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’ve made this so many times that I know the recipe by heart. It is soooo yummy! Even my 2 1/2 year old asks for it for dinner. Thanks for all of the yummy recipes and great instructions. We’ve really become huge fans.
First recipe I made from your website. I liked it a lot!
I took your tip and also added crushed red peppers. I added a bit too much though… But still, it was a nice meal.
I added the spinach 1/4 lbs (125 grams or so, I think), but it seemed like it was too little. I added the rest of the bag and ended up with about 300 grams of spinach mixed through the pasta. I figured that since the flavor is so strong that the extra spinach might help balance things out a bit.
I will definitely be coming back for more cheap and delicious recipes :).
Oh so yummy! My husband demanded I make it again this week and I had to use restraint to not to finish off my kids leftovers. So simple but delicious as usual. Your website is the basis of all our favorite meals now.
Hi Beth, do you think I could take out the bacon/meat altogether, but add artichoke hearts and Roma or sun dried tomatoes? If so, when should I add the artichoke hearts and the Roma tomatoes? It was a great recipe for the family, although I just picked out the bacon.
Well, the bacon really adds a lot of flavor to this recipe, so keep that in mind if you try a meatless version. I would add artichoke hearts, roma tomatoes, or sun dried tomatoes with the broth and pasta and let them go through the simmer process to help the flavors get into the pasta.
I have to say again how much we love this recipe! I made it last night with a cup of crimini mushrooms sautéed in butter (because I used lean ham instead of bacon), a clove of garlic and homemade fettucini that I dried. I wasn’t sure it would work because even fresh dry pasta cooks for a much shorter time than than commercial, but the pasta was al dente and the remaining chicken broth thickened into a tasty sauce in about 7 minutes. Thank you again, my husband gave it his ultimate approval by saying we should have it again.
I made this for myself tonight and can’t wait to dig into it tomorrow for lunch as well! I used mini farfalle as my pasta and it was perfect.
Mm. I made this earlier this week ’cause I had some extra bacon sitting around, and it’s just lovely.
I was worried I’d lack for body and protein with just the bacon and the cheese, so I beefed it up quite a bit by adding about eight sliced white button mushrooms and a can’s worth of white beans. Definitely a good choice. They rounded it out and made it more filling without compromising the flavor.
I did notice that between the cheese, the broth, and the bacon, the dish was fairly oily, just barely crossing the line into “cloying” territory. Next time I make this, I think I’ll add a splash of cider vinegar or lemon juice to cut that with a little acidity.
What is this “extra bacon” thing you speak of?
Making this right now as I type! It smells great, and I used turkey bacon to bring down the fat content for dietary purposes – still has that smokey flavor!
This is definitely a quick weekday dinner option.
Okay so after eating this last night, all I can say is “YUM!” My partner said this tasted restaurant quality because the flavor was so unique and scrumptious.
I just bookmarked your website, and am trying the “Greek marinated chicken dish” tomorrow. Love your recipes from a budget friendly college student!
This is scrumptious :D I added 227g mushrooms and 2 cloves garlic. So addictive!
This was great! I used mushroom Better Than Bouillon and threw about a half cup and diced mushrooms in with the onions, and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Delicious. I’m grateful for your tip about buying bags of cooking kale – it’s way cheaper.
I found that I didn’t need to stirfry the kale first – it was okay just stirring it in at the end and giving it a couple extra minutes to soften. I also doubled (at least) the kale – thank goodness I have a massive skillet – and added a green bell pepper.
Another cheap and easy win :)
I made this today and it was so good! I used egg noodles instead of the noodles you had, and I had to add a little extra broth but it was super easy and great.
This was honestly super easy to make. I did not have any spinach so I used a green bell pepper and some green peas. I also added some crushed red pepper and crushed black pepper. It looked too good to eat! It was sooo delicious. My face was like this:
Wow! I thought this recipe seemed a bit too simple at first, but it’s so delicious. I had never thought of boiling noodles with broth. It’s SO much better. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Made this with a shallot and turkey bacon – amazing as always!