Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus
A quick and easy dish for those busy weeknights, and it is chockfull of veggies!
Pesto is seriously one of my favorite things ever. It is so easy to make, it’s incredibly versatile, and it pretty much tastes amazing in and on anything and everything.
Like for this pasta dish here, I tossed the pesto in some simple ingredients like sun dried tomatoes, roasted asparagus and mozzarella cubes, finishing it off with a fried egg, and it was seriously one of the best weeknight meals ever!
It’s so simple and easy to whip up, and my most favorite thing about it is that some of the pesto gets stuck in the crevices of the shell pasta.
AH-MAZING, right?
Plus, this tastes just as good, if not better, as work leftovers since the mozzarella cubes gets all melted/ooey-gooey in between the pasta.
Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus
Ingredients
- 8 ounces medium shell pasta
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup basil pesto
- ⅓ cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
- ⅓ cup diced mozzarella cubes
- Fried egg, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Place asparagus in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, to taste; gently toss to combine. Place into oven and roast for 8-12 minutes, or until tender but crisp. Let cool before cutting into 1-inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine pasta, asparagus, pesto, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella.
- Serve immediately with a fried egg, if desired.
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This recipe sounds delicious. I have some homemade pesto I need to use so this recipe will be perfect for it. Question: I would like to add some chicken breast as my protein rather than the egg. What is your recommendation on tastiest way to incorporate it into this recipe? ~ Kelly, Vancouver, WA
Could this be made in advance and served room temp?
I have been making this for years now and it is my best friend’s favorite meal when she comes over. I adjusted it more for our family – it is served hot, not cold, and I saute my asparagus in the oil from the sun dried tomatoes instead of roasting them in the oven (we live in FL it is too hot for this lol). We always serve it with a fried egg for some extra protein and shredded motz because the cubed didn’t work well with the heat. Thanks for sharing!!!
This recipe is FANTASTIC!! I made this dish and afterwards four people asked me for the recipe. EASY AND SO GOOD! Will definitely make this again and again.
We love this recipe. I add marinated mozzarella instead and at the finish sprinkle pine nuts across the top of my serving dishes. We cook the asparagus al dente and serve this dish cold, sans egg.
This is delicious! I’m lactose intolerant so I skipped the mozzarella and just sprinkled on a bit of vegan Parmesan before serving. Everyone loved it!
Simply delicious. A friend dropped off some just picked asparagus and I thought , Perfect!! And it was. Thank you
This was so good! Used homemade pesto. All the flavours were perfect together. Thanks for the recipe.
We’ve been using this recipe for years now and it never disappoints.
I have made this recipe several times, and I absolutely LOVE it!! This recipe is easy and delicious.
Amazing flavors !!! Delicious !!! Will make this recipe a lot – unique for guest too !
This recipe is delicious! I did add a can of Pinto Beans since I am dairy free and needed more protein. Thanks for sharing!
I made this for Meatless Monday last week and it lived up to its name. any ideas on how to make this gluten free?
I used Banza pasta to make this gfree!
This recipe has become a regular in our kitchen, it is yummy. Sometimes I used homemade pesto and other times Costcos Kirkland brand is a very nice pesto . The only major change I made was chopping up about a third of a cup of red pepper and adding it to the asparagus to roast. I still add some sun dried tomatoes But found without the red peppers it was very unappetizing as the sun dried tomatoes I can find, are sort of a drab brownish red. I even serve this to friends for a lunch. another nice addition it some feta cheese
I made this at home and ate it is very rich and tasty.
Amazing recipe! So little effort for such a big wonderful taste. Definitely making this one again.
Loved it! will definitely make it again. easy and delicious. Thank you!
We love this! Made it for the 3rd time tonight! Shared some with my neighbor and just got 2 thumbs up!
You are the best neighbor to have, JodiHawk! 🙂
Recipe was great but — how does one serve it as a hot and not tepidly warm dish? I ended up tossing the roasted asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes into the pasta water for the last 3 minutes of the pasta cooking. I heated the pesto sauce in the microwave. We like our food nice and hot — that helped immensely.
I put everything back in the saucepan I made the pasta in mixing all the ingredients together as the egg is being made, keep mixing together with the heat on, if you would prefer the mozzarella cubes still add and stir in the cubes once you are ready to serve.
That was delicious and super easy to make. My husband, my 15 month old and I all went crazy over it. I will definitely make it again.