Creamy Pesto Pasta (20 Minutes!)
Apr 30, 2023, Updated Aug 08, 2025
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The only pesto pasta recipe you need! Made with only a few ingredients, this pasta with creamy pesto sauce is a popular weeknight dinner! It’s ready in 20 minutes, and is absolutely delicious! Follow along to see how I make creamy pesto pasta without heavy cream, which makes it lighter with bright flavors!
Looking for a quick and tasty pasta dish? Look no further than this easy-to-make creamy pesto pasta! And if you want to make it even more special, try it with my homemade pesto, it will make you feel like a chef in your own kitchen!
Table of Contents
Creamy Pesto Pasta In 20 Minutes!
Whether you’re a fan of classics like cherry tomato pasta and spaghetti aglio e olio, or more adventurous flavors like Turkish pasta and lemon ricotta pasta, you’re sure to love this delicious creamy pasta with pesto sauce.
- Easy: New to the kitchen? Then this pesto pasta is for you. As easy a cook, rinse and toss, this dish doesn’t require any chef skills to make.
- Quick: It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, making this a great choice for a weeknight dinner.
- Flavors: The combination of basil and garlic in the pesto makes this a feast of flavors.
- Crowd pleaser: This might be an easy dish, but everyone loves it. It’s the perfect choice for parties or potlucks.
Ingredients
- Pasta: I prefer to use spaghetti, but other kinds of pasta such as linguine, penne or rigatoni work, too.
- Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil works best in this recipe.
- Onion and garlic: I love having these as the base of the sauce, makes it even better!
- Pesto: I’m going to hold your hand when I say this, the pasta is going to be as good as the pesto you use. You can either use my homemade basil pesto recipe or use a very good store-bought one.
How To Make Creamy Pesto Pasta
Start by bringing a pot of water to boil, salt the water well and cook the pasta according to the packaging. Before you drain the pasta, reserve 1 cup of the water, which we will use later in the sauce.
Saute onion and garlic in a pan over medium high heat. Once the onion is translucent and soft, add in the pesto and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add in the reserved pasta water and bring the sauce to a simmer. Let it cook for 5 minutes.
Add the drained pasta to the creamy pesto sauce and toss so the noodles are well coated. Serve and top with more grated parmesan if desired.
Serving Suggestions
This easy creamy pesto pasta is a complete dish on its own, but you can also turn it into a feast by serving caprese salad or burrata salad as an appetizer then serve the pasta as a side dish with grilled chicken, caprese chicken, balsamic chicken or Italian skillet chicken. It would also go well with seafood such as Mediterranean shrimp or garlic lemon shrimp. I love how versatile this dish is, you can organize a whole Italian menu around one simple dish!
Storage and Reheating
Store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. To serve, place the pasta in a pan over medium heat and add 2-3 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and reheat for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
You can also freeze this dish for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in the fridge overnight then reheat over medium heat as instructed.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s best to make this quick creamy pasta recipe right before serving. However, you can prepare the pasta up to a day in advance, toss it with olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other and then make the pesto sauce when you’re ready to serve.
Frankly, I find cream to make this dish too heavy. Adding pasta water will make the sauce perfectly creamy thanks to the starch from cooking the pasta.
Pesto itself contains parmesan, therefore there is no need to add more to the sauce. However, you can grate some parmesan on the pasta right before serving as garnish.
Delicious Pasta REcipes To Try
Vegetarian
Creamy Spinach Pesto Pasta Recipe
Rice and Pasta
Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta
Quick and Easy Dinner
Mediterranean Pasta with Artichokes and Olives
Quick and Easy Dinner
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
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Creamy Pesto Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare the pasta in salty water according to the package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water to use in the sauce.
- As the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Saute the onion until translucent. Add in the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
- Add the pesto and stir to combine. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Add 3/4 cup pasta water to the pan and bring it to a simmer. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes to thicken up a bit.
- Add the drained pasta to the pesto sauce and toss to make sure it's well coated. If the pasta looks dry, add more pasta water.
- Serve warm with grated parmesan.
Video
Notes
- I prefer spaghetti for this recipe but other types of pasta including linguine, penne and rigatoni work too.
- You can use my homemade pesto recipe or use store-bought pesto.
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. To reheat, add a couple tablespoons of water and reheat over medium heat for 10-20 minutes.
- Serve as is or with some grilled chicken, Italian skillet chicken, Mediterranean shrimp or balsamic chicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love pesto and this pasta dish uses it really well! It’s become our comfort food whenever we want a nice hearty meal.
I made this pesto pasta for dinner last night and it was incredible! Perfectly creamy and so easy to make!
So simple, so tasty! Definitely adding to my rotation
This was so simple, but so amazing! We all loved it, it was a huge hit!
So simple, but so delicious. I love this pesto pasta when I can’t think of what to make on a busy weeknight. Thanks for sharing!