Creamy Pesto Shells
The most epic pesto cream sauce ever! It’s fresh, vibrant, and amazingly creamy. Served with pasta for a quick family favorite meal!
New Year, New You pesto cream sauce here!
Made with a fresh basil pesto, heavy cream, mozzarella and Parmesan, we have the creamiest, most rich and velvety sauce of your life.
And you don’t have to feel guilty about eating all of this.
Why? Because the pesto has some hidden secret broccoli in it! Broccoli that you can’t even taste.
And the blistered cherry tomatoes are also an added veggie.
The shaved Parmesan, however, is not a vegetable, but it is a very important garnish that cannot be skimped if you have some leftover Parmesan. Never let anything go to waste, right?
Creamy Pesto Shells
Ingredients
- 8 ounces medium pasta shells
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
For the pesto
- 2 cups packed fresh baby spinach
- 1 ½ cups broccoli florets
- 1 ½ cups packed fresh basil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup chicken stock
Instructions
- To make the pesto, combine spinach, broccoli and basil in the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper, to taste. With the motor running, add chicken stock in a slow stream until emulsified; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add tomatoes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to burst and have softened, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic and Italian seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in chicken stock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in pesto and heavy cream until heated through, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in pasta until well combined, about 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from heat; stir in mozzarella and Parmesan until melted, about 1 minute.
- Serve immediately, topped with tomatoes.
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this tonight. Great flavor, especially after adding the Italian seasoning to the pan. It smelled AH-Ma-Zing! I only wish it had a bit more of a bite. Next time I think I will sauté some chopped asparagus to add to it.
Totally hit the spot and has so many extra veggies in it! This also reheats really nicely, I just brought a little extra cream to stir in while microwaving. Thanks for the recipe!
This recipe had more ingredients than I typically use but it was a satisfying dish to make. It was pleasantly tasty when served, the tomatoes were a plus and I loved that I didn’t have to keep the pasta warm or do anything with the pesto either except wait for the skillet step to complete cooking and mix it all together.
Thanks for your feedback, Sandy!
This was very good. It looked beautiful and tasted good. Thanks for a good recipe!
Thank you!
So delicious! I could do shots of that sauce. And in shocking news, my kids LOVED it! Definitely adding this to my repertoire.
Should the broccoli be raw??
Yes. 🙂
I was confused on this as well- it should definitely be clarified.
Recipes typically specify if cooked broccoli is required. 🙂
The dish was very tasty with the tomatoes a delicious visual addition. The shaved parmesan cheese was mentioned as being an important addition but was not included in the ingredient list. I felt the dish was rich enough without it, but it looked great along with the tomatoes when plated. The completed dish looks exactly like the picture, but for our likes there was too much sauce so I will make it again and adjust the amount. Thanks!
Can I make this with a jar of pesto? If so how much would I need? I would still like to blend it with the broccoli and spinach if I could. It’s just a lot of basil to buy…..!! Any recommendations?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.