THANK YOU, dear Anonymous, who left a comment on the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce recipe last night about adding artichoke hearts and making a “pantry meal” out of the sauce! I wasn’t sure what I was going to cook today until I saw that comment and thought, “YES. That’s exactly what I feel like eating!” All I had to buy was some tomato paste and a can of artichoke hearts, and the rest I had on hand! Love it!
This pasta is super fast and easy, and is just bursting with flavor. The secret is the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce, which is basically tomato paste, olive oil, and a bunch of herbs. The zesty, herbal sauce perfectly coats the pasta, artichoke hearts, and spinach, adding flavor to every single nook and cranny available. I like to use bow tie pasta for this, because I find it difficult to stir other ingredients into long pasta, like spaghetti.
I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese over top of each bowl, but that’s completely optional. In fact, this makes quite a delicious vegan pasta dish if you skip the parmesan!
Zesty Tomato & Artichoke Pasta
zesty tomato & artichoke pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 recipe (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce ($1.17)
- 8 oz. bow tie pasta ($0.55)
- 3 cups fresh spinach ($0.50)
- 1 13oz. can artichoke hearts ($2.50)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan (optional) ($0.42)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. When it reaches a boil, add the pasta, and continue to let it boil for 7-10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander.
- While waiting for the pasta to cook, prepare the (not) Sun Dried Tomat Sauce according to the directions here. Once the sauce is finished, add the fresh spinach, stir, and cook it over low until the spinach wilts (1-2 min.). Drain the artichoke hearts, roughly chop them, and then add them to the skillet with the tomato sauce and spinach.
- Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the skillet with the sauce, and stir until everything is coated and combined. Serve hot with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese over top if desired.
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Nutrition
Step By Step Photos
You can find the directions for whipping up the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce here, but I’ll give you a quick run down, since it’s really fast and easy. First, add your olive oil, herbs, and spices to the skillet.
Cook them over low for one to two minutes, or just until the garlic is fragrant and now longer smells/tastes raw.
Next, add the tomato paste and continue to stir and cook over low heat for a few minutes more, or until the tomato paste becomes darker in color. Stir in the honey. Ta-da! Done.
Now, add the fresh spinach and continue to cook and stir over low heat until the spinach is wilted. This will only take a minute or two.
Drain the can of artichoke hearts, give them a rough chop (into bite-sized pieces) and then stir them into the skillet.
Oh yeah, and while you’re making the sauce, have the pasta cooking. Or, if you don’t like to multi-task, just make the sauce first, turn off the heat, and turn your attention to the pasta. You can heat everything up again later after the pasta is done cooking.
Drain the cooked pasta and then add it to the skillet with the sauce.
Then stir everything together and you’re done! SO easy! You can add a little parmesan on top if you’d like, or leave it out for a vegan version. Honestly, the sauce has SO much flavor that parmesan isn’t a deal breaker!
As a member of a huge Italian family, I know what real Italian food is and I scrutinize pasta recipes. With that said, this was absolutely fabulous. It was incredibly delicious and it makes the house smell like an authentic Italian kitchen! I substituted the spinach for basil on a whim and it worked very well. This is incredible, thank you Beth! Definitely on my list of favorites! :)
I just had to comment on this recipe. I made it last night and it was DELICIOUS! It tasted gourmet and as if it took hours to put together, but was very easy. I loved the homemade not sundried tomatoes especially–that was very easy and cheap. I am looking forward to eating the leftovers for my lunch today. Thanks for the great, cheap meal!
Seriously one of the best pasta dishes I ever made. I made two changes, instead of tomato paste (not available in my country) I used bio tomato sauce with chunks of tomato. I also added shrimp at the very end too. For the pasta I used spinach band noodles. Such a delicious sauce, thanks for sharing! Spinach, shrimp and artichokes are my favorite ingredients :)
Made this for me and hubby earlier this week. The sauce was so flavorful and it’s nice to have hearty options that don’t have meat when I didn’t thaw anything out. Will definitely make this again!
DELICIOUS!
This sauce was amazing. I didn’t use spinach because I’m not a fan but it still turned out great!
In order to make this recipe vegan, I switch your (not) sun-dried tomato sauce for a marinara sauce (a tiny bit spicy) and it was delicious. Because I can’t make your sauce, I can’t really compare but the idea of mixing artichoke and spinach and tomato..wow! Can’t stop making this recipe for my lunches!
You could also try substituting brown sugar for the honey in the tomato sauce to make it vegan :)
I made this pasta and it was absolutely amazing! Normally, I am not a fan of spinach but I LOVE it in this dish! Thank you for the amazing recipe and blog!
Do you think I could use frozen spinach? I have everything in the house for this recipe but fresh spinach.
Yep, I think that would work just fine. It won’t be as pretty, but I’m sure it will taste just fine.
I used frozen, I let the frozen cubes thaw in the simmering sauce
We really enjoyed this; even subbing some elbow noodles for bowties as we were short in the house.
Is this recipe vegan? I ask because I thought you said to add honey but I did not see it listed in the required ingredients section.
Nope, this one is not vegan. The honey is part of the (not) sun dried tomato sauce recipe that is listed as an ingredient for this pasta. I hope that makes sense!
Even though you prefer this with bowtie pasta, will it still work just as well with spaghetti? I’m only asking because I have some homemade spaghetti that I need to use up soon and this sounds like a great dish :)
Yep, spaghetti should work just fine :)
This recipe is delicious! I didn’t add any salt to it because I’m trying to lower my sodium intake, but it was still amazing without the salt. Recommended!
this is great! but I found the artichokes a little overpowering. Will make again, minus the artichokes
I must tell you…
I found your food blog last week and I’ve tried 5 of your recipes so far, and I L-O-V-E them ALL!!! I’ve not been able to say that very often on food blogs, as I tend to be a little picky with seasonings and such. ;) But I really appreciate your palate with all these delicious flavors! I operate off of a budget, so the fact that your food is budget-friendly is simply the icing on the cake. I just made the Zesty Tomato and Artichoke Heart Pasta and it has become my NEW favorite pasta.
Please keep blogging and continue to upload more recipes for vegetarians. ;) I am a HUGE fan!