A fun and absolutely tasty way to eat your broccoli! My Healthy Broccoli Pesto Pasta is a 20 minute dinner that your family will love!
[POST UPDATED 8/24/19]: Guys, it’s been a week guys. Week 1 of potty training is completed! Bye bye diapers, hello underwear, potty talk and public bathrooms!
Not going to lie, it has been STRESSFUL as heck! My phone alarm is going off constantly and I seem to be in the bathroom every 20min with 2 children. One potty training and the other, doing a sort of torturous bathroom routine that involves washing her hands 1 million times, taking way too long and touching every bathroom product in site.
Needless this house arrest has been a bit brutal. But thanks to wine and easy make ahead meals, we are surviving! This meal is a perfect example of make ahead. My approach, to wake up early, whip up the pesto before my household wakes up, then dinner time simply involves boiling pasta, boiling/cutting corn, mixing and serving. Done and done!
Next week we might even attempt to leave the house with our children, GASP! Big step but we are actually getting there… woohooo!!!!
Pasta, pasta, pasta! Is there anything better than a large bowl of pasta!?
Seriously for me it’s the ultimate comfort meal. Anytime I’m exhausted or stressed out or need to end the day on a high note pasta is always the answer. Damn you pasta carbs. I love you so much!It’s weird to think there was a time in my life when I didn’t really love pasta 🤷♀️ how is that even possible!? This happened shortly after coming back from a family trip to Italy to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins.
During our stay, I remember eating pasta every single day and sometimes twice a day (lunch and dinner) in some way, shape or form. And it wasn’t like we were eating the same pasta over and over again. Oh no, every day was something different, fresh and perfectly prepared by my aunt along with various meat dishes and vegetables.
Oh how I’d go back now and eat incredible pasta for 2 weeks! But as a 10 year old kid, I got bored and turned off pasta for a while.
Luckily I eventually found my way back! The years that followed were filled with lots of pasta at restaurants to carb load for college tennis matches, in my dorm because it was an easy meal or while studying abroad because I was totally broke. And today, pasta is still a favorite with my carb loving babies.
A favorite during the summer months when broccoli is in season at the farmers market, is Broccoli Pesto Pasta. Instead of having large chunky pieces of broccoli in the pasta, the broccoli is used to make a hearty flavorful pesto sauce.
Awesome benefits about this recipe:
- Only 8 main ingredients
- Takes 20 minutes to make
- Toddler approved
- Healthy, gluten-free (dairy-free/Vegan: sub nutritional yeast in for cheese)
Yep with just 8 main ingredients and 20 minutes of your time, a healthy comfort dinner is served! And I should add although my kid will not touch broccoli with a 10 foot poll, she will eat this broccoli pesto. Since she can’t physically see the broccoli, then it’s all good.
Equipment
- [amazon text=Our favorite affordable Food Processor&asin=B01288X37S]
- [amazon text=Large stock pot&asin=B012OIVRP2]
Makes 4 servings of pasta and 2 cups of pesto
Ingredients
- 2 ears of corn, shucked or 1 cup corn, canned or frozen (optional)*
- 2 cups broccoli, chopped including tender stems (1 broccoli head)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/3 walnuts, processed
- small handful of basil
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 4 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- freshly cracked pepper
- 10 ounces pasta, rotini* (gluten-free if necessary)
Instructions
- Bring a large bot of water to a boil. Add corn. Boil for 8 minutes.
- Remove corn and let cool for a few minutes. Cut off kernels. If using frozen corn, cook according to package. Or use canned corn.
- Using same pot of hot water bring back to a boil. Add the broccoli pieces (florets and stems) and cook for 2-3 minutes, until crisp-tender. Remove broccoli with a slotted spoon and plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Strain broccoli using a colander and set aside.
- Pulse walnuts in a food processor or high powered blender. Set side in a bowl.
- Add the broccoli, basil, garlic, salt, and the lemon juice, to the food processor and pulse until just combined. Add the walnuts back in.
- Slowly drizzle in the oil and puree until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of the cheese (or nutritional yeast if vegan), and pulse until incorporated. You can also skip the cheese and the nutritional yeast all together. This yields a less salty pesto.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
- Toss the pasta, corn and pesto back in the large warm pot (or in a large mixing bowl) along with a bit of the reserved cooking liquid, to achieve a creamy saucy consistency. Add more cooking liquid if needed.
- Serve with a little extra basil on top or cheese, and a nice piece of bread.
Notes
Broccoli pesto can be made up to 2 days a head of time and saved in the fridge for a total of 3 days. I love adding fresh corn this recipe because it gives the pasta texture and color. However you are welcome to use canned corn or frozen. Or skip it all together. This recipe is amazing with or without corn.
For my dairy-free friends, skip the Parmesan cheese and swap for nutritional yeast (nooch) if desired. Pesto is amazing without the cheese or nooch.
This pesto is fabulous on most pasta shapes. We really like it on rotini, shells, linguine or thin spaghetti.
Recipe inspired by FoodNetwork.
Originally posted 2019-08-24 16:19:00.
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