This is kind of like a sun dried tomato pesto pasta…but it’s creamy. 🙂 You will never, ever get a store bought sauce with this much sun dried tomato flavour in my Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta. Or simply by stirring through chopped sun dried tomato!
Oh – and only 400 calories a serving. And you know my portions aren’t teeny tiny!
Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
I know this is a rather different way to make a sun dried tomato pasta, but bear with me – it works, it’s super simple and there is logic to my madness. And it’s darn tasty!
I’ve made sun dried tomato pasta before by just by stirring chopped up bits of sun dried tomato through a cream based sauce. Still lovely, don’t get me wrong! But I really wanted to try to increase the intensity of sun dried tomato flavour throughout all the sauce, rather than just getting little bursts of flavour.
So I decided to whizz up a sauce in the blender. When you take the lid off the blender, you’re hit with a waft of sun dried tomato fragrance and you just know this pasta is going to be delish!
Plus, by pureeing the sauce, the sun dried tomato thickens it and makes it richer too, which means you don’t actually need to use that much cream and you still get what tastes like rich, creamy sauce. I only use 1/4 cup of cream in this, mixed with milk, and no thickener. But look how thick the sauce is!
Sometimes I roast up veggies and toss them through the pasta. But I happened to have some big bunches of English spinach I got on sale for just $0.99 each. So I chopped it up, gave it a good rinse, shook it dry then stirred it right into the pasta.
If you want to add protein into this, chicken is lovely and I certainly wouldn’t say no to bacon either. 🙂
Some fresh basil is a perfect pairing to add a touch of freshness to an otherwise rather creamy sauce. Whizzing it up in the sauce really brings out the delicate smell of the basil that mingles with the sun dried tomato. Sorry, I know I keep talking about the smell but it’s the best part of cooking this – the moment when you lift the lid off the blender and get the first waft, and you just know you’re in for a real treat!
I don’t know how else to describe this other than to say it’s like a pesto, but it’s creamy and a lot less oily because unlike pesto, this is not whizzed up using oil, the base is milk with a bit of cream.
I like to serve this Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta hot like other creamy pastas but people I’ve given leftovers of this to said that it’s just as nice at room temperature. 🙂
If you’re in the mood for a carb blow out, add Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread or Cheesy Garlic Bread! – Nagi x
More ways to get your creamy pasta fix!
Baked Mac and Cheese – and try the Shrimp version!
Browse all pasta recipes
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Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
Creamy Sauce
- 3/4 cup (tightly packed) sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped (Note 1) + more for garnish
- 1/2 cup basil leaves , lightly packed
- 1/4 cup yoghurt or sour cream (optional) (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup cream (Note 3)
- 1 3/4 cups milk (I use low fat)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional) (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , finely grated
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pepper
Pasta
- 300 g pasta of choice (I like penne/ziti)
- 1 tbsp oil from sun dried tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves , crushed
- 1 small onion , finely diced (brown, white or yellow)
- 4 cups (tightly packed) finely shredded fresh English spinach
To Serve (optional)
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil , finely shredded
Instructions
- Place the Creamy Sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Adjust salt to your taste.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for 20 seconds, then add onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until translucent and cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente (just cooked through but still firm). SCOOP out 1 mug of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Add the pasta into the skillet, then pour the Creamy Sauce in, all the spinach and about 1/2 cup of the pasta water (Note 5). Stir to coat the pasta in the sauce and to wilt the spinach. Cook, stirring gently, for about 2 minutes until the sauce is warmed through. Adjust salt to taste.
- Use the remaining pasta water to get the sauce to the consistency you want.
- Remove from the stove and serve immediately, with more parmesan cheese and basil if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Restaurant quality. Delicious.
This was very nice, easy to make and even the 14 year old son lapped it up. I omitted the spinach as i couldn’t get any, added line nuts, char grilled zucchini and a few mushrooma.
This was delicious! Wanted to whip up something quickly for a date night, and my husband and I loved it!!
Absolutely delicious! Will be making this more often, so easy to make and way better than store bought pasta sauce!
All your recipes are amazing. I’ve tried lot’s of it already and my family always love it. And yeah, we share the same principles in cooking. Thank you and God bless 😘
Wahoo, I love hearing this! N x
This tasted delicious and was super easy to make! Had so much flavour and was just WOW.
Hey Nagi, what vegetables do you recommend I roast with this dish? Any you think go with it best? Thanks!
Hi Joey, any really! I love roasted broccoli or asparagus would be amazing to add some green – N x
I haven’t made it yet. But I’m definitely gonna as soon as I pick up all the ingredients I need. Everything you put in it sounds so yummy and I just love, love love sun-dried tomatoes packed in EVOO. Yum! 😋👍
I promise you’ll love this one Beth!
Hi Nagi,
I don’t know a lot about sun dried tomatoes. Is it possible for you to tell me where you get yrs and what brand you use.
ps…Dozer could not get and more sweeter. He really does melt my heart. Everyone should have a dozer!!!!
Hi Leanne, I just buy them from the supermarket – I usually buy Sandhurst – N x
Have made this recipe a few times now and it’s definitely become a favourite! Easy to make and delicious to eat. If I’m keeping it vegetarian I usually add in some mushrooms as well.
I’m so glad you loved it Tonya!!
Wow, yet another fabulous recipe! What would I do without you Nagi?! Thanks for sharing, the whole family loved this. Yummy😋
I’m so glad it was a hit Claire!
Thanks for another great recipe Nagi, sooo tasty 👌
You’re so welcome Lynda!
Just made this and it is delicious, added some pumpkin and mushroom just for a little extra!
Sounds fab!
This was so yum!! Thank you for the recipe I will defs be using it again!!! I used a whole tub of semi-sun dried tomatoes as someone left some antipasto after a party, and I didn’t have any milk so I used 2 tubs of light cream and then the pasta water to loosen it up (made extra sauce for another day). I also added some marinated chicken.
Sounds fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
CAn I use a jar of tomato pesto
Ooh yes that would be wonderful! N x
I hate suns dried tomatoes but I loved this lol tomatoes and all
That’s great to hear Jocelyn! Thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Made this tonight. We’ve been stuck in a dinner rut and it sounded tasty. The flavor was amazing beyond my expectation! I made as directed. Hubby scarfed it down and said it was delicious! Our 7 yo with food sensory issues said “Oh my, that’s quite tasty!”. High praise considering he usually does not like anything new on first (or even 9th) taste. Thank you! This recipe is going in our regular dinner rotation. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes (yes, I planned our entire week of dinners from your blog in search of tastebud inspiration)!
That’s great Hannah! So pleased to hear that! I’m so flattered you are using so many of my recipes, thank you for trying them! N x
Want to make this pasta this weekend. Got question, when you ask for cream, what do you mean.
Hi Jenn! Any pouring cream is fine! 🙂
Can I sub kale instead of spinach and how?
Sure! I’d slice it finely 🙂 N x
My partner asked me for a creamy sundried tomato pasta so I said I’ll google for a recipe and came across this ….. oh this did not disappoint it was beautiful he loved it and so did I! I cooked off some chicken thighs first then cooked the onions garlic and bacon, added the pasta, sauce and the chicken back in …. I doubled the sauce and did 500g of pasta so enough for dinner tomorrow night too 🙂 I might even try some fried off chorizo in it next time! ….. I was having a look at your other recipes on your blog and can’t wait to try them out thank you so much for sharing 🙂 x
That’s fantastic to hear Melanie! Thanks for letting me know!! 🙂
I love sundried tomatoes and this is just the perfect recipe for it. So easy to make and sooo yummy. Thanks Nagi for the recipe. X
AWESOME! I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this one Haliza! Hope you have a great weekend – N x