One-Pot Creamy Tuscan Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach

Now, let me tell you something about this recipe, because it came to my kitchen in the most unexpected way.

10 minutesPrep
25 minutesCook
35 minutesTotal
6 servingsServings
One-Pot Creamy Tuscan Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach

Now, let me tell you something about this recipe, because it came to my kitchen in the most unexpected way. My youngest daughter Denise lives up in Atlanta, and a couple years back she came home for a long weekend and brought me a jar of the most beautiful sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil I had ever laid eyes on. She said, “Mama, I want to show you something I’ve been making.” I said, “Baby, this is my kitchen,” and she laughed and said, “I know, Mama, that’s why I want to show you.” So I sat at my own kitchen table while Denise cooked, and I watched her make this creamy, sun-dried tomato pasta that smelled like something between a garden in the summertime and a Sunday afternoon. By the time it was done, James had wandered in from the living room without being called. That man can smell good food through two walls and a closed door.

I’ve been making my own version ever since. I won’t tell you it’s a heritage recipe — it isn’t, and I don’t pretend otherwise. But I will tell you it has become a genuine fixture in my kitchen, especially on the evenings when the grandbabies are here and I need something that comes together fast, feeds everybody, and doesn’t leave me washing seventeen different pots. Everything cooks in one pot, and I mean that — the pasta goes in raw, the cream goes in, the spinach wilts right down into it, and in about thirty minutes you have something that tastes like you spent all afternoon in that kitchen. That’s the kind of recipe I can get behind.

Aisha is the one who requested this for the blog. She said, “Grandma, this is the one people will actually make on a Tuesday night,” and she is eleven years old and already understands things about cooking and people that took me decades to learn. She’s right. This is your Tuesday night recipe, your weeknight rescue, your “I haven’t been to the grocery store but I have these things in my pantry” meal. And it is good, sugar. I mean that from the bottom of my skillet.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (from your jar of sun-dried tomatoes if they’re packed in oil — don’t waste that flavor)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (leave these out for the little ones, or set them on the table for the grown folks)
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and roughly chopped
  • 1 lb (16 oz) penne or rigatoni pasta, uncooked
  • 4 cups chicken broth (low-sodium)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 oz cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
  • 4 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
  • Fresh basil leaves for serving (optional, but pretty)

Instructions

    1. Set your largest pot — I use my big Dutch oven, the red enameled one Denise gave me — over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Let it warm up until it shimmers, about one minute. If you’re using the oil straight from your sun-dried tomato jar, good for you. That oil has all the flavor already built right in.
    1. Add the minced garlic and the red pepper flakes to the pot. Stir them around for about one minute, just until the garlic turns golden and fragrant and your kitchen starts to smell like something wonderful is happening. Do not walk away from garlic. It goes from golden to burnt faster than you can blink, and burnt garlic will set the tone for the whole pot.
    1. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and stir everything together. Let them cook with the garlic for two minutes, just enough to warm through and let those flavors introduce themselves to each other.
    1. Pour in the uncooked pasta, the chicken broth, and the water. Stir to combine. Add the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper and stir again. Bring everything up to a boil over medium-high heat — this will take about four to five minutes.
    1. Once the pot is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook uncovered, stirring every few minutes, for about twelve to fifteen minutes, or until the pasta is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid. You want some liquid remaining — not a soup, but not dry either. If it looks like it’s getting too thick before the pasta is done, add a splash of water and keep going.
    1. Now, here’s where the magic happens. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream and the cubed cream cheese. Stir steadily until the cream cheese melts completely into the sauce, about two to three minutes. The sauce will thicken up beautifully and turn a gorgeous pale orange-cream color. Stay with me now — keep stirring so nothing sticks to the bottom.
    1. Add the fresh spinach, a couple big handfuls at a time, and stir it into the hot pasta. It will look like too much spinach. It is not too much spinach. Let it wilt down — it takes less than two minutes — and you’ll find it has folded right into the dish like it was always meant to be there.
    1. Turn off the heat and stir in the grated Parmesan cheese. Taste the pasta and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking. Let the pot rest for two minutes off the heat — this lets the sauce settle and thicken just a little more.
    1. Serve directly from the pot into warm bowls. Top with extra Parmesan and fresh basil if you have it. Set the red pepper flakes on the table for anyone who wants to add a little heat. Call everybody in while it’s hot — this one doesn’t wait.

Nutrition

Calories: 520 | Protein: 35g | Carbs: 30g | Fat: 28g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 680mg

Tips

Grandma’s Notes:

1. The cream cheese is the secret, and I won’t apologize for it. I know some recipes use all heavy cream, and that’s fine. But the cream cheese gives this sauce a body and a richness that is something else entirely. Make sure it’s softened before it goes into the pot — if you put it in cold and in one big block, it’ll clump up on you. Cut it into cubes and let it sit on the counter while you start cooking. Denise taught me that, and she was right.

2. Let the little ones help with the spinach. Baby spinach is the perfect job for little hands — they can tear it, they can measure it into a bowl, and they can drop it into the pot themselves when you say “now.” Naomi, who tells me regularly that she does not like “green things in her food,” ate this pasta without a single complaint the last time we made it. I believe it is because she put the spinach in herself. If a child adds the ingredient, they claim the dish. That’s just how it works.

3. This reheats beautifully with a little patience. Leftover pasta will thicken up considerably overnight in the refrigerator, and that is perfectly fine. When you’re ready to reheat it, add a splash — just a splash — of chicken broth or water to the pot, put it over low heat, and stir it gently until it loosens back up and heats through. Do not rush it and do not crank the heat up high. Low and slow, and it will taste almost as good as the first night. I said almost. Some things you just have to eat fresh.