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The quick & delicious pasta with spinach.
Pasta with spinach and ricotta is a very quick, delicious and healthy lunch or dinner. In brief, the preparation time is around 15-20 minutes. Following this, if you are hungry and need something quick and easy, it is the best recipe you can make. Furthermore the ingredients are very simple – everyone always has a package of frozen spinach in a freezer and some pasta. The combination of spinach and ricotta adds an extra taste to this healthy leafy green vegetable. The pasta sauce gets soft, creamy and rich in protein.
Why is spinach a superfood?
Without a doubt spinach is a superfood, because it contains a lot of vitamins and minerals. In brief it is a great source of vitamin A, C and K. Vitamin A is essential for healthy eyes, especially if you want to maintain eye health during aging. At the same time it helps to protect your body from lung cancer. Both vitamin A and C are great boosters for the immune system. Unquestionably it is very important to eat enough food that contains these vitamins during flu season. Vitamin A and C are also important to produce enough collagen for healthy skin and protect it from sun.
Vitamin K is essential for wound healing and for maintenance of a healthy brain function. It helps to make proteins that are needed for blood clothing and to build strong and healthy bones. Finally spinach is high in antioxidants and they help to protect our bodies from free radicals, which cause inflammation and cancer.
How do I incorporate spinach into my diet?
In fact, it is quite easy to incorporate spinach into the diet. First and the quickest way to incorporate spinach is to create salads with spinach. Add some cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and your favorite protein source – tofu, beans, soy, cheese, eggs and you created an amazing healthy and filling lunch. Next is making sauces with spinach. Finally you can add it to sandwiches to make them more filling and healthy.
You can also add it to your smoothies or saute in a pan. Check my recipe for pita pocket stuffed with spinach for more healthy and nutrient-rich recipes.
How do you make pasta with spinach a complete meal?
In general, it is easy to make pasta with spinach for a complete meal. First of all the portion size should be enough to feel full and satisfied. Second, if you are very hungry or want to incorporate extra nutrients into your meal, just add some salad. Cut tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and sprinkle it with oil and vinegar.
More healthy pasta recipes? Yes, please!
You love pasta and want more delicious, easy and healthy pasta recipes? Check my feta tomato pasta – delicious combination of feta, tomatoes and spices is one of the easiest pasta you can make. In love with pumpkin? What about pumpkin feta pasta? So creamy, soft and extra tasty.
How to make pasta with spinach and ricotta
Ingredients
- 450 g frozen spinach
- 250 g ricotta
- 280 tagliatelle or any pasta of your choice
- 15 g oil
- 80 g onion
- 2 cloves garlic
Spices:
- ½ tsp. oregano
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- ½ tsp. salt
Instructions
- Cook 280 g tagliatelle (or any pasta of your choice) according to instructions on the package. Pasta should be al dente.
- Add 15 g of oil to a pan. Fry 80 g of finely chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a frying pan over medium heat. After 5 minutes, remove the garlic.
- Add 450 g of frozen spinach to the onion, cook until the spinach is thawed, bring to a boil with constant stirring.
- Add 250 g ricotta, mix thoroughly, add spices (½ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. black pepper, ½ tsp. salt*). The sauce should not be thick. If your sauce is thick, add pasta water. I added 100 g of pasta water. Mix.*
- Add cooked tagliatelle or any other pasta. Mix the sauce with the pasta and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Top health benefits and facts
To prepare pasta with spinach, you can use any type of pasta you like. In general, I like to use tagliatelle or spaghetti for spinach pasta. If you want to make your lunch or dinner healthier, in that case use whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta is higher in fiber and protein and as a result you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
You can definitely use frozen spinach in pasta dishes. Moreover, preparing the sauce from frozen spinach has a huge advantage. It speeds up the cooking process. In any case you should always have a package of spinach in the freezer. In terms of health benefits, both frozen spinach and fresh spinach pasta are rich in vitamins.
To cook pasta with spinach follow these simple steps:
1. First cook pasta al dente according to instructions.
2. At the same time prepare the sauce. Fry onions and garlic, add frozen spinach. Stir, until spinach is thawed. Bring to a boil, add ricotta and spices. Then adjust the thickness of the sauce with pasta water. Recipe with exact measurements on my website.
3. Finally mix both and serve.
The best sauce options for pasta with spinach are cheese, mushrooms, and avocado. In general, you can add ricotta or feta to make very delicious spinach cheese sauce. All measurements and exact steps for spinach ricotta pasta are on my website. In case you like spinach with mushrooms – you can fry mushrooms, add spinach, cream cheese and mix it with pasta. For avocado spinach sauce – add avocado to warm spinach and blend it in a blender. Add salt, cilantro and your favorite spices.
To begin with cook pasta according to instructions on the package. When the spinach sauce is ready, add cooked hot pasta to it and serve immediately.
Tagliatelle with spinach can be both vegetarian and vegan. For vegetarian options add ricotta, feta, cream or cream cheese to spinach.
Obviously for a vegan diet, cheese can be replaced with oat cream or oat milk.
You can use both fresh and frozen spinach. Using frozen spinach speeds up the cooking process. Fresh spinach has a little bit more vitamins, but only if you eat it shortly after picking.
At the same time using frozen spinach is very convenient and still very healthy.
To cook spinach to add to pasta:
First fry some onion in a pan, add frozen spinach.
Next stir and bring spinach to boil. Add cheese (I am adding ricotta) and mix everything.
Finally add spinach to cooked pasta.
Souces:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-k
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-a/
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-c/
https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrient-absorption-preparation-spinach-4483.html
https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Spinach%2C_raw_nutritional_value.html
https://www.verywellfit.com/spinach-nutrition-facts-calories-and-health-benefits-4114717
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/food/healthy-eating/a29470673/spinach-benefits/
https://www.mydietmealplanner.com/calorie-counter/vegetables/spinach/vitamin-c-in-12-cup-spinach.html
https://www.myfoodom.com/how-to-get-the-most-nutrition-out-of-spinach/
https://themoderndaygirlfriend.com/ways-incorporated-spinach-ttc-diet/
