Last weekend I got an email from Robyn with a link to this really cool recipe over at Apron Strings. I love cooking pasta and rice in liquids other than water, so this idea for a one pot pasta dish (which is originally from Martha Stewart Living Magazine) was right up my alley!
This dish is incredibly easy and super flavorful. The pasta cooks in a mixture of broth, herbs, and aromatics, like onion and garlic, which really ramp up the flavor. The starch that dissolves off of the pasta as it cooks helps create a thick sauce right in the pot. It’s magic! So fast, so easy, and SO flavorful. I do want to mention, though, that if you’re the type of person that can’t handle pasta any other way than al dente, you may not like this one. The pasta can get a little soft, if you let it cook even just a little too long.
I made a few changes to the original recipe, as usual, to fit my needs. First, instead of using fresh basil, which can cost an arm and a leg, I used frozen spinach for a pop of green and increased the dried basil to make up for the flavor. Second, I wanted more “stuff” in my pasta, so I used a larger can of diced tomatoes and reduced the amount of vegetable broth to compensate. Lastly, I added a light sprinkle of shaved Parmesan over top. Other great ideas for add-ins: mushrooms, parmesan, artichoke hearts, or olives.
I think next time I’ll save adding the frozen spinach until the end so that it will defrost and heat quickly from the pasta’s residual heat. That way the spinach will stay bright green and pretty, and it will not darken the pasta as it cooks. But hey, either way it tasted fantastic!
Tomato Spinach One Pot Pasta
Servings 6Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetable broth ($0.52)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.22)
- 12 oz. fettuccine ($0.75)
- 8 oz. frozen chopped spinach ($0.72)
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes ($1.68)
- 1 yellow onion, sliced ($0.42)
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced ($0.32)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried basil ($0.15)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano ($0.15)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.03)
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 2 oz. shaved Parmesan ($1.25)
Instructions
- Add four cups of vegetable broth to a large pot. Break the fettuccine in half and add it to the pot along with the canned tomatoes (with juices), olive oil, frozen spinach, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper.
- Make sure the ingredients are submerged under the liquid, place a lid on top of the pot, and then turn the heat on to high. Allow the pot to come up to a full boil over high heat, then remove the lid and turn the heat down to medium.
- Allow the pot to continue to boil over medium heat, without a lid, for 10-15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir the pot every few minutes as it cooks to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom, but avoid over stirring which can cause the pasta to become sticky.
- Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan just before serving.
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Nutrition
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How to Make One Pot Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Start with four cups of vegetable broth. The flavor intensity and salt content of your broth will make a big difference in the end flavor of the pasta. If you use a low sodium broth, the pasta will taste bland. I use Better Than Bouillon soup base for all of my broths because it is really flavorful, much less expensive than boxed or canned broths, and I can mix up any amount needed. These little jars last forever in the refrigerator, too, so it’s there whenever you need it. And no, I am not being paid to endorse it. :)
Add the four cups of broth to a large pot along with 12 oz. fettuccine, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 8oz. frozen spinach, a 28oz. can diced tomatoes (with the juices), 1 sliced onion, 4 cloves garlic (minced or sliced), 1/2 Tbsp dried basil, 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and some freshly cracked pepper. Although I show the fettuccine whole here, it’s best to break the pasta in half to help it fit in the pot and make it easier to stir later.
Briefly stir the pot and make sure all the pasta is submerged. Place a lid on the pot and bring it up to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, remove the lid, turn the heat down to medium, and give it a stir. Make sure it’s still bubbling away when you turn the heat down. It needs to continue boiling for this to work.
Let it boil for 10-15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed or evaporated. Only stir once every few minutes to keep the pasta from sticking. Over stirring it can make the pasta overly mushy and sticky.
And then it’s done and it tastes amazing! Cool, huh? Sprinkle a little shaved Parmesan over top just before serving. This Tomato Spinach One Pot Pasta deserves a cape for being so amazing. That bowl was gone in 60 seconds. 👅
It is shocking how delicious and easy this recipe is. It comes together quickly and looks really fancy (despite the humble ingredients) making it a perfect dish to serve to guests. I have made this several times with different kinds of pasta–rigatoni most recently. I use a whole box of pasta (1lb) and add an extra cup of broth to compensate for the extra pasta. It is very forgiving.
If I wanted to add chicken, what would be the best method, precooked chicken or just cut up raw chicken?
Pre-cooked would probably be easiest, but if I were to do raw I’d probably brown it in the bottom of the pot first so that it gets some color and isn’t just boiled.
I fixed this for dinner this evening. We loved it.
I’m in Australia – is it possible to add metric sizes to the recipe to make it easier to make? Also I’ve never heard of vegetable broth. Would vegetable stock be a suitable replacement?
Yes, you can use vegetable stock. :) Unfortunately I don’t have the metric conversions.
Hi there… Can I substitute fresh instead of frozen spinach? Will that affect the taste?
Fresh spinach would be great in this. I suggest stirring it in at the very end so that it doesn’t over cook.
This is SO good! My family loves it! My only change is that I add cubed chicken breast to the recipe.
Had to let you know that we had this again tonight- quickly becoming a family favorite!
I made this tonight with one modification – adding the pasta after the mixture had started boiling since I was worried about the pasta being too soft. We’ll see how it fares as leftovers, but what I ate just now was good! I didn’t notice my pasta being slimy, but for me at least, that might be less of an issue than having it totally mushy.
This is one of the greatest recipes ever! And so flexible and adaptable!
Hey Beth, I’m headed to a friend’s house to give him some pointers on cooking. The challenge: the only thing he has to cook with is a crock pot (or 8 of them, oddly). Yay! Crock pot party!
If I do this in a crock pot – do you think 2 hours on high, then add the noodles and wait until they’re done, would work? Would you recommend longer than 2 hours? I’m not a big crock pot chef (I rarely use mine) so I have no idea.
Thanks! =)
8 slow cookers?! Haha, that is so crazy. :) I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if this one is cut out for a slow cooker. Generally pasta doesn’t work very well in slow cookers (or at least in my opinion). I’d have to experiment with it before being able to give advice.
I have made this four or five times now and have to comment. I don’t care if it’s not traditionally Italian to cook pasta this way, the end result is DELICIOUS. The recipe makes enough food that two people have copious leftovers, and it tastes even better the next day. It is impossible to screw this recipe up IMO. Anyone who is on the fence wrt making this should just try it, but don’t forget to season and add your own twist! If you like onion and/or garlic, add more! If you have some vegetables on hand that need to be eaten, use that instead of the spinach. Need a cheap, quick protein to go along with it? Stir a can of tuna/sardines/salmon, a bit of olive oil, and lemon juice or fresh tomato in a bowl and add it to your plate/bowl before serving.
For the person who asked about whole wheat pasta, last night I made this recipe again w/ whole wheat elbow pasta and other subs because it was a must-goes kind of night — 1 lb. of pasta, 28 oz. crushed tomatoes instead of diced, chicken broth rather than veggie, and about 12 oz. of frozen spinach. Large onion and extra garlic because that’s how we do here.
This recipe worked fine with WW pasta. I would use it again. What you should probably plan for is a few minutes more cooking time, and probably about a cup more of liquid. Since I was improvising last night, I think the liquid from the frozen spinach helped with the WW pasta, and then after about 10 minutes after the boil point there was not enough liquid left to finish off the pasta so I added a cup of hot water at that time. If I could do it over again I probably would have added the full package (1lb.) of frozen spinach and more broth at the start. This dish still turned out great, though. I finished it last night with a fried egg on top. Today was grocery day so I warmed up the leftovers from last night in a pan with some browned sausage and sauteed greens that were on last day special (thank you HEB). So delicious!
I think this dish works best if you approach it more as a pantry framework than a recipe. The flavors of this dish are almost universally complementary, so it’s a great starting point from which you can combine some pantry basics and other ingredients you have on hand into a flavorful family meal. The only criticism I have is the recipe relies on the salt in the broth as part of its seasoning, and I think it needs a bit extra salt for the amount of food you are cooking. Of course seasoning is crucial to most any balanced dish.
Finally, those calling this food “bog standard easy slop” are not only making some rather distasteful, thinly-veiled class judgments about a recipe on a website called BUDGET Bytes, but they sound like they missed some fundamental lessons of tact and taste(!) somewhere along the line. Shame.
OMG, cooking pasta beginning with cold broth! Sorry but not an Italian recipe. The Italian way is add the properly cooked pasta to the rest at the end.
I’d like to slice up and add some Italian sausage to this recipe. When do you think would be a good time in the recipe steps to do so? Or should I cook the sausage separately and add it to the pot before serving? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this next weekend!
I would sauté it in the pot first before adding anything else, then once browned add the rest of the ingredients and cook as directed. :)
Looks and sounds delicious, will definitely try this.
Can it be stored and reheated easily, or would the pasta get a bit mushy if it’s just left in the fridge?
The pasta does get softer, so if you’re sensitive to textures like that you may not like it. I enjoyed the leftovers, though. :)
What changes do I need to make to use whole wheat fettuccine????
I’d have to test it out to know for sure. Whole wheat pasta cooks differently than regular pasta.