Creamed Spinach Pasta Recipe (2024)

Using top quality, pastured, whole milk ricotta makes this dish delicious with no gritty texture. Yogurt might be okay as a substitute, but cottage cheese would make a lumpy sauce instead of a delicate creamy sauce.This recipe is similar to a Marcella Hazan recipe I've used for years. She mixes grated Parmesan into the ricotta and adds it to the pasta before adding the spinach mixture making it easier to mix together. Short, tubular pasta like penne works well and is easier to mix. So good!

Frozen chopped spinach is a lot easier. I use two 16 oz bags and just squeeze and drain after microwaving.

this. is. so. very. good. !!! the timing outlined in the notes wasn’t accurate (def takes more than 4 minutes to cook down a pound of spinach), and for my taste it could use more garlic, but otherwise a total winner.

I fail to see why the ricotta needs to be dumped into a large bowl just to add salt and pepper to only add it to the skillet at the end.Also, I'm a big fan of using cottage cheese, as is, in pasta dishes or Greek yogurt. Just wondering about substituting one of these for ricotta. Not a fan of its gritty texture.

I couldn’t resist punching it up with lemon zest and juice of a Meyer lemon at the end. Faint hint of lemon added a lot.

This works with any cooking greens—spinach, arugula, swiss chard, kale—that you might have on hand. It also works fine with half and half versus heavy cream.

Not shocking at all John! I find that when you are going to cook the spinach anyway-frozen is perfect. I thaw it and add it uncooked to the recipe after squeezing out the water.

This is for Libby...Cashew Cream can be substituted for dairy. Buy raw cashews and soak for a few hours. Drain and blend with water.... if you use a 1/2 cup of cashews add a 1/2 cup water in the blender and blend for a minute. You will have a nice cream substitute.

Agreed, it needs more garlic (I used 4 cloves and wish I used more). And I'm not a pine nuts fan so I pivoted to one of Alison Roman's tricks and added some toasted breadcrumbs for the much needed texture. I also added crushed red pepper bc i like spice. And mushrooms bc they were about to turn so I had to use them Still after all that I found the recipe bland. Cream, ricotta, spinach, pasta it's easy to see how. No matter how much salt, pepper and nutmeg I added it wasn't enough flavor for me.

I know this is a shocking thing to ask, but if you don't want to make the spinach yourself, can you use the frozen kind in the boiling bag?

Yummy recipe that I was happy to reheat the next day and eat again. However, I couldn't help but feel there was something lacking flavor-wise. The next time I make this, I'll remedy that situation by adding some olives and mushrooms, maybe some onions too.

Vegan alternative: I added some very thin asperagus tips with the garlic and sub'd vegan half-and-half for the cream. Then sub'd Myoko's soft mozzarella for ricotta. At the very end, added some nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes and a splash of lemon juice. Absolutely delicious! Can't wait for leftovers.

I added mushrooms and shallots when sauteing the garlic, very great addition!

Made this tonight. I forgot the nuts, but it was still delicious. It could do with more spinach, and I like the idea of toasted bread crumbs instead of nuts. Bacon might be good, too.

Yummy and comforting. We did not have ricotta so I used half sour cream and half Greek yogurt and that worked perfectly. After taking out the cooked garlic, I put frozen spinach directly in the pan and sauteed it in the butter. That worked well too.

I made this with the addition of shallots and sliced Bella mushrooms and extra garlic. It was ok but not great. Even with the additions it still tasted a bit bland to me. If I make it again I will up the garlic and salt even more.

Made this last night and it was delicious. I did follow the recommendations of some here and added shallots and way more garlic. I found the seasoning to be a bit more than what the recipe calls for in terms of salt and pepper and I do like a bit of heat so I added red pepper flakes and I also added kale. Easy and good, great for a cold night, comfort food.

I used half the pasta required in the recipe and sauteed a pound of spinach. Added the nutmeg. No ricotta on hand so I used only the cream. Doubled the garlic. Salted and peppered w gusto before serving. Delicious.

This was phenomenal! We didn't have garlic and were running low on cream, so we substituted in garlic powder and used extra ricotta to make up for the less cream. Finished with a bit of lemon juice. Absolutely devoured this and will be making it again!

Even though the fettuccine was perfectly cooked with great texture, this was very bland and boring after three bites. Way too much cream makes for a flabby dish. Need to add a note of brightness--fresh lemon zest and juice? Or a spark of contrast--Calabrian chili or pepperoncini?Or even, porca miseria, a few drops of Tabasco?

This was good, but I didn’t think it was good enough to be worth all the calories. If I’m going to indulge in a pasta in a heavy cream sauce, I want its flavor to pack a little more punch. Took one commenter’s suggestion to add lemon zest and juice, and that did help a bit.

Wow, this was so good, I loved it. I did skip the pine nuts because the recipe said they were optional, and I didn't have any. But I did miss the crunch. Some toasted bread crumbs would also be delicious on top.

My whole family really enjoyed this! Next time, I will leave out the nutmeg. Other than that, it was delicious and easy to make !

I found this very bland and unsatisfying. It looked so good!

I used to successfully put cottage cheese in the blender. In the dim reaches of time, Mom and I did it for Weight Watchers? Maybe. It's good, tangy and no grit. That grit in the ricotta is nearly a dealbreaker for me. More garlic.

Yum. As is

This was really bland to me, cooked as written.

After our first batch, my husband suggested adding strips of prosciutto (I lightly sautéed them) the next time and this addition beautifully completed the flavor of the dish!

We thought this was pretty bland? I should have added more garlic, but I’m not sure that would have saved it.

Looked away for just a second and when I turned back, there were all kinds of things in my sauce! Onion, artichoke, lemon zest, white wine, chicken breasts, oh my! I suppose the fault is not with the recipe, it is with the fact that I actually wanted spinach artichoke dip over pasta for dinner. This recipe is an excellent framework for creamy pasta and I'm sure is also delightful as written.