Easy 4 Ingredient Pesto Pasta Recipe

This is a 4 ingredient recipe for pesto pasta that comes together in no more time than it takes you to boil your noodles. An easy weeknight meal that doesn’t skip on flavour. I made it just as is for a small and light meal, but it can be rounded out with some protein – I’d recommend grilled chicken. If you want a side, I’d recommend roasted or steamed veggies, specifically asparagus, peas or beans.

Honestly, when I finally decided to turn my radish top pesto into a pasta dish, I wasn’t even going to post it to the blog because it’s SO easy. When I noticed the excitement it was stirring up on Instagram I decided that it should be shared for people to enjoy who don’t follow me on social media.

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Pesto Pasta Recipe Ingredients

• Rotini, or pasta of choice
• Boursin or Cream Cheese
• Pesto, homemade preferred
• Parmesan Cheese

For the noodles, I used rotini but many different noodles would work. Personally, I prefer shorter noodles with lots of ridges. Rigatoni, rotini, penne and tagliatelle would be my choices over spaghetti, macaroni or bowties.

For the pesto, homemade is best. If you don’t have the ingredients or desire to make your own pesto, Costco has a delicious Kirkland brand pesto that’s actually very reasonably priced.

The Boursin or cream cheese is optional, but highly recommended. Again, Costco has an incredible price on 2 packs of Herb and Garlic Boursin that goes on sale often. Even on regular price, it’s the best deal I’ve found anywhere.

Do not use canned Parmesan cheese. The Kraft stuff has it’s place, but it certainly isn’t in this recipe. Using a rotary cheese grater takes seconds and fresh Parmesan cheese is worth the price and “effort”. I use a hand me down stainless steel rotary, but this one is a great bargain.

The Method

This honestly can’t get ANY easier. You pretty well just cook noodles and combine all the other ingredients into the hot pan after draining. It seems silly to even post this because of how easy this recipe is, but it can be helpful when you run out of ideas for a quick weeknight meal.

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Weeknight 4 Ingredient Pesto Pasta Recipe

An incredibly quick and easy pesto pasta recipe for even the busiest of cooks.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword fast meals, pesto pasta, pesto pasta recipe, weeknight meals

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 1 person

Calories 441kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup pasta cooked
• 1 tbsp Boursin cheese or cream cheese
• 3 tbsp pesto homemade preferred
• 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese freshly grated

Instructions

• Cook your pasta per package instructions as per your preference. I like a slightly al dente noodle. Drain pasta and set aside.
• Off the heat, combine drained noodles, Boursin cheese and pesto in the pot used to boil the noodles. If the Boursin isn't melting, you can return the pot to the stove for a minute at a time. Try to avoid cooking the pesto – just keep it warm enough to heat through.
• Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This meal can be bulked up with a serving of grilled chicken or seafood but is more than fine alone.

Notes

The best sides for this dish are either a light side salad or roasted/steamed veggies. My personal favourites are asparagus, peas or green beans.

Nutrition

Calories: 441kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 594mg | Potassium: 52mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1060IU | Calcium: 142mg | Iron: 2mg

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