ashika:)
Im always looking for something new to do with pasta, especially to add super duper flavor! This looks lovely and sounds absolutely addicting! Thanks for the recipe, Ashika!
One pot meals are the best, I love a pasta dish that is suitable for lunch the next day as well.
Love the idea of one pot pasta dishes. I keep meaning to try it, but when I'm in a hurry I just turn to my standard pasta dish without thinking. this looks delicious and one less pot to wash has got to be a good thing.
We've got a "pasta problem" in my family too. First of all, I always have an issue when measuring the dry pasta - I feel like that won't be enough and add more, more...so I often end up having way two much pasta for two of us. For normal people, that won't be an ussue, and they will just reserve the leftovers for the next day, right? We? No way! We might be even suffering, but we won't give up! Also, when this kind of meal happens, we always promise that next time we'd cook just the right amount of pasta. Did it ever work? I don't recall too many examples:) And now wonder your family cannot resist this pasta as it looks amazing!
I love that you don’t have to boil the pasta first! I know if I made this, there wouldn’t be any leftovers either!! Yum!
Quick question! Can I substitute the pouring cream for another ingredient? I would love to try this dish but all I have is whipped cream, creme fraiche or Greek yogurt. Could any of these be swapped in? Many thanks
Hi Eilis 🙂 Whipped cream will work just fine in this recipe. It is basically there to give the pasta a rich creamy taste.
Enjoy 🙂
Just some feedback on this dish. I tried it and it was a great success with everyone from toddler up! I used frozen chopped onions and garlic from a jar to speed things up. I chopped the cherry tomatoes in half before adding for my little people. It’s good advise to stir regularly after adding milk, cream and pasta It can stick. I added grated cheese at the very end as a personal preference . It turned out delicious and I will be using as a midweek dish. What do you recommend serving it with? A type of salad? Thanks so much
Hi Eilis, Thank you for the great feedback 🙂 I am glad that it was a success and that you and your family enjoyed it too.
This is still one of our favourite weekday dinners as well.
Regarding a side dish, I usually love serving this pasta with a caesar salad. It is basically, romaine lettuce with grated parmesan cheese. Garlic croutons are tossed into it and then dressed with a mixture of minced garlic, dijon mustard, Worcestershire, lemon juice, vinegar oil, salt and pepper. It is a delicious salad and tastes amazing with this pasta recipe. I will be posting a Ceaser salad recipe in about a week if you want to check back again.
I have a delicious crouton recipe here if you would like to give it a try: https://thegardeningfoodie.com/spicy-butternut-mac-and-cheese-with-garlic-croutons/
Thanks for that suggestion, it sounds like a great accompaniment. I'll be keeping an eye on your website for the salad dish! Thanks again for such delicious recipes.