Pesto Pasta Salad – A fast and easy one-pot dinner of pasta with store bought basil pesto and peas. Serve warm or cold. Ready in 30 minutes!
Hello there! How was your weekend? I was lucky enough to spend my weekend eating my way through visiting Portland. I attended my first food bloggers conference. It was inspiring, fun, and delicious. I stepped out of my comfort zone (card carrying introvert here), and I’m so glad I did. I felt honored to be in the same room with people whose work I’ve admired for years.
Now I’m back home and looking towards the week ahead. This will definitely be a week that I rely on fast and easy meals (hello, cereal for dinner). I’m playing catch-up after being out of town, plus, my husband is wrapping up tax season, which is a super busy time at work for him. It will just be the kids and I for dinner this week, and that means easy, easy, easy! Right, mamas?
This here is a fast and easy meal made in one pot, in under 30 minutes, using only 4 ingredients. This is an ideal meal for nights when you want something hearty and comforting with minimal dishes and no prep!
Pesto Pasta Salad
- Cook pasta in boiling water. During the last 5 minutes of cooking time, add a bag of frozen peas to the cooking water.
- Drain
- Return pasta and peas to the pot and stir in pesto and parmesan cheese
That’s it! Easy peasy! Get it pea-sy?! Ha! Ok, I’ll stop. 😉
Another fantastic thing about this recipe is how adaptable it is. You can make it with just the 4 basic ingredients, or you can add other veggies or meat. I occasionally add asparagus, broccoli, or cherry tomatoes. I also serve it topped with sliced sausage or rotisserie chicken. You can serve this dish hot or cold. Leftovers make for a great chilled pasta salad.
Lastly, I’d like to quickly address the parmesan cheese that you see below. I am a huge fan of Whole Foods, and one of my favorite items is their parmesan cheese. My family goes through nearly a tub a week (and by “my family” I’m mostly referring to myself). Whole Foods is not paying me say this, nor is this post sponsored by them. I just really, really love this stuff and I want you to go get some, or come over to my place and we’ll eat pasta with pesto and loads of parm.
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Recipe
Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta, I prefer short pasta like small/medium shells
- 1 pound frozen peas
- 6 ounce container basil pesto
- parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil Add salt and the pasta. Boil accordingly to pasta package instructions. During the last 4-5 minutes of cooking time add the peas.
- Drain and return to the pot. Stir in pesto. Add parmesan, salt, and pepper to taste.
Notes
- You can also add asparagus or frozen chopped broccoli to this dish. I usually add them to the boiling pasta water during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- If desired, the pasta can be topped with cooked sausage or rotisserie chicken.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass
Hey girl, glad to hear you had a GREAT time in Portland. I have yet to make it to a blogging conference. One day. 🙂 I love your simple recipe here. We just (finally) got a Whole Food here in town this past weekend. Yay and double yay. We’ll be a little poorer, but a lot happier! I’ll check out the parmesan.
Celebrating Sweets
Ha! Hooray for Whole Foods! I seriously love that place. 🙂 Enjoy!
Karly Campbell
Love everything about this post. Literally everything. I can’t wait to try out this recipe!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks, Karly! It is a family fave!
candy
One pot won me over, we love pasta with peas and love combinations you given.
Klauss
Great! I have it almost every day 🙂 Pinned anyway! Pesto, as I understand it, from the store?
Amanda | Maple Alps
This looks so amazing! I need to try this!
Amy Lu
This is a great recipe. I am a huge fan of recipes that are quick (under 30 minutes), healthy, and delicious. I can’t wait to try this one out.
Christine
I love finding new recipes to use with pesto. This it easy and I like easy. The dish looks really tasty and look forward to trying it.
Alexis
I’ve always wanted to visit Portland! Glad you had a great time. Definitely going to have to try this recipe – very simple but delicious. Right up my alley. Thanks for sharing!
Cait
YUM! This looks so good.
Gunjan
I love anything with pasta and when it comes to one pot pasta dish thats my favorite because less work and less dishes. Thanks for sharing this, will try it out soon.