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, itโs 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!
Itโs 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
- ยฝ cup basil pesto
- โ cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
- โ 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.
Did you make this recipe?
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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. ย I add marinated mozzarella instead and at the finish sprinkle pine nuts across the top of my serving dishes. ย We cook the asparagus al dente and serve this dish cold, sans egg.ย
This is delicious! Iโm 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.
Weโve been using this recipe for years now and it never disappoints.ย
I have made this recipe several times, and I absolutely LOVE it!! This recipe is easy and delicious.ย
Amazing flavors !!! Delicious !!! ย Will make this recipe a lot – unique for guest too !
This recipe is delicious! ย I did add a can of Pinto Beans since I am dairy free and needed more protein. ย 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 ย Costcos Kirkland brand ย is a very nice ย 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 ย roast. I still add ย some ย sun dried tomatoes But found without the red peppers it was very unappetizing ย as the ย sun dried tomatoes I can find, are sort of a drab brownish red. I even serve this to friends for a lunch. ย another ย nice addition it some feta cheese
I made this at home and ate it is very rich and tasty.
Amazing recipe! ย So little effort for such a big wonderful taste. ย Definitely making this one again.ย
Loved it! will definitely make it again. easy and delicious. Thank you!
We love this! ย Made it for the 3rd time tonight! ย Shared some with my neighbor and just got 2 thumbs up!
You are the best neighbor to have, JodiHawk! ๐
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.ย
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.ย
Third time making it, everyone loves it, Thank you!
I made it as ร hot dish. Just ad libbed. Very tasty
This was delicious! I used your pesto recipe and it was fabulous as well. Thank you.ย
Glad you liked it!
No shell past but I had rotini pasta instead. Used homemade pesto from last season that was in my freezer. No sun dried tomatoes so subbed in pickled tomatoes a friend gave me. Delicious recipe, will make again. Even used up the last of my homegrown asparagus.
That’s great Angie! Love that you have homegrown veggies ๐
You’re adorable, love these recipes.
I made this tonight, but doubled the recipe. I also followed the basil pesto recipe that is linked here. It was all DELICIOUS, thank you!
Thank you so much for having a fantastic printable format! Definitely going in my recipe book. ๐
I used Halal salt – instead of Kosher – and it was even yummier! Alhamdulillah!
I made this without the egg (out of laziness) and it was really delicious and a HUGE hit with my guests. Very simple, pretty, do ahead if you want, and so good.
Sounds good!
I will make this tonight. I love all the ingredients. It sounds like a winner. Thank you.
Can this be made and frozen?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Do I put one egg on each serving…or is it one egg on the whole dish and then serve…so basically if I am making it for 4 people, so I fry up 4 eggs and give one to each person…or just one egg and let people dig in?
I recommend serving 1-2 eggs per person.
I loved this recipe for many reasons – easy and very delicious. ย I was cooking for my brother and his wife – he was luke warm when asked if he liked asparagus! ย I added cubed, cooked chicken and omitted the egg. ย I asked if he liked it as I noticed he took a second helping – he said “yes” and said he had 4 helpings! ย It’s a keeper – thank you!
You did it again. Amazing dish! From now on I’m just coming to your website for dinner ideas and forgetting about looking anywhere else. Your recipes are always easy, delicious and healthy. Sooooo good!
Wow, a delicious dish!
It seems simple enough that I might be able to do it.
Thanks.
I can’t even explain to you how much I loved this dish. Every. Single. Bite. It was so fast. It was so easy. It was so YUMMY. I have never left a comment on a recipe before; that’s how much I loved this dish. (Without the fried egg. Runny yolks gross me out). My kindergartener ate it up. Even the asparagus. Amazing. I bought too much asparagus so I roasted all of it and used the extra as a side dish. Did you know I like asparagus? Neither did I. Your pesto pasta completes me.
I made this for a party last night. My asparagus was rotten so I didn’t add it and didn’t drain my sundried tomatoes. It turned out great! It kept at room temp wonderfully and I just reheated some for lunch today and it was even better! Was wonderful with Grilled chicken! Great recipe!
This looks fantastic, but my husband isn’t a fan of pesto. Do you think it would have enough flavor without it? If not, do you have any suggestions for alternative options? Thanks!
This is really catered as a pesto dish so I do not recommend omitting it in its entirety. It may be best to try a different pasta recipe using marinara or alfredo sauce for your husband. You can check out all of my other pasta recipes here: https://damndelicious.net/recipe-index/pasta/.
Thanks!
I’ve made this recipe several times and it never disappoints! The fried egg makes it even better.
Did this recipe minus the egg finale and it was so, very delicious. It’s now one of my staple meals this summer. Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this as a cold pasta salad over the weekend for my family’s fourth of July picnic and it was a huge hit! I featured it on my blog today: http://www.love-laurie.com/2015/07/pesto-pasta-salad-with-sun-dried.html
I made this last night. It truly was Damn Delicious! Next time I’ll add more asparagus as my 22 month old daughter couldn’t get enough!!!
I have recently made many of your recipes but this is by far one of my favorite meals. It might be one of my favorite meals ever! I added more sun dried tomatoes after my first serving because I thought it added the most flavor to this meal. I also left off the egg. Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
We just had this for dinner! It was bursting with flavor and everything tasted soooo fresh. I just put together an herb garden in my kitchen window and used fresh basil in the pesto- yumm! I also made sure to use thin stalks of asparagus that were delish. We will definitely make it again! Thanks mucho . . .
my family loves your recpies , so many of them are firm favourites in our house , my 3yr olds love this and the quinoa tacos and just about everything off here i give them ๐
I don’t eat dairy. If I made the pesto without dairy and left out the mozzarella cubes, do you think it still might be tasty ?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot really say with certainty. Please use your best judgment to suit your dietary restrictions.
This looks so delicious and easy to make. Thank you for another great recipe.
I want to tell you how much I enjoy receiving you recipes emailed to me. I have so many loved recipes from you. You are a great cook!
Made this and it was wonderful!
Had to make a couple changes based on our diet like subbing out the pasta for spaghetti squash and I’m allergic to egg so i topped it with avocado snd threw in some artichoke hearts cause I mistakenly thought the recipe called for them when I was at the grocery store. The avocado paired especially well so if you like avocados I highly recommend it.
This recipe is a keeper though!
I made this tonight and everyone scarfed it up – adults and little people alike. I was so pleased with the flavor combination, and it was nice to have something so easy to prepare. I cheated and used store-bought pesto, but I’m looking forward to using your recipe next time. Thanks for the crowd-pleaser!!!
I just made this and it was delicious. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Thank you for the great recipe. I added some spicy paprika powder and grated parmesan cheese. Also, adding grilled grape tomatoes is really good.
This is so delicious!
When I see the asparagus on the pictures, I think one inch isn’t the same length in your country than in France… oups! excuse-me it’s a bad joke. The recipe is excellent and what a good idea to serve with a fried egg (not usual for us).
Nota : the website above is a private website, not referenced in the search engines. It’s just to help us, my lovely wife and I and some friends to find quickly a good recipe when we want to do something different of the french cooking. Cheers.
AMAZINGGG. my husband’s new favorite meal I’ve made ๐ yum yum yum. I usually don’t like pesto but gave this a go and it was soooo good. THANK YOU!
I LOVED this dish!! I love that it was easy and with twin babies at home and not eating at all all day, it was the perfect thing to throw together at the end of the night and it really hit the spot. I used Parmesan instead of the Mozzarella, but that’s just because I wanted that flavor…I’m sure it would have been delicious either way. I loved that the asparagus tips were crispy after roasting in the oven, it made for an amazing texture. Thank you!
this looks amazing!
We did a vegan version of this (no cheese in pasta/pesto & no egg) and it was still great…Thanks!
I just wanted to let you know I have been trying your recipesโฆI think about 5 by now and they are all SO good. This one is our favorite so far. I added shredded chicken for protein instead of the egg, but the beauty of this recipe is that you can add any protein and it would be amazing. Thanks for the great recipes!
I love asparagus so much! I only found this out a couple years ago but it is “damndelicious”! I only eat a plant based diet , so I will be of course leaving out the mozzarella & egg for personal reasons. I’ve haven’t had sun dried tomatoes before so I’ll have a go at this and see if I find another favorite food! Thanks for the recipe!
Sundried tomatoes are awesome! So much flavor packed into a tiny little package
This was supposed to be healthy, but I found a way to make a little less that way ๐ I subbed the creme fraiche instead of the egg and it made this delicious tangy sauce. So delicious. Great recipe!
I made this last night for my boyfriend and myself with a few variations, and we loved it! I doubled the recipe so I could take leftovers to work, and instead making the homemade pesto (I don’t have a food processor, and I wanted a quick trip to the grocery store), we used Safeway Select’s Basil Pesto. It tasted great, although I’m sure it’s much more oily than the homemade version. I’ll have to try that when we move into our new place and have more kitchen space for new appliances. We also omitted the egg from the pasta this time around, but I would like to try it some time in the future.
Our other variation is that we decided to keep the asparagus separate from the pasta since we didn’t have a side dish to eat it with. I roasted it per the recipe using “Gourmet Sea Salt” and freshly ground pepper corn to taste, and then rather than chopping it up and mixing it in, I left them in spears and served them on the side. The thick sea salt was really delicious, and we love asparagus, so eating it as a side was wonderful. My boyfriend suggested that if we do it the same way next time, we should roast some bacon with the asparagus. I’ll give it a shot, but I liked it as is. My main reason serving it like this, against the recipe’s guidance, was since we didn’t have a side, I didn’t want everything to taste like pesto. If I make this next time with a side dish on the menu – maybe a yummy salad – I’ll try the asparagus in the pasta as the recipe instructs. I’m sure it will be delicious.
Overall, great recipe, and picking up the ingredients was easy and cheap! I love how it was so simple, but also tasted good after personalizing it to my needs!
I wanted to add that I ate the pasta (still without the asparagus mixed in) cold for lunch today at work. YUMMY!
It sounded good until you put on the egg!!!
The egg is completely optional!
I was hoping you can provide me the nutrition facts for this, with the amount of servings. I am watching my macros and I would love to know how you were able to include the nutrition facts for some of your other recipes (i.e. chicken yoghurt salad). Thank you, hope to hear from you soon. I will be making this on the weekend.
Unfortunately, as I am not a registered dietician, I am not comfortable sharing nutritional information for any of my recipes. However, I have recently teamed up with registered dietician, Jessica Penner from Smart Nutrition. She is providing important nutritional information for select recipes such as the Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Sandwich.
As for this recipe, I recommend utilizing online calorie counters at your discretion to obtain such information.
This is one of my favorite recipes love it cold and warm. Also like to add feta cheese to it also. Going to try it with green beans tonight.
I made this for about the 4th time last night. This is my favorite recipe ever! Even the leftovers are awesome!
Made it tonight! Even my kiddo loved it, minus the asparagas…
I will make this again!
Great Recipe
Love the egg on this!
So I made this tonight since we are going for a “meatless” Monday thing now. Huge win for my family and my anti meatless Monday husband LOVED it! The egg helped a lot with that I think ๐
Thanks!
Quick and delicious! I didn’t want to heat up the oven so I cut the asparagus into the 1 inch pieces and pan sauteed it instead. The kids were skeptical about the fried egg on top but all ended up liking it. Thank you for sharing!
A wonderfully delicious and fail safe recipe! Again Chung-Ah, you have outdone yourself! Bravo! Perfecto!
Oh my goodness, this looks absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try it! A fried egg on top makes just about ANYTHING better ๐
Scrumptious! The only substitution I made was that I used whole wheat pasta (the kind that’s shaped like little tubes). My hubby and I LOVED it….so flavorful!!!! Thank you for an amazing recipe!!! ๐
This has become a favorite in our house. So easy, simple, and delicious! LOVE your recipes!
I made this the other night using some fresh basil and asparagus from the farmer’s market. I subbed jarred roasted red peppers for the sun dried tomatoes and skipped the egg. That was to please the husband. It was GREAT! Very flavorful and fast. I had it in my lunch the next day as well. I froze the leftover pesto so next time will be. Even faster.
Thanks for the recipe!
We had this last night and just loved it! I used roasted green beans instead of asparagus… the stuff we have up here right now is so huge and tough, not good. It was so easy to go together and the leftovers are just as delicious. Definitely don’t skip the egg on top!!
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Delicious!! Thank you! ๐
I just made this for my husband last night and he LOVED it! In fact, he was talking about it again this morning! Here are some minor things I did different: I made it with 3 cups of pasta, not 1, because I felt like 1 cup would not be enough. It was wonderful with more pasta and I felt that was the right amount. With the pesto, I used a jar of pesto and mixed it with about 3/4 cup heavy cream. I also roasted 8 stalks of asparagus with a handful of green beans, because I did not have a lot of asparagus. My husband loved it but he thought that green beans alone would be better, as he loved the green beans but did not like the asparagus as much. I think it is just a matter of taste but just know that if you substitute roasted green beans that it will be delicious. Be sure to add plenty of sundried tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese (I used shredded cheese as I did not have cubed). The egg on top was the perfect touch and my husband LOVED that! He can’t wait to have this again! (I did have enough left over for lunch the next day – I will just reheat and fry another egg to put on top!) Thank you for another wonderful recipe! I love visiting your page for new ideas. Next I’m going to try the beef broccoli! ๐
Thanks for sharing the information about the green beans. My husband won’t get near asparagus, which made me sad because I really wanted to try this dish. Now, I can!
I saw this recipe on Pinterest and tried it because I love roasted asparagus. My husband raved about the dish so much that I had to locate your blog and see if your other recipes were just as good…..and they are! Keep up the great work. You have a new fan.
Thank you – looks so good.
Tried this last week and it was a huge hit with Mike and my very picky friend. Thanks Chung-Ah, for another easy to follow and delicious to eat recipe!
Just tried this recipe tonight – FANTASTIC and my new go-to for a quick meal or easy entertaining. The recipe is wonderful as is, but I added some sautรฉed spinach and fresh lemon to give it a little tart, spring flavor. I am lactose intolerant so I forewent the cheese, but added freshly shaved parmesan to my boyfriend’s and he was in heaven. Thinking of adding roasted red peppers next time, now that they are in season. Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful – Thank you!
I just made this for lunch today, and it was FANTASTIC!!! I had some store-bought pesto to use up, but next time I’m going to try making my own. I also used shredded low-skim mozzarella cheese (because I already had some open), and it turned out great. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe–I am going to be making it for years to come!! ๐
Made this tonight…yum! Only one addition, a touch of red pepper flakes
Made it tonight. It was so delicious. It was exactly like a wonderful dish I had in Rome. Perfection. Great job.
this was very tasty. I used baby Swiss instead of mozzarella and it was fantastic. thank you for a yummy treat!
This looks delish! Is this something that can be made ahead and kept in the frig? If so, how long before? I was thinking of doubling the recipe and bringing it to a potluck.
You can certainly try to make this ahead of time but I do not recommend it. This dish is best when served immediately.
Im making this and was wondering what does the egg do. Ive never seen putting an egg on top of pasta before.
A fried egg can be added to many savory dishes such as burgers and pastas. The runny yolk provides an amazing flavor combination, and personally, if I could, I’d add a fried egg on top of everything!
Let’s not forget chiliquiles! I am a huge fan of your recipes, thank you and keep them coming!!!
We made this tonight, subbing in Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta and it was amazing! Thanks for sharing ๐
I used this as a base recipe but added some cubed chicken, skipped the mozzarella and sauteed the asparagus in the pan from the chicken. No egg since I had chicken for protein – oh added some roasted pine nuts. It was good & different. I will try again with the egg. Sounds like an interesting twist. Lots of possibilities with this recipe! Thank you!
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Just made this tonight. It was so ridiculously delicious. It’s definitely going in my personal recipe book!
This was delicious! I used buffalo mozzarella instead of regular mozzarella, and it turned out great– especially with the fried egg on top. I plan to try this as a cold pasta salad too and just blanching the asparagus instead of roasting it. Thanks for the great recipe!
This looks amazing! Just a quick question. Even though I love asparagus, I happen to have some yummy crispy green beans on hand. Think that’ll be as tasty?
This looks absolutely delicious. Thank you for taking the time to share : ).
This looks amazing. I have some store bought pesto which I’m pretty crazy about. Hoping that tastes as good as this looks. Quick question, does the cheese melt at all or do I need to warm dish in any way to get that to happen? Or is it not supposed to melt? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this.
Vero, this is really based on personal preference. I personally like to keep the mozzarella cubed, and I love how it melts just a little bit from the heat of the pasta.
I can wait to try it. How many calories?
Please use online resources such as Calorie Count to obtain nutritional information.
Yum
Is this better served warm or cold?
I prefer to serve it warm.
Great Recipe looks really good, but how did you make the pesto?
Click on the “basil pesto” link – it will lead you my basil pesto recipe.
Looks delicious thanks for sharing your dish.
This was great. I fit my limited carb quota just fine. Thank you for making it so delightful to eat healthy
Great lunchtime meal for friends. Very tasty and simple. Thankyou
Totally! Thank you ๐