Y’all know I love one pot pasta meals, and I know a lot of you do too. They’re quick, easy, and pack a lot of flavor into only one little dish that needs to be cleaned at the end. Creamy one pot pastas, in particular, have become my go-to comfort food. This time I paired the tangy flavor of sun dried tomatoes with garlic and Parmesan for a simple but indulgent One Pot Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta.
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Changes to the Original Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe:
Many readers were having trouble with the original recipe, so I reformulated it a bit based on my experience creating one pot pastas since this recipe was originally posted (it’s now based on my One Pot Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta). In particular, many people were having trouble with their milk curdling or the sauce not coming out smooth. Here is what I changed to create better and more consistent results:
- The milk is now added after the pasta simmers so the high heat and acidity from the tomatoes will not cause curdling.
- A small amount of cream cheese is added to the sauce to help stabilize and emulsify the Parmesan into the sauce.
- I also added a healthy dose of dried basil for a little more flavor!
Can I Substitute the Cream Cheese?
Cream cheese is great and keeping milk based sauces smooth and to help cheese melt smoothly without clumpig. If you just can’t stand cream cheese, you can replace half of the milk with heavy cream. This reduces the water content in the sauce, which will help the Parmesan emulsify properly.
Can I Add Meat?
Yes, this recipe is extremely flexible and can be made with or without meat. If you’d like to add chicken, you can dice up the chicken and sauté it in the skillet with the garlic in the beginning, or simply add sliced grilled chicken to the finished pasta. Italian sausage might also be great with this sun dried tomato pasta. Simply brown it in the skillet in the beginning with the garlic. Bacon would also be quite tasty. Brown the bacon in the skillet before the garlic, and drain off the excess fat before continuing with the recipe.
Tips for Cooking One Pot Pastas:
Getting one pot pastas just right can take some practice, so if you find you’re having trouble, here are a few tips:
- Stir every few minutes to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot, or to itself.
- After the pot has been brought to a boil, turn the heat down to low, or just above low, so the liquid is still simmering. If the liquid is not simmering, the pasta will not cook. The temperature setting can vary depending on your stove top and cookware.
- Use heavy cookware. Skillets and pots that are thin on the bottom don’t heat evenly and do not yield good results with the one pot cooking method because some areas of the pot will be simmering, while other areas are not.
- Keep the lid in place at all times when not stirring. This holds in the steam and helps the pasta cook more evenly.
- Watch the pasta. One pot pastas are a little like riding a bike. You have to observe and adjust as you go. If the liquid is almost all absorbed before the pasta is tender, add a little more water. If the pasta is almost tender, but there is still a lot of liquid, allow it to simmer without a lid for the last couple of minutes.
One Pot Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes ($1.66)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 8 oz. fettuccine ($0.67)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2 cups chicken broth* ($0.26)
- 2 oz. cream cheese ($0.30)
- 1 cups whole milk ($0.37)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.44)
Instructions
- Chop the sun dried tomatoes into small bite-sized pieces.
- Add the butter and garlic to a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for about one minute, or until it is very fragrant.
- Add the fettuccine, sun dried tomatoes, dried basil, some freshly cracked pepper, and the chicken broth to the skillet. If needed, break the fettuccine in half to make sure it lays flat in the skillet and is submerged in broth.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and bring the broth to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, give the pasta a good stir, replace the lid, and turn the heat down to low or the lowest setting that maintains a simmer.
- Let the pasta simmer in the broth for 7-10 minutes, or until most of the broth is absorbed and the pasta is tender, stirring every couple of minutes and always replacing the lid.
- Keeping the heat on low, cut the cream cheese into chunks and stir it into the pasta. Once the cream cheese has melted, add the milk and stir until a smooth sauce forms. Finally, add the grated Parmesan over top and stir until it has melted into the sauce. Serve with extra freshly cracked pepper, if desired.
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Equipment
- Deep Stainless Steel Skillet
- Garlic Press
- Liquid Measuring Cup
Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step Photos!
Try These Other Creamy One Pot Pasta Recipes:
- One Pot Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese
- One Pot Veggie Pasta
- One Pot Creamy Mushroom Pasta
How to Make Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Chop about ½ cup sun dried tomatoes into small bite-sized pieces. You want a little bit in every bite, instead of a few larger pieces throughout. I used dried, non-oil packed sun dried tomatoes for this recipe because I find them easier to work with and the leftovers easier to store (no refrigeration needed).
Add 2 Tbsp butter and two minced cloves of garlic to a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, or just until the garlic is a little softened and becomes really fragrant.
Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes, ½ tsp dried basil, some freshly cracked pepper, 8oz. fettuccine, and 2 cups chicken broth to the skillet. If your skillet or Dutch oven is not wide enough for the pasta to lay flat and submerged in the broth, you’ll want to break the pasta in half so it fits (I ended up breaking mine in half just after this photo).
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and bring the broth up to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, give the pasta a good stir, replace the lid, and turn the heat down to low, or the lowest temperature that maintains a simmer. Continue to simmer the pasta for 7-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes (always replacing the lid), or until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. If the pasta dries out while it cooks, add a little more water. There should be a little bit of thick saucy liquid left in the skillet once the pasta is cooked.
Cut 2 oz. cream cheese into chunks, then stir it into the pasta until it has melted (still over low heat). Adding the cream cheese before the milk helps stabilize the sauce and prevent curdling.
Once the cream cheese has melted into the pasta, add 1 cup milk and stir to combine.
Finally, sprinkle ¼ cup grated Parmesan over the pasta, and stir until it has melted into the sauce (the pasta is still over low heat).
And now you have a deliciously creamy and slightly tangy sun dried tomato pasta in cream sauce!
Season the pasta with more freshly cracked pepper, if desired, and serve!
This is a great base recipe. I added sautéed mushrooms, and poached cubed chicken breast. I had fresh basil in my garden, so used that, instead of dried. Would certainly make again, but add steamed veggies on hand, to pack out the nutrition.
super simple and really yummy! i added a bit of crushed red pepper at the end. didn’t have any basil so i missed out on some extra flavor there :( but still a great flavor!
Mad this pasta for dinner tonight! I had sun-dried tomatoes in oil so I used that to sauté the garlic along with a little butter. I used veggie broth which was what I had on hand. I added a good bunch of black pepper because I like a good peppery bit with cream sauces. I added a tad bit of garlic powder. I had no dried basil so next time I’ll try it with that as suggested. This was a delicious and quick recipe.
Have had a jar of sun dried tomatoes sitting in my closet for a while and thought to use this recipe to use them up! I didn’t quite double the recipe but I set it for 6 servings. Super cheesy and rich! I used about half of the milk that was recommended as I wanted more of a saucy texture that clung to the noodles, and I definitely prefer them this way. A cup and a half of milk felt excessive for 6 servings and would have completely drowned the noodles. It does lack a little depth, even when using extra garlic and extra sun dried tomatoes. I think next time I will use more sun dried tomatoes and possibly add a half of a cup of chopped up jarred roasted red peppers for some extra flavor.
Also for a bit of spice I added some red pepper flakes and it works really well to cut through some of that dense creamy cheesy sauce!
Very easy recipe with lots of opportunities to experiment with- will try again with the addition of red peppers and more sun dried tomatoes. Thanks for the recipe!
I really messed this recipe up while cooking. I was torn in different directions while cooking and didn’t go back to the recipe to read as I should have. It started out good, but I only had bow tie pasta, so I added that-the whole box 16oz!! Covered the pasta with water from the tea kettle, added BTB to get the “broth”, cooked as I should have, but hardly any water evaporated or got soaked up by the pasta, then I added 7 oz of cream cheese instead of 2-again, I didn’t refer back to the recipe, stirred, since it was so brothy I only added a splash of milk, then added the parm. Even with all my errors it is so flavorful!! I do have a big family so I would have doubled it anyway had I been paying more attention. This is so good, thank you!!
I used sun-dried tomatoes in oil as you didn’t specify. I also used veggie broth. I found it too stodgy for my liking but my family liked it.
Thank you for this quick and simple recipe. I made it with beyond sausage and no-chicken broth, so it was completely vegetarian but so tasty and satisfying.
Thank you so much for this quick and simple recipe! I made it with Beyond Sausage and No-chicken broth so it was vegetarian but very tasty and satisfying.
I was looking for something fast, easy and delicious tonight, and this fit the bill. I used homemade broth, added some pan fried shrimp, measured the basil with my heart, and added a few red pepper flakes- perfect! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious! Made this for a family dinner and it was demolished. I added some chicken for a protein. I ended up needing more chicken stock as it was fairly thick but that was no biggie. Definitely going in the dinner rotation.
I love love love this recipe! It is delicious and creamy yet I don’t have to use heavy cream. I’ve made this several times, and it just gets better. I always double the batch, so it takes more than 7-10 minutes to cook but it’s a very simple recipe. It comes out so beautiful too, like it was served in a nice restaurant. Thank you so much!!
This recipe was absolutely DELICIOUS!! I made it for my large family with 5 kids, and they all loved it. I did change it up a bit- I added 1 cup of frozen spinach to it for extra nutrition, used whole wheat spaghetti instead of fettuccine, and replaced the whole milk for almond milk, but it was still a HIT. Definite make-again recipe.
Would other pasta shapes work?
Yes, but depending on the shape you may need more or less liquid.
I loved this. So much flavour and super easy to make. Good meal for a quick lunch.
Flavorful and pretty easy to make. I added some shrimp and bacon for my protein, will definitely make again
We didn’t have quite enough broth (we doubled the recipe + extra parmesan & cream cheese) so we added water and some chicken bouillon. Not sure if it changed anything in anyway, but it worked great! We also used fresh basil instead of dried because we didn’t have any dried basil. We then cooked up some chicken spiced with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and cayenne to add into it after it was all done and gosh it was seriously delicious! I actually just finished the last bit of it off & I swear it was even better the 3rd day than it was the 1st or 2nd (which is funny cuz i saw a few comments saying it won’t hold well as left overs but I disagree. It might be a bit thicker & stuff but it was DELICIOUS)??? maybe because the spices and flavors really had a chance to meld even more?
I made a batch of this that should’ve served four. My wife (5’0”, 110 lbs) ate three servings in one sitting! This is probably my favorite meal in all of Budget Bytes. This meal will NOT disappoint!
Incredible
This looks amazing! How long will this be good for after you make it? Trying to figure out if I could make a batch of this on Sunday and then take leftovers with me to work throughout the week.
Hi, there! While I’m not absolutely sure how this would turn out as leftovers, I hesitate to say it would be an excellent choice for meal prep. Typically, I find that cream-based pasta dishes don’t really hold up well. Over time, the dairy and oil in the sauce will separate, and all the dairy seems to disappear into the pasta and leaves behind a puddle of oil in the bottom of the dish. One idea would be to cook the pasta and sauce separately (also, adding less liquid to account for not cooking the pasta in the sauce) and store them separately. ~ Marion :)
Trust me, it won’t last as leftovers. This dish is amazing and will be finished before you set the table.
I don’t care for sun-dried tomatoes, so I left them out and added about a quarter of a cup of pesto to this at the end, and it was delicious. The sauce was a little thin so I added a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch, which tightened it right up.
Can I use canned diced tomatoes instead of sun dried? I don’t have any sun dried ATM.
Canned diced tomatoes will introduce a lot of liquid into the sauce and the acidic liquid could cause the creamy sauce to curdle… so it would be risky!
I’ve made this twice. Me and my boyfriend loved it. First time I made it by following the recipe exactly, the other using quinoa instead of pasta. It is amazing with pasta but is PHENOMENAL with quinoa. Great recipe!
Can I add diced bacon to it?
Diced bacon FOR THE WIN! Always. XOXO -Monti
Love this recipe! Makes for a quick and yummy weeknight dinner. I like adding frozen spinach to mine for some more nutrition.
I just have a question, how can I make this vegan?
There is a lot of dairy in this one so unfortunately, it would take a lot of testing before I could offer suggestions for making it vegan.
I’ve made a vegan version of this and it turned out pretty well.
Use rice milk instead of regular milk; I found that soy and almond milk resulted in a weird aftertaste. Use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese and vegan cream cheese as a sub for dairy cream cheese. Then vegan butter and vegetable broth instead of dairy butter and chicken broth.
This won’t make it taste exactly the same as the original recipe, but it’s a superb vegan equivalent.
This was a great recipe! I ended up tweaking it to work with what I had in my cabinet. I used a jar of sun dried tomatoes (8.5 ounces), shredded Parmesan cheese and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (my daughter is vegetarian). It turned out great! My SUPER picky, vegetarian daughter said it was her new favorite meal. It did end up quite thick, but that was on me as I ‘eyeballed’ my measurements, but it was a quick fix just by adding a bit more broth. Next time I think I’ll grill some chicken and/or shrimp skewers to throw on top for the meat-eaters in our family. Overall it was incredibly easy and tasty. Thank you for the scrumptious dinner idea!
Sauteed some shrimp and bell peppers separately, and added it (and some fresh spinach) to the pasta once it was done.
Turned out great, though I agree with the other commenter who said the parmesan can probably be omitted to make it a little lighter.
So yummy and easy to make! This is one of my go to week-night dinners.
I love how flexible you can be with it.
Delicious! It’s a fairly easy and quick recipe that never fails.
Made this last night and it is going to be a regular. My hubby (who doesn’t like pasta) devoured it!
Sautéed chicken breast pieces with the garlic, used goat cheese instead of the cream cheese and Ronzoni GF thin spaghetti – oh so yummy. Husband says keep this one in the rotation.
Can you use Gluten Free pasta in this recipe? I have Celiac, and have had trouble with other one pot pasta recipes.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience working with gluten-free pastas, so I’m not sure how well they hold up with this one-pot cooking style.
Added mushrooms while cooking chicken in minced garlic butter and olive oil. Also added about 1/4 cup of fire roasted red peppers with the sundried tomatoes. Substituted the cream cheese with Greek yogurt. Delicious will make again.
I was wondering if I can Sub heavy cream for the cream cheese and nilk.
Yes, you can do something similar using heavy cream. the flavor will be slightly different, as cream cheese is a bit tangy and has some salt, but otherwise it should work well.
Wow! This dish is perfect in every way!!! I found it from the mushroom one pot pasta recipe page so I used both mushrooms AND sun dried tomatoes as I had to use up both things…. So much flavor!! I never imagined how creamy, delicious and perfect a sauce with cream cheese, milk, and Parmesan could turn out. So flavorful!!! This beats any packaged creamy mushroom pasta sauce we have in our supermarkets here. So impressed, Beth. Thank you!!
Also, if you make this and it’s a tad runny, don’t worry -it will thicken up as it cools down and also gets more absorbed into the pasta. So worth trying!! And seriously try it combined with sundried tomato.
I doubled it so I could use the full box of pasta. Subbed in almond milk because I don’t really like cows milk. Ended up only adding about 3/4 of a cup instead of the 2 cups it called for. Not sure why mine ended up with so much liquid in it since I don’t see anyone else talking about that. Good flavor and super easy to make though!
Did you by chance cook the pasta separately before adding it to the skillet?
Delicious! I doubled the recipe and it worked great. I can’t have butter so I used plant butter and it worked great, as well. I made sure to omit the oil that my sun dried tomatoes came in.
I made it without the tomatoes and it was delicious!
This recipe is amazing! We make it all the time and I’ve thrown spinach in it, different spices, vegetable broth etc and every time it comes out delicious. My 2 year old toddler also gobbles it up! Nice and easy to follow if you are newer to cooking. Love this so much!
I cooked this today and I realized having just the cream cheese and milk alone makes this a heavy meal already so try omitting parmesan.
My boyfriend is a chef and says the pasta will be better if you cook the actual pasta itself seperately. Also tasted a bit too salty because of the stock
I like it. I’ll make it in weekend. Thank you.
I just made this today .It’s the best ! .Even better than Olive garden . What I did different though I added mushrooms and chicken to mine . This will be one of my favorite recipes. Thank you for sharing
Really simple recipe, and even though my husband doesn’t like tomatoes he really loved this!
I love this sauce so much, I used the same formula to convert it to a creamy mushroom sauce. I omitted the tomatoes and added a chopped onion, 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms and 1/2 oz dried mushrooms, soaked and chopped, to the butter, then proceeded with the rest of the recipe. Delicious!
My family of 5 devoured this!! Bonus for it being a 1 pot meal, so there weren’t many dishes to clean afterwards! We added some mushrooms and served alongside a green salad for a complete meal, will definitely add this to the rotation!
Has anyone tried goat cheese instead of cream cheese?
My favorite BB pasta dish!
So good!!! I used half & half instead of heavy whipping cream because that’s what I had on hand. I also added chopped bacon to this. Couldn’t stop eating it before we even served it!!
Delicious recipe to play around with!! Added mushrooms and onions and it was awesome!! Can’t wait to make again.
OMG! This recipe was so easy to make and tasted like something you find at a high end restaurant. The flavours were perfect, the sauce was creamy and delicious. My new favourite recipe!
SO DAMN GOOD! I have made this twice now and it never disappoints. The only substitution I make is using my regular 1% milk for the cream (which I never have on hand). It has never made any difference in the recipe. My husband and 5 year old love it too. YUM!
This was my first attempt at making a one-pot pasta from scratch, and the directions were excellent! Absolutely delicious – I threw in red pepper flakes because my husband loves them, and he agreed this is going into the rotation. Looking forward to trying your other recipes!
This is absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipes/tips/tricks. Life changing! Love
Delicious!!! Will definitely make this again!!
Amazing concept, amazing recipe! Small changes– being too afraid of undercooking my pasta in the same pot, I did that separately and I added a generous bit more salt. I found that the sun-dried tomatoes (while delicious!) seemed to make the pasta a little too sweet.
So this recipe has been on my list for weeks. I kept putting it off due to the fact I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes. I always like to try the recipe as written and then decide if I want to tweak it later on. Well I honestly have regret for waiting to make this! This is creamy, tangy, and smooth. Very good! We will make this again and add shrimp and roasted red peppers instead of the tomatoes. Thank you for sharing!
OK admittedly, I’m horrible at following recipes and I tend to wing it *BUT* I used every ingredient listed (and added a little andouille sausage) and the final result was phenomenal!!! I’ve somehow forgotten about sun dried tomatoes and I’m glad to have come across your recipe to be reminded of how great they are. 10/10
Great recipe! I often like to make fresh pasta or buy fresh pasta from the store, would I just add that in basically at the very end as to not overcook it? Thanks so much in advance for the advice!
I think you’ll probably want to cook it separately, since it cooks so quickly. But then if cooking separately you won’t need the broth, but if you eliminate the broth you’ll also be getting rid of some of the flavor. So while I think it’s possible to do with fresh pasta, I’d need to do some testing to find out the best cooking method and any other changes that would need to be made to retain the full flavor.
Do you think I could try this with vegetable broth to make it vegetarian?
Yes, just be aware that vegetable broth often has a darker color and a more pronounced flavor, so it will change the appearance and flavor of the dish slightly. :)
I used veg broth tonight, excellent!
I also use chorizo when I want a meat element
This is delicious and it was so simple to make! I added fresh basil at the end. I love how creamy it is! I’m definitely making this again for date night.
Delicious and easy. Thanks for this great weeknight recipe!
This was amazing. I used chickpea pasta, unsweetened almond milk instead of regular milk, and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese instead of the cream cheese since those were the things I had on hand. It came out so creamy that I’m already planning on making it again.
This looks delicious! I was wondering if this would work with almond or coconut milk to make it dairy-free. If anyone has experience/suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thank you!
I haven’t tried that, but you’d also need to find subs for the cream cheese and Parmesan, both of which help thicken the sauce and make it creamy. So making this one dairy free might be a challenge!
I’m not sure if you are looking for simple alternatives or something a bit complex, but here are some possible options:
You could do almond or soy and flour to make a roux and then add your favorite dairy-free cheese substitute,
You could try to use silken tofu and your preferred milk – blend it and add some flavorings or nutritional yeast to make a sort of substitute for heavy cream, and then add dairy-free cheeses, or
Find some dairy-free/vegan cream cheese, milk, and parmesan if it’s easier to do that (this would be my preferred option because I’m lazy lol).
Hope this helps!
Absolutely heavenly dish. Done in couple of minutes and hands down one of the best pasta meals I have ever cooked.
I made this tonight and thought it was delicious. Thank you for sharing this simple and easy-to-make recipe :)
I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now and it never gets old. I now make it almost weekly for me and my housemates. The one thing I did change is I really love to use some kind of smaller pasta with more grooves for sauce like penne or rotini.
Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe!
I made this with unsweetened almond milk and the sauce still thickened perfectly. I also added bacon. 🤤
This has become a staple at my house. Great for end of the week/before next shopping trip fridge clean out. I’ve added chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, and zucchini. The only changes I make are adding red pepper flakes and fresh basil for serving.
This is delicious! I’ve made it twice (adding chicken) and my family loved it.
Made this recipe tonight and it was a hit! I mixed in about 2 cups chopped cooked chicken to make it a bit heartier. Will definitely make again!
This was my first time making a one pot pasta. The recipe was easy to follow and it turned out great!
This is a great recipe!! So delicious. It’s become one of my go to recipes when I need something quick and tasty. I’ve tried it as written, and also added mushrooms and artichokes another time. Tonight I’m trying it with macaroni instead of fettuccine.
This has become a staple at my house. Great for end of the week/before next shopping trip fridge clean out. I’ve added chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, and zucchini. The only changes I make are adding red pepper flakes and fresh basil for serving.
Freaking amazing!!! My family ate it all, and sopped up the creamy sauce with bread.
Really great! Modified a bit by using half and half and jalapeno cream cheese(whatever was left over in the fridge lol) and it turned out amazing. Used sun-dried tomatoes in oil and added frozen shrimp and broccoli at the last minute to add some protein and veg.
Delicious! Easy! I made it as written, and it was perfect! And fun to make! It came together perfectly at the end. My family was delighted! And the recipe is very adaptable; many need-to-use-up ingredients can be added. A real treat! Nicely done, Beth!
Love this recipe! My picky 2 and 5 year old even gobbled this up. Very tasty, meat free, and super easy. Your blog is the best!
This was my first time making a one-pot pasta and I loved it! I used bow tie pasta and added bacon. Perfect!
Have made this several times now and it is such a great fast, simple and delicious way to cook pasta! Sometimes I omit the cream cheese and milk to change it up and reduce the calorie count and it is still very flavorful. I dry my own garden tomatoes which really lowers the cost of the dish plus home dried tomatoes are so much better than store bought ones. Great recipe!
Added mushrooms, chicken and red onion because I needed to use them ingredients asap…
Delicious, whole family enjoyed and gobbled the whole pot in no time, including my toddler so BONUS!! :-)
Thank you for such a delicious & easy dish. And only one pot to wash! I used fresh basil from my herb pot Instead of dried basil, and added some cooked, sliced Italian link sausage that I had leftover from another meal. Will be making this one again
Maybe it’s the broth I used but this was super flavorful. I’m addicted!
Super easy and very delicious, the whole family gobbled this up! To amp up the flavor, instead of using butter to sauté the garlic I used the oil from the tomatoes which added HUGE flavor. Also, I doubled the garlic. Used less milk than needed and it was super creamy. This recipe is a keeper!
Have made this many times because it’s always delicious. I like the new addition of cream cheese, and usually, but not always, add chicken and/or fresh spinach, sometimes sauteed mushrooms. Bacon would be brilliant, too, and I think I might add it next time. Those who have trouble with milk curdling could try bringing the milk to a simmer before adding it. I use 2% milk, and have not had any problems at all–I’ve been known to use a bit of cream, too. Although I usually use modest amounts of pepper in my cooking, this recipe, and most other pasta dishes, needs LOTS of freshly ground pepper.
Instant Pot!
Sue
Hi there, this looks lovely. I have just bought an instant cook, and it seems it would be feasible to use for this recipe, up to the ‘adding milk/cream cheese’ stage. What do you think?
Sue
Hi Sue! We haven’t tested this recipe in an instant pot so it’s hard for us to recommend. But you could certainly try it. Although for this recipe stovetop version would be just as quick!
I recently made this dish which I have made several times before. I changed up the sun dried tomatoes and was really happy with the results. I usually use the plain sundried tomatoes in the bag but this time I tried the smoked dried tomatoes in the bag and found that they really added a nice flavor to the dish.
Great quick weeknight recipe that makes very few dishes, but it needed some more flavor for sure! I added some boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces & seasoned with salt & pepper at the very beginning, then 1/2 cup of heavy cream at the end. It also needed some red pepper flakes and lemon juice, and lots more salt & pepper. I added broccoli about 4 minutes before the pasta was done and some spinach at the very end to make it a complete one pot meal. A little indulgent but so so tasty. Thank you!
Delicious meal, which is very easy to prepare! Loved it, and it’s going to be now a parte od my recipe book for sure!
Super quick and tasty! Our pot didn’t have a lid so the sauce was a bit thicker than it looks on the pictures but it still turned out great!
Just made this as my first one pot pasta ever and it turned out delicious. I added some spinach leaves right at the end, just before the parmesan.
Would probably be awesome with arugula leaves added too. It grows locally here so sometimes we get big bags for little money, and as a single household it can be a challenge to use it all.
Thanks for your recipes. Everything I’ve tried so far has been wonderful!
I make this recipe all the time and I love it! I would like to try it with wheat pasta. Do you think it would work or would I need to add more liquid?
We haven’t made it with whole wheat pasta yet, but a previous reader noted: I tried this tonight with whole wheat rotini, and it worked great. I didn’t make any modifications to the amount of liquid.
This is the best pasta dish I’ve ever made. Thank you so much. I’ve signed up for your newsletter and plan on purchasing your meal plans. Again thank you!
Thank you all around Kristine! We’re happy you’re here!
Can I still eat it if the sauce curdled?
Yes, curdled doesn’t necessarily mean it has gone bad. Curdling is the result of protein molecules coming into contact with too much heat and/or acid. The reason milk products also curdle when they spoil is because bacteria are producing acid. In this case, the acid is not coming from bacteria, but from the tomatoes. The acid and heat combination cause the protein molecules to clump up, but they’re still safe to eat. The same process is used to make cheese.
Excellent
Just added some roasted Italian long hot peppers and capers for extra flavor
Delicious additions!
My boyfriend and I love this recipe, we’ve made it quite a few times already. I like to add spinach and white or yellow onions to it but it’s great without them too!
I made this for a group of 30. Everyone loved it!!! I added roasted red pepper to the recipe as well.
The hubby loved – we had this for dinner tonight. Very fast and easy to make and filled us up. Thank you for sharing this!
Happy to hear it Alexia!
If I wanted to add some italian sausage at what stage would I add it to the pot?
I would brown it in the skillet just after the garlic and before adding the rest of the ingredients.
This came out amazing. I was able to add spinach and some Italian sausage to spice it up but the base recipe is great on its own.
Same, the milk just curdled and I have no idea why it happened. I thought I did everything right. Should I have bought that bouillon she was talking about?
If youre putting cold milk into warm broth it may curdle try adding a little warm broth into your milk before adding it to the pan or leaving it out a but to warm it up before cooking amd it should help thw curdeling
Mine still came out clumpy. Don’t know why.
I made this once a while ago with vegetable broth since I’m a vegetarian and I am pretty sure it worked flawlessly but now every time I try and make it the milk just curdles and it does not smooth out ): no idea what I’m doing to it. It was brilliant the one time I got it to work though
This sounds amazing and you have such great reviews! I cannot wait to try it, thank you! But can I use sun dried tomatoes in the bag, I see comments of people using sun dried tomatoes in oil??
Mine were the dry type in the bag (scroll down to the step by step photos to see which kind I used). :)
I make this recipe time and time again, it’s always a crowd pleaser for my family. My sister-in-law will even request that I make this, and she doesn’t normally like tomatoes.
Love this recipe, and love that you’re website makes it easy to calculate increasing the number of servings!!
Looks delicious. You can’t go wrong with the basics, plus one interesting ingredient. I occasionally add some sun dried tomatoes to my parmesan risotto.
The recipe turned out alright, but it just plain didn’t make enough. I often have at least some disagreement with the serving size, which is understandable, but this one really stood out. We doubled the recipe and just barely got 4 portions of size I would call acceptable.
Delicious! Perfect amount of water to cook the pasta (no extra to water to boil off at the end like other one pot pastas I have tried). Added some basil and shredded chicken at the end of cooking. Only because I had some that I didn’t use in another recipe. The recipe is perfect as is.
Absolutely amazing! Followed to a T on the sauce thickened up perfect. Loved the step by step pictures. Really great meal…very flavorful! I used Trader Joe’s sun dried tomatoes in a jar in oil.
Thank you!!!
I was always suspicious of the one pot pastas but I’m glad I tried this one. It was so good! We sauteed some mushrooms and onions before adding the garlic and then added a handful of frozen chopped spinach at the end to sneak in some extra veggies. Now I’m just dreaming up other combos. :o)
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I added shrimp and could not get enough. Will definitely make it again :)
I did not use all the broth. I made it and added dices red pepper and shallots. The pepper especially added a lot. I did not put Enough garlic, next time I might sautéed some mushrooms too and may add frozen peas.
Some crumbled bacon on top or sliced grilled chicken would even make it a hardier dinner.
This was so good I wanted to get a second plate but I got full. Though you can save it for leftovers. It was super creamy. All my family tried it and wanted more. Definitely going into my favorite recipes.
P.S I used Dried tomatoes in a jar with sunflower oil. If you use the same I recommend pouring a little bit of the oil :)
I made this but couldn’t find sun dried tomatoes! I used drained canned fire roasted tomatoes instead and used flour to thicken the sauce since the tomatoes were too juicy. Tasted great!
I made this today- I added chicken and spinach. It was amazing! I think this is my new favorite pasta recipe!
Delicious! 2 year old and 10 month old also thoroughly enjoyed. Did not change a thing. Thank you!
Love this recipe, but I halve the water, otherwise it’s wayyyy to watery and never evaporates.
I wish you had nutritional information on your recipes.
Wow.. just made this recipe and it is absolutely packed with flavour!!! I have been looking for a chicken pasta recipe and this is by far the best one..I fried thinly sliced chicken breast with 2tsps of oil that the sun dried tomatoes were marinated in.. I added a bit of Presley to the chicken to lock in the flavour then I followed the recipe to the tee except for( in the broth and milk I added Half the Parmesan ) and finished the recipe with the other half
we used these fettucine nests (i‘m from germany, we only have these) i followed the recipe as written AND DAAAAAMNNNN!!!! this was perfect!
What about Almond Milk instead of whole milk? Anyone give this a try?
I just tried this with unsweetened almond milk. The flavor is likely comparable to the original recipe,, but the sauce does not become creamy. Next time I’ll probably add a tbsp of flour to the broth/milk stage of the recipe to thicken the sauce up. Otherwise, great one pot recipe!
This was tasty! I doubled the recipe and added a 1/4 tsp salt thinking I would add more if needed but that wasn’t the case, 1/4 tsp was plenty. I also didn’t use chicken base which is what the author uses. I used broth. I tripled the garlic, (I love garlic!) and I added an entire 8 oz jar of sun dried tomatoes since I didn’t really know what was meant by “pieces”, and mine were julienned. Next time I will add sausage. Will definitely make again. Thanks!
I made this last night…OMG it was so delicious and EASY! Thanks for the recipe!
Please help I can’t stop the milk from curdling. :(
Make sure the heat is very low while it’s simmering. The milk may start to look a little grainy, but it should smooth out again when melting the Parm into the mix. If that still doesn’t work for you, try adding the sun dried tomatoes at the very end. The acid in the tomatoes may be causing it to curdle.
I added rotisserie chicken, mushrooms, and spinach….sssooooo good!!!!!! I think next time I may add roasted red peppers and/or asparagus. Great pasta dish anyway you serve it!!!!
My boyfriend made this for a special night but, with vegetable stock, instead. It was so damn good! I have never been a fan of Sun-dried tomatos but, I was all about this dish.
I thought the measurement of ingredients were perfect. Super simple but, totally impressive :)
The proportions here are really off. With this amount of liquid in the pot, the pasta was drastically undercooked. No, not al dente… just not cooked through. I added at least another cup of both broth and milk. After that, it was really good, but it definitely wants salt.
I had to had quite a bit of milk, because as you stated, the pasta was undercooked. Still came out delicious!!
Can you double this?
Yeah…just multiply the ingredients listed by 2….
What else might you add instead of spinach?Broccoli? But that’s pretty bulky. Please let me know because I am making meals ahead of time for my grandparents so they can pay more attention to healing my grandma’s new knee. Also, I am a frugal college student and anything I can get out of their fridge, freezer, or pantry is plus (they have a very large and well stocked all three of the above)…
This was absolutely delicious! Incredibly quick and easy, and love the short and simple ingredient list! I used almond milk because I didn’t have any regular milk in the house and it was still great, so I can imagine how much better it would be with whole milk. It was pretty soupy, so the extra cook time and set time are essential. Thank you for this recipe, I will be making this again!
I want to cook 16 ounces of pasta. Do I double the liquid?
Also this recipe is delicious!
Yes, just remember you can tweak it as it cooks if it looks too soupy or too dry. Toward the end of the simmer time if there is too much liquid just leave the lid off to let some evaporate. If it starts to look dry before the pasta is tender, you can add a little water.
Is this as good with vegetable broth in order to be vegetarian?
Yes, you could do that. I do find vegetable broth to be a bit stronger than chicken broth, so it will affect the flavor, but I’m sure it will still be good.
I added artichoke hearts and black olives, paired it with kale salad and light red wine. Delish! Thanks!
Could you sub anything for the sundried tomatoes? I shop Sav a lot almost exclusively. I didn’t find sundried tomatoes the other day (somethings come and go). I am trying it out with some mushrooms since those are 1.99 in my area and I love mushrooms. I use a lot of your recipes and I really appreciate your work into your website.
Mushrooms were going to be my suggestion! :)
Forgot to rate so here you go. Your instructions were fantastic!
Wow, turned out great. I did use 2% milk but supplemented with a little half and half. The thickening process took longer than I expected but that’s cool. Definitely a keeper.
Can I use low sodium chicken broth for this recipe?
You can, but you may need to adjust the salt at the end to fit your taste buds.
Made this just now. Followed recipe to a “T”. Sauce never really thickened, pasta ended up too soft while waiting for sauce to thicken, milk stayed separated and clumpy and gross looking, whole thing lacks any real flavor. Disappointing.
I agree. Lacking in flavour for sure. We even added chicken. Wouldn’t make it again
My milk separated and was not pretty. Any suggestions?
Holy cow this was amazing! The fact that it’s made with milk and not cream makes me feel a little better about eating nearly the entire pot.
I’m going to make this for my family hopefully at some point, and everyone but me is vegetarian. can I substitute chicken broth with vegetable broth?
It will definitely change the flavor some (I find vegetable broth to be a bit stronger in color and flavor than chicken), but it will technically work.
I love these recipe !
Just wanted to leave a comment to say this was delicious! I’d never tried one pot pasta before but this came out perfectly. I made it almost exactly as written, though I used oil-packed sundried tomatoes and added a bit of crushed red pepper since we’re addicted to heat. What a fun cooking method!
We loved this recipe. We had a huge surplus of tomatoes from our garden this year. I sun dried many of them so they would not go to waste (super easy and a great money saver!). This recipe put them to great use. It was fantastic. Thank you so much for this website! We have a tight budget and this has allowed us to make healthy food our kids LOVE!
I made this tonight for dinner. Oh my gosh. I added sundried tomatoes that have been packed in olive oil. I used some of that olive oil to brown some chicken in and threw that in with the pasta!! BEST DISH EVER!!!!!
I made this for dinner tonight for myself and my boyfriend with the intention of having leftovers for dinner tomorrow. There are no leftovers. So simple and SO delicious. We ate it all.
You. You know your shit. 10/5
Thanks! ;)
I just made this for dinner and we absolutely loved it! I added a little bit of dried basil and shrimps :) my husband and i enjoyed it very much! Quick, easy, no measy kitchen. Great recipe!
Wthis was easy and yummy…i used the fresh linguini in the package instead of dried pasta and just started the sauce first then added the pasta. Same liquid amoubts were used. I also topped it with a little feta cheese I had left from another dish.
Ian making this tonight with the addition of Italian sausage and maybe peas. We love pasta with peas!!! Can’t wait!
Beyond fabulous! I fried up bulk hot and sweet sausage and removed it from the pan and then proceeded with recipe. Better than restaurant quality!!!
I have made this dish a few times and LOVE it! But I always run into the same problem: my fettuccine clumps together and sticks to itself. Have any ideas of how to avoid this?
Try stirring a little more often and more towards the beginning of the cooking time. That should help up break up the clumps just as they’re forming. Also, maybe try a larger pot if you can? That will give the pasta more room to move around.
I followed the recipe exactly, but mine curdled and stayed that way…still edible, but do you have any tips for keeping it from curdling? I used sundried tomatoes packed in oil, pacific organic chx broth and earth balance instead of butter…maybe one of those is the culprit? Or maybe I had the heat on too high while simmering…
I think the heat is the likely culprit. Try simmering at as low temperature as possible.
Same thing happened to me; I read to warm up the milk before you, going to try that next time
Yes! The fail-proof trick is to let the milk warm up to room temperature before adding it to the hot pan.
Omg, this is SO good. I followed recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly!! Man-o-man, SO good!! It’s going in my “keepers” book. I’ll most certainly be going back and looking at other recipes here. Many thanks!!
Also, I can see how one could add other food items to it to mix it up a bit. But so good as is.
We have made this recipe so many times in the past 2 weeks; we can’t get enough. I have made regular alfredo from scratch before, and this is so much easier with just as much flavor. Thanks for the great recipe. We will eat this again and again.
This was AWESOME. I made it for dinner tonight and it turned out great, (except I wasn’t so good at keeping the pasta from sticking to the bottom). I wanted it a little heartier, so I added about 10 frozen pre-cooked meatballs and some artichoke hearts that I bought at the olive bar at Kroger. It only added about $2.40 to the cost, since I had the meatballs in our fridge already. Highly recommend this dish. SO GOOD. My roommates kept “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing” at it.
This was wonderful! So tasty and incredibly easy. I followed the recipe exactly and left the sauce to thicken at the end for about 5 minutes. Like all the other “one pot wonders” on your site this was a great easy meal to throw together after work! Thanks!
So great! I was pretty worried when it looked like my sauce was curdling because your pictures don’t have any of those white clumps – glad you had that warning in there! I sprinkled bacon on top, added baby spinach at the end because I didn’t feel like chopping up parsley and I sprinkled goat cheese instead of parmesan. Loved it – it’s so versatile! Thanks :)
Recipe is a 10!
This recipe is a 10!
I made this last night. My family loved it. This recipe is a 10!
Haha, shouldn’t you be charging for that kind of knwe?odgel!
I used this recipe last night. I changed it up a little, seared some chicken first, added a little white chili powder, used half&half instead of milk, and I cut up baby spinach and added that in at the end. It was great!
This looks so delicious and I’m going to try it tomorrow night. I’d love to add some chicken and bacon because I love that combo. At which point do you think I should add the meat in??? And should I add it in already cooked?
I would cook the meat in the skillet first, before any of the other ingredients are added. I’d then remove the bacon (you can leave the chicken in) and add the bacon back at the end so that it stays crispy.
This came out just perfect. I had shredded asiago, and leftover ham that I chopped up. Not sure what the others did to make it “soupy” as fettuccine was al dente and not soupy at all. Thanks!
Mad this and added some Trader Joe’s Red Pepper Spread for color, flavor, and a little extra creaminess. Was delicious!
Thank you for this recipe! I have a 9 year old and 6 year old twins. My 9 year old is very picky. She even ate it! :) I put chicken on top of it. I bought jarred sundried tomatoes that were in oil and seasonings. After I took out the tomatoes, chopped them and put them in the pot with the pasta, I put the oils and seasonings from the jarred tomatoes and sauteed my chicken in it. The kids loved it. Thank you again!
So the first time I made this I let my boyfriend be in charge of watching the pot while i went to the bathroom and he let it boil to long and the sauce curdled. I was able to save it by adding in some heavy cream to help it thicken but that’s not normally something I have on hand. Today I made it again and thanks to my own impatience, cooked it on too high of heat and curdled it. I didn’t have any heavy cream so I added some half and half and it helped a little but not nearly as much. If I cook this again and make the same mistake (I really hope not, I love the flavor here and don’t want to mess it up again) what would you say is the best way to recover? Should I just keep heavy cream around for emergencies?
Yeah, I think the cream might be the only fix, although mine had some “micro curdles” and I didn’t even notice them after the sauce thickened and the Parmesan kind of melted in. :)
This has almost definitely been answered on the site before, although I cannot find it right now. I was curious, when you say shredded Parmesan, do you mean the pre-shredded strands? Or do you mean fresh shredded? Or perhaps the grated powder? Some clarification would be greatly appreciated, love this site!
I almost always use grated (the kind that is almost like a powder) because it’s more affordable and usually specify “grated” rather than “shredded” (I didn’t see where I used “shredded” on this recipe?). Shredded definitely tastes better, but I rarely have room for that in my budget. :) I used grated Parmesan for this recipe, but if you can afford shredded, that would work as well.
I’ve made this dish multiple times and it always comes out EXCELLENT. It’s really important to remember not to put the heat too high or else your sauce will curdle. Also, for those that are getting “soupy” pasta, you can try simmering it on low for an additional 5-10 minutes, or adding a little more cheese. If that doesn’t work, sometimes I’ll whisk in 1/2 tablespoon of flour until the sauce thickens up to a consistency I like.
No salt addition necessary?
My broth (made with Better Than Bouillon) has a decent amount of salt, so I find that when I make recipes with it I never have to add any extra.
Made this last night, tastes great! Used half and half instead of milk because that’s what I had in the fridge. It curdled (pretty sure because I cranked the heat too high while waiting for it to boil) and stayed a bit soupy, but all the “soupy” part stays in the skillet and the sauce thickens well in a bowl. The curdling didn’t bother me at all! If someone complains just pretend it’s ricotta :)
HUGE fan of your website Beth. Do you think this recipe would freeze well?
I don’t think this one would freeze very well. I think the pasta will absorb most of the sauce and it will probably be pretty dry upon thawing and reheating.
This is my GO TO site for recipes. This week alone I’ve got 3 of your dishes ready to prepare. I tried this one out tonight, and I gotta say, at first I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t turn the heat down low enough and the milk curdled, then after cooking it for 10-12 min it was still so soupy. But it definitely thickened up after transferring it from the pan to a bowl, and after stirring it a bit the milk curdles just settled right back in.
This is definitely a keeper for a quick and easy dinner.
How does one mess this easy recipe up so that it turns out to be pasta soup? I followed the directions exactly. I am so disappointed.
You said 2 cups of broth so I bought two jars of 8oz that Better Than Bouillon. Unless you can tell me you survived that salt bomb, I’m guessing you meant as substitute for the 2 cups of broth, you actually used (1) 8oz Better Than Bouillon. If that’s the case I’d highly encourage you to clarify that because my dish just tastes ridiculously awful. I can’t even rate this recipe out of me not wanting to give it 1-star for your sake. Overall it was a waste of money, time and food which sucks because I’m on a tight budget and this just blew the purpose of me being here looking for cheap recipes in the first place.
Better Than Bouillon is a concentrate that you reconstitute with water to make broth. The instructions are on the jar, but I’ll also clarify in the note.
Lol are you serious Jasmin?
Unbelievable! I am laughing so hard… it’s incredible!
This is a great recipe, by the way… but your comment really made it that much better!
This made me giggle. But Jasmin just because you didn’t understand how bouillon is used, does not mean you should stop coming to this website to find your recipes! Budget Bytes recipes are amazing and cost-friendly!! It can take time and patience to get it right, especially if you’re new to cooking.
This was amazing!!! It tasted restaurant quality, for about an 10th of the price! I used 2% partly skim milk instead, but other than that made it exactly as stated. I didn’t get curdled milk, nor was it too soupy. I think bacon would be a great addition, or perhaps peas or broccoli.
Overall this is a great basic recipe. You could either snaz it up with more ingredients, or make it exactly as is. Either way will be fantastic!
this is an odd question but do you think whole milk could be substituted for evaporated in some way? thanks
Hmm, maybe if you mixed some of the evaporated milk with water? I’m not sure about ratios, though.
Pasta soup :(
Yum! Just made this tonight and it was a big hit. My husband and I love this. We are mostly vegan so I used earth balance buttery spread and almond milk and skipped my cashew parmesan because it can get kinda spendy and it turned out great! We added some leftover frozen broccoli toward the end for more veggies. And thank you for introducing me to better than bullion. Really good! I love your site.
Thank you! I was wondering what it would taste like with almond milk and such. I will try it! :)
Made this last night! It was really good! I added some leftover chicken breasts!
I just made this and it is FANTASTIC! I added frozen peas and I’m eating it up. Also thank you for the introduction to better than bouillon, it’s got the perfect savory chicken flavor I’m always looking for!
This was soooooooo good. OMG!! Loved it. So quick and easy too. I made a few changes due to what I had on hand. Didnt want to go to the store for anything. I used pronto penne pasta, fire roasted tomatoes from the can (had a can leftover from making your fire roasted tomato soup also very good), and heavy whipping cream in place of milk. I will try it with some type of meat next.
I also wanted to add my family loves your honey mustard pork chops!!! We have them once every two weeks :)
This was excellent. My milk curdled also but I thought it added an interesting cheese like texture to the pasta. I couldn’t tell what was curdled milk and what was cheese after I put the parmesan in. I also used bow tie pasta and added a lot of salt. Will definitely be making this again!
Mine curdled too – I let the milk boil too quickly/too hard before I reduced the heat. I run into the same problem making roux-based sauces for mac and cheese.
I made this today and the sauce curdled and was soupy, although I really liked the flavor. When should you be cooking over low? To get the noodles to boil or when it’s just cooking?
Bring it up to a boil (over medium or slightly above medium) and as soon as it reaches a boil, turn it down to low to let it simmer the rest of the time. If it keeps boiling hard, it will curdle. The lower the heat the less likely it will curdle.
I have used a cast iron dutch oven to make one pot noodles and my milk has never curdled. Tonight I used a big aluminum skillet and my milk curdled. So maybe a thicker pot will help prevent the milk from curdling as it distributes the heat more evenly.
The acidity of the tomatoes is party to blame, too. Curdling is a function of heat and acidity, so the more you have of both the faster it will curdle. :P
could i use 2% milk instead of whole and just add like a little sour cream or half and half to get the same level of milk fat in? or would 2% be fine by itself?
2% will work, but it just won’t be quite as creamy. You can then add the sour cream or half and half at the end if you want it creamier. :)
I love your blog! I just recently found you when my colleague posted one of your recipes on Facebook. I just made my weekly menu and grocery list, and I can’t wait to try your sundried tomato fettuccine!
Oh, and your Greek Marinated Chicken is also on our menu this week! ;)
Looks great! If I was to add asparagus in, when do you think it should be added? I absolutely love asparagus and think it would go great with this, but I’m horrible at cooking it :( Any advice would be great!
I think I would actually cook it separately so you can have complete control over how much it cooks (I like mine to be just a little bit firm). Add it to a skillet with a little bit of water and let it simmer until it’s softened to your liking, then stir it into the pasta at the end. :)
I made this last night and it was delicious!
I spiced it up a little by using the Zesty Seasoned Sundried Tomatoes. It was a big crowd-pleaser at our house and it was so easy. I will definitely make this again!
I made this twice this week… You nailed it Beth! I added some chopped frozen broccoli and steak we had leftover from another meal. It was a big hit with the family! Thanks for creating the easy to follow format using fresh inexpensive ingredients!
I made this and it was delicious, though I think I put too much pepper…there was too much of a kick.
It wasn’t until after I finished and ate the pasta did I realize that I had to blanched the sundried tomatoes (according to the bag). Was I suppose to do that? Will it make the taste different?
Mine didn’t require blanching, but soaking in warm or hot water is always an option. That just softens them up a bit, but since they were essentially going to be boiling in liquid, I didn’t bother doing that step first. :)
Instead of sundried, I used some roast tomatoes that I had leftover from the weekend. Turned out great! I also added some stirfried steak strips on top. Excellent dinner.
It feels like you hit me straight in my bellyheart with this recipe, I will try this immediatly after work. Thanks beforehand because I know it will be nommy!
Hi Beth – First, I love all your recipes. I actually just finished some of your slow cooker black bean soup for lunch.
Second, have you ever tried whole wheat pasta in any of your one-pot pasta meals? I don’t remember seeing that you had, and I’m worried it might not work the same as white pasta. (As an aside, whole wheat pasta is delicious in the spinach-artichoke pasta from your book, but since it cooks normally, I wasn’t worried about making the substitution.)
Thank you for all the awesome, yummy food!
I haven’t tried it, unfortunately. :( If anything, it might just need a little extra moisture. I’d try with the written amount first, then add a little extra as it simmers if it starts to look dry.
I tried this tonight with whole wheat rotini, and it worked great. I didn’t make any modifications to the amount of liquid.
Awesome! Thanks for the update!
Do you think the recipe would work with soy milk instead of whole milk? I don’t use a lot of milk, so I usually buy soy so it doesn’t go bad before I can finish it.
I’m really not sure on that one. The two products are quite different, so they sometimes act differently when they’re used in cooking (sometimes it’s just fine, other times it doesn’t work).
I’ve paid for milk at places like starbucks, sometimes it’s more expensive to do it that way but less wasteful. You could also see if there’s shelf stable milk packs that parents buy for their kids for lunches?
Wow, this turned out so yummy, and it was so fast and easy! I will definitely be adding this to one of our regular vegetarian meals. Also, I found the sun dried tomatoes with the canned tomato aisle after searching in the Italian goods aisle for about 15 minutes!
I’m a pretty subpar cook, as in I barely cook because I suck, and I attempted to make this recipe tonight and it came out tasting alright, but I felt a little queasy after eating it. Did I undercook or overcook the pasta or? And I didn’t really like the taste of the sun-dried tomatoes.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to know why you felt queasy, but under/over cooking pasta won’t cause any food safety issues (if that’s what you were afraid of). :)
I just made this recipe tonight and it was great! I added a single pre-cooked chicken breast and used about 1 cup of milk with a splash of half&half which was perfect. Thank you for the recipe :)
Sounds really good and so simple. Perfect for quick weeknight dinner.
I just looked in my cupboard to see if I have sundried tomatos and I do, so yay!! Looking forward to suppertime!
This was terrific. I used spaghetti and 1% milk and salted a bit in the last phase of cooking down and it was delicious. I don’t know about the curdling effect others have mentioned, I did not have that problem. Maybe because I was always on really low heat??
Yep, the higher the heat the faster it curdles.
I mentioned in another thread that I am super boring since I eat the same things over and over again. This is now my Monday supper. It is terrific.
Looks so super lovely!
One point: you spelled “about” wrong under the picture where you’ve added in the pasta.
Two questions: Which step would you add in the fresh spinach? Once the sauce is thickening? And second question, would it work with 2% milk?
Oh thank you! I’ll fix that right now. :) As for your questions, I think I would add fresh spinach at the end after the sauce is thickened, but before the Parmesan. You can just stir it into the pasta and sauce and let the residual heat wilt the spinach, then follow it up with the Parmesan. 2% milk will work, but it won’t be quite as tasty as whole milk. I wouldn’t suggest using anything less than 2%. :)
I think this pasta would be great with some spinach and chicken to make a complete meal. I also really like that everything cooks in one pot.
I tried making your wonder pot recipe a long time ago and messed it up — noodles came out mushy. This post reminded me that I need to try it again, and the noodles came out great this time. (Note to others making this for the first time: prep all of your ingredients *first* so that you can focus your attention on the pot once you start cooking.)
However, you said if the milk curdles, don’t worry because it will smooth out. In my case, it did not smooth out. The flavored were good but the curdled milk was kind of like having chunks of cheese and didn’t result in a very creamy sauce. Any idea what I did wrong? I added shallots along with the garlic, and also some basil with the broth. I used skim milk instead of whole, and I also worry that maybe I boiled it a bit too hard as I was trying to get it up to temperature. Would any of those cause problems with curdling?
Yes, the high heat was probably the main culprit and the skim milk may have been the other factor. The higher fat milks aren’t quite as quick to curdle.
I use skim milk in these types of recipes regularly. The key is to simmer and not boil…
When you use the chicken base (as opposed to the chicken stock) do you still use 2 cups?
I use two cups of the prepared base, which is broth. So, on the label of the base it says to use one teaspoon of base per cup of water to make one cup broth. :)
mmmm. My one year and I loved it. I used jarred sun dried tomatoes and added asparagus.
I usually find sundried tomatoes by the produce.
Another must try recipe! Just not sure I can find sun dried tomato here.
And you should totally be a paid sponsor. I had to try better than bouillon, and it is soooo much better than any powdered stuff I’ve used. I’m glad I could find it locally.
Mine stayed soupy and curdled. Still tasty, but not pretty. It might do to start with less broth and keep an eye on it?
Try using a slightly lower heat and I’d reduce the milk a little, maybe to just one cup.
I just made this for a late lunch – but instead of the milk, I added an additional cup of broth and about a quarter cup of greek yogurt after letting the pasta cool down for about 3 minutes. It was a pretty good substitute.
Practical question – where in a store are the sun-dred tomatoes usually located? I don’t believe I’ve spotted them on my local shelves before.
I’m located in Pennsylvania. Ours are either on the antipasto bar, near the tomatoes, near the garlic and onions, or near the raisins. Happy hunting.
I can usually find them at Kroger in the produce aisle by the croutons!
I found them in the produce section. They were hiding on a low self.
In Quebec anyways, the ones packed in oil are found near the pickled cucumbers, artichokes, and other vegetables, and the dried ones are either near salad items (bacon bits, dressings…) or near the nuts/dried fruit section. :)
I usually find them in the produce section. I find them near the jarred minced garlic.
Everyone else has already give great answers, but I’ll throw my two cents in, too. :) In my store they have them in two different places: in the produce section by the jarred minced garlic and other misc. salad toppings, and then in the tomato aisle by the canned tomatoes, tomato paste tubes, and jarred pesto.
I found the sun dried tomatoes near the fresh tomatoes at my market.
Yum! That looks great for a quick lunch.