I bought a little jar of pesto recently and have been having fun finding ways to add it to everyday recipes. Yesterday I noticed a half bag of macaroni that had been sitting in my pantry for a few months and I just knew it was begging for the pesto treatment. So, I whipped up a quick béchamel sauce, stirred in some grated Parmesan, and a good dollop of pesto. I poured the luxurious sauce over my cooked macaroni then aded couple handfuls of thawed frozen spinach (because I’m all about balance), and had myself the most delicious and creamy pesto mac and cheese.
What Kind of Pesto is Best?
I used a simple basil pesto, but the wonderful thing about this recipe is that it is very flexible. You could do a homemade Kale Pesto, you could do a sun-dried tomato pesto, or practically any flavor pesto that you’d like.
How to Use Leftover Pesto
Pesto is definitely an expensive ingredient, but it’s so potent that you really don’t need a lot to add big flavor to your recipes. The little jar I bought contains about 3/4 cup pesto and costs $3.99. I usually only use about ¼ cup at a time in a recipe, so there is always some leftover. Here are some other recipes that use pesto:
If you can’t find uses for your leftovers immediately, pesto can be frozen. A lot of people like to spoon it into ice cube trays so they can grab a couple tablespoons at a time to toss into recipes like pasta, salad dressings, and other sauces.
What Else Can I Add to Pesto Mac and Cheese?
You can really take this recipe so many different directions! Try adding a handful of sun dried tomatoes, or maybe some chopped up rotisserie chicken. Or try topping it with some crumbled feta, bacon bits, or some buttered breadcrumbs!
Also be sure to check out my extra cheesy classic Homemade Mac and Cheese recipe!
Creamy Pesto Mac and Cheese with Spinach
Servings 6 (1 cup each)Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked macaroni ($0.50)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.22)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 2 cups whole milk ($0.60)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan ($0.53)
- 1/4 cup basil pesto ($0.55)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 lb. frozen spinach ($0.80)
Instructions
- Thaw the spinach at room temperature or in the microwave. Squeeze out the excess water. Set the spinach aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the macaroni. Boil for 7-10 minutes, or until tender. Drain the macaroni in a colander.
- While the pasta is boiling, prepare the sauce. Add the butter and flour to a small sauce pot. Heat and stir the butter and flour over medium heat until it forms a creamy paste and begins to bubble. Continue to stir and cook for about one minute more.
- Whisk the milk into the butter and flour, then allow it to come up to a simmer, while whisking. When it reaches a simmer, the sauce will thicken. Remove the sauce from the heat.
- Whisk the Parmesan and pesto into the sauce until smooth. This will further thicken the sauce. Season the sauce with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Make sure the sauce is well seasoned as the flavors will be less concentrated once the pasta and spinach are stirred in.
- Return the cooked and drained pasta to the large pot (heat turned off) and add the thawed spinach. Pour the sauce over top, then stir until everything is combined and coated in sauce. Serve immediately.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
More Mac and Cheese Recipes:
How to Make Pesto Mac and Cheese – Step by Step Photos
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the macaroni. Once boiling, add two cups of macaroni and continue to boil until tender but not mushy. Drain the pasta in a colander.
While the macaroni is boiling, thaw 1/2 lb. spinach and then squeeze out some of the excess water. It doesn’t have to be bone-dry, just make sure it’s not sopping wet.
Place 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp flour into a small sauce pot. Heat them over a medium flame while whisking. Once bubbling, continue to stir and cook for about a minute. This mixture is called a roux (this is a blonde roux, in particular) and is used to thicken the sauce. Cooking it for a minute or so slightly toasts the flour so that you don’t have that raw paste-like flavor to your sauce.
Whisk in two cups of whole milk. Let the mixture come to a simmer, whisking occasionally to make sure the milk doesn’t scorch on the bottom.
Once the milk starts simmering, that’s when the roux magic happens. The milk will thicken slightly. It won’t be as thick as a cheese sauce at this point, but it should have noticeably more body. Turn the heat off.
Whisk in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. The cheese will help thicken the sauce even more.
Then whisk in 1/4 cup basil pesto.
Finally, season the sauce with salt and freshly cracked pepper. You want the sauce to be pretty heavily seasoned because it will taste less concentrated once the pasta and spinach are stirred in. I used 1/2 tsp salt and about 5-10 cranks of a pepper mill.
Return the cooked and drained pasta to the large pot it was cooked in, add the thawed and squeezed spinach, then pour the creamy sauce over top.
Then stir all that creamy pesto goodness together. Oh my.
I’ll just say it one more time, then leave it there… Creamy Pesto Mac and Cheese with Spinach–OH MY.
This is an incredible comfort meal! I’ll as a rule fry some chicken to present with it. I love the way simple this formula is, yet it likewise tastes incredible. It additionally keeps well, so I’ll make an entire group, and afterward eat for a couple of days. I normally grind my Parmesan on a microplane, and the new Parmesan, while more costly truly hoists the entire dish.
I had some pesto hanging out in the fridge, so I made this last night. It was delicious, as are all of your recipes!
In his bachelor days, my husband loved those packets of dried “pesto” sauce that you whisk with water and oil on the stovetop to create a creamy pesto sauce for pasta. He loves all things highly processed and shelf stable, bless his heart.
I banned them from the pantry after we got married: they just taste like chemicals to me. Cannot wait to surprise him with this meal, he will be happy and so will I!!
This looks good 😋. I add pesto to my spinach mixture when I make spinach lasagne roll ups or stuffed shells. It really takes them over the top.
Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe.
Great recipe! I used fresh spinach and heavy cream since that’s what I happened to have in the fridge and it came out great. If using fresh spinach tho, I would probably cut it smaller in the future but otherwise great, easy recipe! I loved that it was so simple and I could sub what I had and it still came out great
This is a great comfort meal! I’ll usually fry some chicken to serve with it. I love how easy this recipe is, but it also tastes great. It also keeps well, so I’ll make a whole batch, and then have lunch for a few days. I usually grate my Parmesan on a microplane, and the fresh Parmesan, while more expensive really elevates the whole dish.
Can you bake this?
Sure! I don’t see why not. :) I’m usually too eager to eat to bake my mac and cheese after it’s done on the stove top, but if you have the will power, I say go for it. :P
I used banza chickpea elbows and everything turned out great, except my fresh baby spinach had a weird bitter flavor. Any tips?
Made this last night. We had some fresh spinach that was needing to be used up so we used that instead. Didn’t have milk, but had some whipping cream and some almond milk so those combined. Came out perfect and delicious. Thanks! I love when I can adapt a recipe a bit to use things I already have at home and it still works. :)
Delicious!
I used fresh spinach, 4 cups of cooked rotini instead of macaroni, and added 2 cans of tuna for protein.
Delicious!!! I doubled the sauce and added tuna…comfort food with a twist, for sure!
Is there an alternative to the whole milk? Something non-dairy?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried any non-dairy substitutes with this one so I can’t say for sure, but I suspect they wouldn’t be creamy enough.
Maybe plain oat milk or soy milk will be the creamier of plant milks. Canned coconut milk could work but it would have a stronger flavor.
Cashew milk might be a good option, I find it has nice creaminess to it.
This is seriously sooo good! I made tonight, and my whole family enjoyed it! I had fresh spinach, so I used that in place of the frozen, but no other alterations. Really creamy with lots of flavor from the pesto. Will make this again for sure!
WOW!!! I just made this tonight and it was amazing. Beth, I don’t know where you come up with these ideas and how you know what ingredients to use to make these recipes so tasty, but you are an amazing cook. Or should I say, chef? Everything I’ve had from your site is so good. You seem to have taste buds in your finger tips. I added mushrooms to the recipe and replaced the full fat milk with 2% milk. I keep forgetting what a thickener the cheese is. It was so good. I also had some leftover chicken and threw that in as well. I wonder what it would taste like with tuna. Can’t wait to try another one of your dishes. I’m still savoring the flavor of this meal as I sit here and write this. I also reduced the quantity a bit from the original increments as there’s only 2 in my our household. Great week night meal.