Ever since I discovered how delicious pasta is when cooked in broth instead of water, I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of different ways to play up this simple trick. By simply changing up the add-ins, you can have an endless number of quick one pot or one skillet dinners for busy week nights. This Bacon and Spinach Pasta with Parmesan is my latest quick skillet obsession.
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Bacon, spinach, and Parmesan are not exactly the least expensive ingredients on the planet, so you do have to be a bit careful with this one. I used a half package of bacon and froze the rest for later use. To save on spinach, I skipped the salad sized bags and got a jumbo bag of “cooking spinach”. The big one pound bag was only 20 cents more expensive than the smaller salad sized (9oz.) bags and almost twice as big. I’ll enjoy the extra spinach as salads and freeze some in smoothie packs.
Can I Use Frozen Spinach or Other Greens?
Frozen spinach can be used in a pinch, but make sure not to get “chopped” frozen spinach because it will be in a million tiny little pieces. You can use other greens, like collards, mustard, or kale, but because they’re quite a bit more sturdy, they’ll need to be sautéed down with the onion in the beginning. Parmesan really does top off this dish and make it grand, but you can lighten up on it if you’re strapped for cash. Parmesan is very flavorful, so a little goes a long way.
What Else Can I Add?
If you want to beef up this dish a bit, you can add a rinsed and drained can of white beans, or sauté some mushrooms with the onions. A few red pepper flakes would be nice in here, too, although I like red pepper flakes on just about anything!
Bacon and Spinach Pasta with Parmesan
Servings 4Ingredients
- 6 oz. bacon ($2.15)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.28)
- 1/2 lb. pasta ($0.50)
- 1/4 lb. fresh spinach (about 4 cups) ($1.50)
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan ($0.55)
Instructions
- Cut the bacon across the strips into one-inch pieces. Sauté the bacon in a large skillet until it is brown and crispy (no extra fat needed). Remove the browned bacon to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Carefully pour the fat off into a separate bowl, leaving about one tablespoon in the skillet.
- While the bacon cooks, dice the onion. Once the bacon is removed and the fat is drained from the skillet, add the diced onions and sauté until they are soft and transparent. Allow the moisture from the onions to dissolve some of the browned bits off of the bottom of the skillet.
- Add two cups of chicken broth to the skillet and dissolve off any remaining browned bits of bacon drippings from the bottom of the skillet.
- Finally, add the uncooked pasta to the skillet, place a lid on top, and let the skillet come to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, give it a quick stir, turn the heat down to low, and let simmer for 10 minutes with the lid in place. Give the skillet a stir to loosen the pasta from the bottom every few minutes or so, replacing the lid quickly each time. After 10 minutes the pasta should be tender and most of the broth absorbed. There should be a little bit of thick, saucy broth remaining in the bottom of the skillet.
- Add the fresh spinach to the skillet and stir until it has wilted into the pasta. Turn off the heat, add the cooked bacon back to the skillet, sprinkle the Parmesan over top, stir to combine, and then serve.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Bacon and Spinach Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Cut 6 oz. (1/2 of a 12oz. package) of bacon into one-inch strips. The second half will be frozen and used later. I love adding a little bacon to soups and other dishes because it adds a LOT of flavor. Or who knows, maybe I’ll just use the leftovers for an impromptu weekend brunch.
Sauté the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until it’s brown and crispy. I didn’t add any extra oil to the skillet because the bacon is fatty enough that it releases quite a bit of grease and does not stick. Once the bacon is crispy, remove it to a bowl with a slotted spoon, and pour off the fat into a separate container, leaving about 1 tablespoon of fat in the skillet (for flavor, of course!). When the poured off fat is cool, save it in the refrigerator to add flavor to other dishes, or if you’re not the bacon grease type of person, scoop it into the garbage. Just DO NOT rinse it down your drain.
While the bacon is cooking, dice one small onion. Add the onion to the skillet and sauté until it is soft and transparent. The juices from the onion will begin to dissolve the browned bacon bits from the bottom of the skillet.
Add two cups of chicken broth to the skillet. Stir well to dissolve the last of the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
Add the dry pasta to the skillet and place a lid on top (it’s OKAY if the broth doesn’t completely cover the pasta). Turn the heat up to high and let the skillet come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, give it a quick stir, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Every few minutes, give the skillet a quick stir to loosen the pasta from the bottom and replace the lid quickly each time so that the broth continues to simmer. Make sure the broth continues to simmer the entire time, turning the heat up just slightly if needed to maintain a simmer.
After about 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the broth absorbed. There should be a bit of saucy broth left in the bottom of the skillet.
Once the pasta is cooked, add about 1/4 pound (or 3-4 cups) of fresh spinach to the skillet. Add a handful of the spinach at a time and stir it into the pasta until it wilts.
Turn the heat off, add the cooked bacon back to the skillet, and sprinkle the Parmesan over top. Give it a quick stir to combine and then serve!
And then it will look like this! Like I said, I probably should have sprinkled a little red pepper or even freshly cracked black pepper over the top just to take it up a notch, but honestly, it’s bacon… I was already dazzled!
BACON.
I made this for my family, using all ingredients except for the campanelle pasta, because my local grocery store didn’t have it. I used farfalle pasta instead and followed all instructions to a T. It was soooo scrumptious! They prefer it to a certain pasta dish that I make, using a recipe from a famous chef on Food Network. Quite a compliment! Thanks for posting this delicious entree. I’ll be making it regularly.
This recipe was delicious! My only suggestion would be to add some garlic to bring the dish to life! Thank you for such a delicious, and in expensive dish!
Reheating recommendation? I’m delivering this as a meal train dinner. Thank you!
This one is definitely best when made fresh, as the sauce will absorb into the pasta and it will be a bit more dry after reheating. That wouldn’t stop ME from eating and enjoying the leftovers, but I’m not sure it would be the best for something like a train dinner. I usually microwave single portions of the leftovers. I’m not sure if there’s a way to reheat the entire batch without it getting really dry.
Super easy and very delicious! This is the kind of recipe I could read once and start immediately without referring back to a million times, that’s how straight forward it is.
Also I added some random amount of garlic kind of on autopilot mode – every time I sauté onion, garlic is right after. Will certainly make again!
This looks delicious! Do you have any recommendations for what could substitute the parmesan? Most other cheeses are fine but my partner has an intolerance. (If the substitution still allowed for parmesan on MY dish, that’d be extra wonderful.)
Thank you for sharing!
You could definitely leave it out on top of his dish and add it to yours. It’s not needed to enjoy the dish completely!
This is super late, but have you tried Asiago or extra aged white cheddar with them? I find the flavors are equally strong with a similar texture to fresh parmesan, if not a little sharper. I’d try subbing another white cheese that’s a little on the harder/dryer side than standard snacking cheeses and see what they think!
Now I need to put this on the meal plan again, but with Asiago…
Lovely. Substituted garlic scapes for the onion, since I’d got them from my CSA. I had a pasta shape that took longer and more broth than the recipe calls for, but I was patient and it ended up rich and delicious.
My daughter and I loved it. We tried some Mizithra cheese on it and loved it as well. Had some roasted chicken and tossed it into the leftovers we reheated and it was fab!
Just tried this recipe tonight. So delicious!! Great quarantine food. I really enjoy the budget bytes recipes but this may be the best one ever
This is one of our very favorite recipes. I made it for the first time last year and my grandkids went crazy for it. Since I’m raising them, that’s a big win. My (then) 14-year old grandaughter took leftovers for lunch the next day (we only had leftovers because I quadrupled the recipe) and when she came home she said “my friends though I lied when I said my Grandma made this because it looks like it came from Panera”! LOL!!!!!!!
What kind of pasta is that? It looks delish!
The name of the shape is Campanelle. :)
I’ve made this twice now, the first time as recipe states, I seriously could have eaten the whole pot myself! It’s that good! Second time I doubled the recipe, yum!
It’s so good! Super easy and quick to make too. I added more cheese than what the recipe called for, will definitely make this again!
Good recipe. A little bland but I added fresh garlic in top and mixed. I will make this again and add garlic when cooking the onions and then add a few dash when mixing in the Parmesan. I also doubled the recipe to feed five people.
Delicious and so easy! I was a little nervous doing the one-pot pasta method for the first time, but it came out great. I think next time I will be sure to use a small onion since the flavor came through a little strong from my larger one, though it definitely didn’t stop us from going back for seconds! Thank you for all of your recipes, they never fail to disappoint.
My husband and I were both skeptical for different reasons, but we both ended up loving it! Next time I’ll be sure to use parmesan instead of mozzarella, but that’s all I had tonight. Also I’d like to try again with fresh spinach because I only had frozen on hand. Hubby liked it with and without red pepper flakes.
It was Soo delicious!
OK! I may have altered it alittle.. I’m really excited, though, and would like to share:
When It was complete as per your wonderful recipe, I simply added heavy whipping cream
(Silk Heavy Whipping Cream) which is plant based), alittle nutmeg and alittle Old Bay Seasoning.
YUM-O-RAMA!
Thank you so much for this devine recipe!
My first recipe from you, a triumph!
It was so delicious, took your hint and added chopped mushrooms to the onions, and as I am unable to cook without garlic, I added two big cloves, and slipped in a couple of chilies from the garden.
A bay leaf fell into the stock ! It was most welcome, then I accidentally spilled some black pepper into it.
We ate the whole dish, accompanied by a glass ( or two) of a cheap red wine.
This is going to be a weekday favorite.
Excellent quick dish with simple ingredients. I am good at self sabotaging myself with challenging recipes, which takes time and energy. This one here, I’ve now made twice, and all of the family loves it. I am going to check out your site for some more recipes like this one.
How could I make this with a creamy white sauce? Add half and half? Not sure!
You could certainly give it a shot! You may want to spin a bit off of this recipe here https://www.budgetbytes.com/creamy-pesto-mac-spinach/