Lemony Spinach & Pea Pesto Pasta

Are you looking for a tasty dish to boost your vegetable intake? Look no further than this lemony spinach and pea pesto pasta.

It’s fresh, flavourful and packed with vegetables (a mini Mount Everest pile of baby spinach!). The sauce is similar to classic pesto, featuring key ingredients like pine nuts and olive oil, but with its own spin – it’s dairy-free, and champions parsley instead of basil as its herb hero.

It’s a scrumptious quick and easy vegan-friendly dinner idea, taking less than twenty minutes to whip up.

Ingredients Needed & Subsitutions

• Baby spinach. A nutritious leafy green that’s rich in plant-based iron. You could use a larger leaf variety if you can’t find baby spinach.
• Frozen peas. A super convenient and economical veggie to keep handy in the freezer. Their light and mild flavour work well at helping bulk the pesto out.
• Parsley. I recommend curled leaf, aka common parsley, but you could use Italian parsley or even substitute with fresh basil.
• Pine nuts. The nut of traditional pesto! Pine nuts are gorgeous here, but they can also be a bit spendy – feel free to substitute in another nut (like almonds, cashews or walnuts) or even seeds (like sunflower or pumpkin).
• Lemon. Lemon juice and zest bring vibrancy and brightness to this dish. If you’re a big lemon fan, go heavier with the juice – make sure to add another lemon to the shopping list.
• Garlic. Two cloves make this nice and punchy in the flavour department. Garlic cloves can range in size from small to extra-large. Use cloves in the middle – if you have larger cloves, you might want to cut down, and if your cloves are teeny tiny you might want to throw in an extra.
• Extra virgin olive oil. An incredibly nutritious ingredient to keep in the cupboard. EVOO is the kingpin ingredient of the Mediterranean diet and a rich source of antioxidants and heart-healthy fats.
• Spaghetti pasta is my pasta pick here, but you could substitute another type. Aim for 85g dry weight/person. Go for regular or gluten free.

Kitchen Tips

• Flash boil spinach and peas for just a few short minutes before blending. This will defrost the peas and soften the flavour of the spinach.
• Reserve some magical pasta water. When boiling pasta, you might notice the water becomes cloudy as it cooks – this is starch being released by the pasta. It has impressive binding properties, and when combined with something fat-rich (like olive oil) will create an emulsion aka a smoother, tastier sauce.
• Season, to taste. We have different taste buds preferences, which is why all my recipes advise seasoning until it tastes balanced to you. Have fun and play here – just remember that you can add but you can’t take away!

Serving Suggestions

Many of the meals on Nourish & Tempt follow a balanced eating approach– they feature good nutrient diversity across the various food groups.

While we never need to be all-or-nothing with our diet, if you do want to make this dish more nutritionally balanced for lunch or dinner, look to add a serving of protein-rich food.

Pan-fried chicken thigh is incredible sliced and tossed through, or, to keep this vegan or vegetarian friendly, add a tin or two of cannellini beans.

Thanks for reading! Looking for another vegetable-packed meal idea? Try this lentil-walnut bolognese sauce🍝