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 added couple handfuls of thawed frozen spinach (because I’m all about balance), and had myself the most delicious and creamy pesto mac and cheese.
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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.
Equipment
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups Spoons
- Liquid Measuring Cup
Nutrition
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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 my all-time favorite Budget Bytes recipe. I always make it when I have milk to use up before it goes bad.
Beth, this is SO good! I’m making it for the second time this week. I did add a minced clove of garlic to the roux to fit my taste. I had some leftover roasted cherry tomatoes that were amazing mixed in! I am curious if you’ve made this with any other cheeses? I’ve been on a white cheddar and pesto kick after a certain grilled cheese won my heart.
Hi Marissa! White cheddar sound like a great sub! XOXO -Monti
I love this recipe and have made it at least four times. I find it goes very well with Barilla’s chickpea rotini—the pasta is slightly chewier than pasta made with wheat, and the sauce is hearty enough to stand up to it.
Sorry, Beth, this one ain’t it for me!
I guess I’ve never eaten pesto without another acidic flavor accompanying it, like tomatoes. This pasta dish is really missing something, and the pesto gives it a really earthy flavor that is not pleasant, since there’s no acidity to balance it. I would also hesitate to call it mac and cheese, as there is only really 1/2 cup of cheese in the whole recipe, and that flavor doesn’t really come through here.
I was not terrible but it wasn’t good either–we didn’t bother keeping the leftovers.
Throw in some chopped onion and garlic you cooked on the side, and most importantly, throw some nutmeg powder into the sauce… and you’re eating good.
To be honest the recipe in itself is not really good. Don’t get me wrong it’s not bad but not great either. It missed something sweat so I tried adding tomatoes, didn’t really work. But when I added 2 tablespoons of maple syrup in it… Wow, this recipe got so much better! You guys need to try it out.
Can you use fresh spinach?
Sure! I would probably just chop it slightly and sauté in a skillet first until wilted.
I made this as a quick thing to eat one night when dinner fell through, and I was trying to make things work with what I had and still feel like that I was giving my kids some sort of veggie. I subbed pepper jack for the parmesan and egg noodles for the macaroni. I was going to put bacon on it, but I forgot to cook it. Anyway, it still turned out really good, and the kids ate it up. I halved the recipe, and it was perfect for me and my 10 and 12 year old.. It was missing a bit of flavor kick that I think the bacon or parmesan would have added. I will definitely be making again.
It will seem like a lot of sauce at first but keep stirring everything together for a couple minutes and it will even out. I use pesto from Dollar Tree and it tastes the same as Aldi’s. We added crumbled bacon on top. So good, like something from a restaurant. 🤤 We got 4 entree sized servings.
This turned out wonderful and I ended up with 3 large entrees! It’s definitely going to go on the list of things to bring to parties and cookouts!
Made this today, and it was really good!
I got a lot of sauce compared to the amount of pasta. So I cooked almost 2 cups more pasta, which made the sauce-to-pasta ratio more to my liking (I used fusilli pasta.) With that amount of pasta this made enough to serve two grown-ups and two children.
Even the kids who normally aren’t very big fans of “the green stuff” loved this! Thanks for the recipe.
This tastes just as one would expect. Yum.
How is this so good? I visit your site often, but this was my first time seeing this recipe. The sauce was PERFECT, and making it was really quite simple. There was even zero chopping involved. The only thing I was unsure about was adding thawed spinach. I have always heard that frozen vegetables shouldn’t be thawed, and my spinach package had a note that it should be cooked to 165 degrees for food safety. So I quickly cooked the spinach in a pan on the stove, which worked well.
Today must be creamy pesto mac with spinach day! Tried this for dinner and I think it has replaced my love for a good homemade alfredo. The sauce is exquisite! I love sneaking in veggies for my hubby and toddler and a recipe like this is perfect for that. The suggestion of bacon bits on top was perfect. A decadent dinner I’ll be returning to again and again!
Terrific! Halved the recipe so I ended up with two hearty servings (1 cup of Mac and cheese was not gonna cut it), used fusilli instead of macaroni and I steamed and cooled/drained some baby spinach instead of using frozen. Amazingly easy and a great way to use that open jar of pesto. Looking forward to making this again!