Stress eating, what? Who, me? Noooo, never. Okay, maybe. As the countdown to my move out of state begins and everything seems to be going haywire, I find myself needing a little comfort food. My usual go-to comfort food is pasta with butter, Parmesan, and salt and pepper, but today I decided to go a little further and make this super creamy Spinach Alfredo Pasta.
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What is in Alfredo Sauce?
So, to be honest, this is not really an alfredo sauce (I actually wanted to call it “faux”-fredo), but sometimes recipe names are a bit figurative. Real alfredo has like, a stick of butter, a pile of Parmesan, and sometimes (especially if you’re in America) a whoooole lot of heavy cream.
I swapped the heavy cream for whole milk, reduced the butter by a lot, and used a little cream cheese to help thicken and stabilize the sauce. So, it’s no longer technically an alfredo, but hey, it’s close enough for me to pretend and feel like I’m eating something super-indulgent.
Does it Reheat Well?
This Spinach Alfredo Pasta is definitely better when fresh, although I would NEVER turn down the leftovers, so if you’re cooking for one or two consider cutting the recipe in half. Luckily, this one is super easy to scale up or down. Just change the number of servings in the “servings” box on the recipe card below and the ingredients will auto-adjust.
Can I Use Frozen Spinach?
Yes, you can use frozen spinach if necessary, just keep in mind that the texture will not be as nice as the fresh spinach. To use frozen spinach, thaw it completely, then squeeze out as much extra moisture as possible (or else it may turn your sauce green). Add the squeezed frozen spinach at the same point the fresh spinach is added in the recipe below.
Spinach Alfredo Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 12 oz. penne pasta ($0.74)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.27)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 2 cups whole milk ($0.62)
- 6 oz. cream cheese ($1.50)
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan ($1.23)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 4 cups baby spinach ($1.33)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the pasta. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. Add the butter and minced garlic to a deep skillet or pot and sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant, but not brown.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the milk to the skillet along with the cream cheese (cut into chunks). Heat the milk and cream cheese while whisking, until the cream cheese has fully melted into the milk.
- Whisk in the grated Parmesan cheese and continue to whisk as the sauce comes up to a gentle simmer. When it reaches a simmer, the sauce will thicken. Turn the heat down to low to keep the sauce warm. Season the sauce with 1/4 tsp salt and a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper.
- Add the fresh spinach to the sauce and stir it in until it has wilted and become limp.
- Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta to the spinach alfredo sauce and stir to combine. Serve immediately.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step-by-step photos!
How to Make Spinach Alfredo Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Start by cooking 12 oz. penne pasta according to the package directions (boil a large pot of water, add the pasta, and continue to boil until al dente). While the pasta is cooking, start the “alfredo” sauce. Mince two cloves of garlic and add them to a deep skillet or pot with 2 Tbsp butter. Sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant, but not brown.
Add 2 cups of whole milk to the skillet and turn the heat down to medium-low.
Also add 6 oz. cream cheese, cut into chunks. Heat and stir or whisk the milk and cheese until it is fully heated through and the cheese has melted into the milk. You’ll want to use a whisk once the cheese begins to melt.
Whisk 3/4 cup grated Parmesan into the milk sauce. Continue to whisk while the mixture heats, allowing it to come up to a gentle simmer. When it reaches a simmer, the sauce will thicken. Once the Parmesan has fully melted in and the sauce has thickened, turn the heat down to low to keep the sauce warm. Season the sauce with 1/4 tsp salt and a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper.
Now it’s time to add the spinach. I buy these huge bags of fresh spinach, which are the same amount as those large tubs you can buy, but it’s only $3.99 (the large tubs are usually more like $5.99). Anyway, add about 4 cups of spinach to the hot alfredo sauce…
And stir it in until it has wilted and limp. This should only take a few minutes.
Finally, add the cooked and drained penne pasta and stir until everything is combined and coated in the thick sauce.
And that’s it! Now you’re ready to get your pasta on.
Seriously though, this Spinach Alfredo Pasta is rich and creamy without being like, “OMG I just ate a brick.”
I’m all about that cracked pepper. 🤤
I added a literal butt ton of garlic (I have a Costco jar of the minced stuff) and used neufchatel. Turned out great!! Highly recommend using a squeeze of fresh lemon or some lemon zest on the top; I made it with lemon garlic shrimp and that sauce plus this was fantastic. Easy weeknight meal!!
I hope you didn’t measure this literal butt ton in a literal sense.
Used evaporated milk (instead of more expensive & high fat cream) & frozen spinach & Mediterranean spice blend as too bland for me.
I made this for my granddaughter’s birthday. She is vegetarian. I added chicken to mine and my husband’s. We all loved it!
We are using this recipe for my school cooking club. Thank you for creating a budget-friendly yet tasty recipe.
Easy and simple to make! I’m not a very experienced cook but both times I’ve made this it turned out very well.
Love this dish!! Added chicken breast and don’t care if I cooked it best I ever had!!!
Omg delicious & easy!!! I’m not a cook, I’m a recent widow & my husband was the cook. This is the first recipe I tried & SO easy & delicious!!! Funny thing is I’ve been raving for 2 days how easy it is to make Alfredo sauce & I never knew & I’ll never by jar again & I just read the whole article I’m LMAO because it says this isn’t REAL Alfredo… it’s the best I EVER had!!!!
I’m not an avid cooker myself, I’m slowly learning as time goes on.
I’ve tried this recipe 3 times, I really like it. I used bowties instead of penne for my first 2 attempts. My first attempt wasn’t great, as I used too little milk for the sauce.
2nd attempt was aided by my close friend. It came out well, we both enjoyed it.
3rd attempt came out fantastic, used cheese tortellini for it instead, my mother also enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for this recipe, can’t wait to try out more recipes you have on here!
Most amazing spinach Alfredo recipe ever. I can’t get enough of it!
all of them
This is delicious. I actually used spaghetti (my kids favorite) and added chicken after the parmesan step to bulk it up, and heat the chicken through. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes in my bowl as well. It definitely met my alfredo craving, and the kids wolfed it down. I will keep this recipe in my back pocket for a quick weeknight meal.
Thanks!
This is my new go-to alfredo sauce! I loved this recipe! Was skeptical at first because I’ve never used cream cheese in an alfredo, but the texture, flavor, everything was perfect! Delicious!
Can I use pre cooked shrimp in this recipe
Sure, you could toss in some cooked shrimp at the end.
I’ve been doing a play on vegan alfredo sauces … many of them call for cauliflower. My recipe is pretty similar to yours (I definitely still use the dairy), but then I throw in a bag of cooked frozen cauliflower… Blend it together with a hand blender. It’s delicious.
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! I made slight adjustments with what I had on hand…exchanged 2 cups of whole milk for 1 cup 2% and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and used Neufchatel cheese rather than the cream cheese. Added chicken for final touch and me and my husband are happy to report it was delicious!! Another great recipe from Budget Bytes!!
My baby spinach clumped together, I would chop it up instead of tossing it in whole. Sauce was thick enough for me using neufchatel and almond milk. I topped with crushed red pepper.
Love it! I’m normally eh on cream cheese based Alfredo sauces but this hits the perfect balance where it doesn’t just taste like cream cheese! I halved the recipe and used 1% milk instead of whole milk, turned out beautifully. Only change I would make is adding more baby spinach because I love it in pasta. Thanks for another great recipe!
Oh, How you make your recipes so easy. This is my 2nd time using one of your recipes ad they’ve both been a hit. I added chicken and bacon to mine. I also replaced whole milk with evaporated milk because I didn’t have whole milk.
Can I sub cream cheese for Greek yogurt?
I haven’t tried that, but cream cheese and Greek yogurt are very different in both texture and flavor so it will definitely change the end result.
Very good recipe! First time I’ve ever tried making a recipe from this website. I used one more clove of garlic than recommended and it worked nicely.
Whipped cream can be substituted any time milk is called for…just makes it more decadent, thick and high calorie. As a added bonus….I would add a pound of shrimp!!!! Yum!!!
I don’t have whole milk, but I have heavy whipping cream and 2% milk. Could I maybe do 1 cup of 2% milk and a 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to substitute for the 2 cups of whole milk?
Yes that should be okay!
Can I avoid using the cream cheese?
It’s really what brings the alfredo part to the dish. If you cannot have dairy there are some tasty cashew cream cheeses that are just as wonderful!
I loved it
Yummy! Will definitely make again. Thanks for sharing this.
My 12 year old wanted to make a pasta Alfred so I looked up this one and sent her in the kitchen to make it. BEST Alfredo I’ve ever had. Her and the family loves it!
I made this on a whim to use up some spinach and ground turkey I had in the fridge, and it came out amazing!! It was super easy to make too. I know it’s annoying when someone says “it was great…I just changed this, this, and that”. In this case it was 100% fine just as it is written. However, I was trying to clean out the fridge and pantry without shopping, so I ended up using rotini pasta in lieu of penne since it was what I had, and added ground turkey just to add a bit of protein for my growing boy. He scarfed it down and asked for more! I’d call that a win! I’m definitely adding this to my dinner recipe rotation.
The sauce was thinner than I would have liked too. I added cornstarch and extra parm. The flavor was good though. I think next time I would start with a roux.
I’ve never screwed up recipe as much as I’ve done on this one… I would not recommend following the steps on this one here!!
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole and reduced fat cream cheese?
Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend that as it would change the flavor and consistency a lot. That being said, some people might not mind the difference, so I can’t say for sure whether you’d like it or not.
I made this for the first time and it was fabulous. I used evaporated milk instead of regular milk ( I remember using it in your one skillet Mac and Cheese recipe also yummy). This made it extra thick and creamy and how I like it. It was absolutely what I was craving and I was able to use ingredients I already had and needed to use up. Why I love this website so much.
Delicious. For a protein I added some chopped fried chicken tenders.
This was a supremely delicious recipe. Amazing.
Turned out pretty well! Sauce was not as thick as I wished, but did thicken the longer it sat.
I thought this was pretty yummy! I ran into the same problem as some other commenters about the sauce not being thick enough, even though I used whole milk. But then, I came back to the website, and noticed I used 3/4 of shredded parm, not grated! So last minute, I dunked a whole bunch of parm in a can in there, plus 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water. Sauce is the right consistency and pretty yummy. Thank you for the recipe!
Can I replace milk with heavy whip cream?
I think that would change the outcome quite a bit. You’d probably need to make other adjustments in the recipe as well, but it’s hard to guess without testing the substitution.
I made this recipe its amazing I used half and half insted of milk and it came out like a mac and cheese but it was easy to follow and super fast to cook i put veggie pasta to make more healthy
I was so excited to eat this after a long day at work..but for some reason the sauce would not thicken for me either. I tried adding some flour like someone suggested and it would not dissolve. I’m sure this is delicious, but have no idea how to thicken the sauce. I’m pretty experienced with cream sauces and this one baffled me.
if you want to use flour, you have to do it at the beginning, in the butter and garlic. if you want to thicken it after cooking, you have to use corn starch slurry.
I keep instant potato flakes on hand just to thicken sauces and soups (like clam chowder). No lumps and doesn’t alter flavor. You don’t have to mix it with liquid first and you can add it at the very end of cooking. I usually start with a heaping tablespoon, stir it in, and then add more, teaspoon by teaspoon until it’s as thick as I want.
Another great recipe from the best site! Sauce took a lot bg time to thicken, but it happened eventually. Most important factor in cooking is patience. Though I read a comment above recommending corn starch and water… I might do this next time.
This is a fantastic recipe. My husband and I both loved it! Going by some of the comments, I thickened the sauce. I added 2 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp of cold water to a small bowl and whisked this together. I then added this cornstarch mixture to the sauce right after the step where the milk is added. I continued to whisk until it began to simmer as stated in the recipe.
If i add chicken will it be good ???
Sure!
We loved it. Have shared it with other family members and Friends.
Yum! This was great. I sauteed some apple chicken sausage that I bought on sale and added it to the pasta when it was finished.
This was delicious!! I just made this and I’m so obsessed this now a staple comfort meal for me.
The second time i made this, it wouldn’t thicken. i don’t measure anything, so probably too much milk. Anyway, the third and fourth time i made it, i put a little flour in with the butter and garlic, maybe a teaspoon or 2, and cooked it before adding the other stuff. the sauce was super thick this way.
Did I miss something?? Because the sauce never thickened. It’s basically a super cheesy soup. I’m sure it’s good, but… not in this case.
It looks so delicious. Can’t wait to make it. I like pasta so much. Thanks for sharing it with us..
Made this last night and it was soooo good! I grabbed a 16oz box of pasta at the store so I split this into 6 portions. I only had frozen spinach on hand so used 2 cups of that and threw it straight into the sauce without defrosting. I’ll either defrost and squeeze out the water next time or use fresh because I think it watered the sauce down a bit (not too bad though!).
If anyone is interested in calories, a serving ended up being around 500 calories for me, but that’ll depend on what ingredients you use. Will definitely make again!
Hey, Beth!
I’m a long time fan of your recipes, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the automatic imperial to metric conversion on this one. It would be great if you could somehow implement that into all your recipe posts, we Europeans like your cooking too :)
I plan on it! :) It’s a new feature offered with the recipe plugin I’m using, but unfortunately I have to go into each and every 1000+ recipes on the site to turn it on and double check units. :P So, it might be a while!
Alfredo sauce is fattening but also incredibly expensive! This sounds like just the replacement, can’t wait to try :)
Heyas! I was coming to say thanks for the lower budget version here, and found I was already late in mentioning it. But I’m here to join RIN is saying so. Thank you very much.
the recipe looks so delicious !
can i replace the spinach with broccoli ?
should i cook the broccoli first or how ?
please, thanklyou ^^
Yes, you can definitely do broccoli. I suggest adding the fresh broccoli florets to the boiling pasta water for the last minute or two, just to cook them lightly. Then just drain them with the pasta and add it all to the sauce.
Ahh, and for the non-veg folks, I added 6-7 strips of already-cooked bacon :) for a two person version
YUM!
Yum. My kids who hate everything had seconds. I made exactly as is but grilled a bit of chicken for the meat eaters in the family and that made it even tastier.
Chicken alfredo is a childhood favorite of mine! Thanks for creating this healthier version!
I made this last night. It was so good. I added some red curry paste, and a lots of black olive slices. just like Beth said, the leftovers from the fridge didn’t compare to the freshly made.
Made this last night and my family loved it! Added some turkey meatballs I had in my freezer for the meat-eaters in my family. I liked it just as it was. :)
Oooh I bet this would be good with some shredded chicken for added for more protein!
I was thinking the same thing! Either rotisserie chicken or a sliced grilled chicken breast. :)
i have made this with 1 or 2 cut up frozen chicken breasts, and it was fantastic.
This looks so delicious! Perfect for summer and a quick meal once school starts!
This was SO good. I didn’t have the spinach on hand, and added frozen peas instead along with some red pepper flakes. I normally can’t eat Alfredo because the heavy cream makes me very sick, but THIS I can eat! I’ll definitely make this recipe again!
Looks delicious, and so quick and easy. This (and slight variations, depending on what’s in the fridge!) is my go-to pasta dish x
This looks amazing! Love love love alfredo! I’ve gotta try it ASAP!
-GG
http://www.girlingamba.com
I’ve done this before, except I use a roux base for the sauce. It gets creamier and thicker, but still fewer calories. It’s so good when you’re stressed and want carbs!
I really love pasta! your recipe sounds nice and im hungry now :D
Dear Beth,
this is my first comment, so first of all let me thank you for your wonderful blog! It has already saved so many of my weekday dinners!
This recipe also looks really great, I will try it soon. Do you think I could use frozen instead of fresh spinach?
Hi Alina! Thanks for commenting! :) You can use frozen spinach, just thaw it and squeeze out the extra water first. I would use about 1/4 to 1/2 pound. Just keep in mind that the texture of the frozen spinach may be a bit more stringy as well.
Okay, I’ll give it a try! Thanks for your answer and useful advice :)
I make my alfredo like this except I use chicken broth instead of milk. If you are adding chicken, start by cooking the chicken in Italian salad dressing instead of oil. Then remove the cooked chicken and make the Alfredo in the same pan.
Yum!
OMG. I LOVE alfredo!!! :-)
This looks so good! And I love that there’s some veggies in it too.