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
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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 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