broccoli pesto pasta

Today, a verdant, bright broccoli pesto pasta that’s as healthy as it is delicious.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

pasta

broccoli florets

basil leaves,

garlic

pine nuts

extra virgin olive oil

salt

Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

In a large pot bring water ** to a rapid boil

Add the broccoli, bring the water back up to a boil for two minutes

Do not drain the water! Immediately transfer broccoli (with a slotted spoon) to a colander place under cold running water to stop further cooking.Bring the water ** back to a boil and add your favorite pasta and cook according to the package (reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining)

In a large blender or food processor, blend together broccoli, basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt and Parmigiano-Reggiano until smooth

Slowly pour in 1 cup of reserved pasta water until a nice sauce is formed

If sauce is too thick, add more pasta water one tablespoon at a time.Toss hot pasta with sauce until completely coated

Top with extra Parmesan, pine nuts and chili flakes if desired

Enjoy! ** It is important to salt your water before adding the broccoli and pasta

This Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Roasted Vegetables is the best weeknight pasta dish - it&#x27;s simple to make, ridiculously delicious, and it&#x27;s packed with veggies! The pesto itself has broccoli in it for an extra dose of nutrients + flavor, and the pasta is filled with roasted broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper, butternut squash, shallots, and mushrooms!

Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

rigatoni (or other short-cut pasta)

cauliflower florets (cut into small florets)

butternut squash

red bell pepper,

broccoli crown,

cremini mushrooms, quartered

medium shallot, very thinly sliced

pepper

pasta water*

cheese,

basil leaves

red pepper flakes

flat leaf parsley

pine nuts, toasted*

parmesan cheese

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the cauliflower, butternut squash, red bell pepper, broccoli, mushrooms, and shallots. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Arrange vegetables in a single, even layer (you may need to do this with 2 baking sheets if yours isn&#x27;t large enough). Bake for 25-30 minutes, tossing once, or until vegetables are tender, caramelized, and golden brown.

While vegetables are roasting, make the pesto. Add broccoli florets to your food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Add the basil, parsley, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and pulse several more times. Add the olive oil and blend until smooth. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta and salt the water. Once boiling, add your pasta and cook according to package directions, or until just al dente. Remember to reserve your pasta water (I just scoop a bunch out with a large mug or heat-safe glass measuring cup!) Drain pasta, and add back into the pot or a large mixing bowl. Add the pesto and a splash (start with 1/4 cup) of the pasta water and stir to coat the pasta. Add the roasted vegetables, several cranks of freshly cracked black pepper, and a couple pinches of salt and stir to combine. Add a couple handfuls of parmesan cheese and another splash of pasta water if it seems like it needs more moisture. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve with extra parmesan, basil leaves, and crushed red pepper flakes if desired.

This vibrant broccoli pesto is quick and easy to make! Whizz it together and toss it with pasta for a fresh, flavorful weeknight dinner.

Broccoli Pesto

broccoli

basil

olive oil

Parmesan cheese yeast

lemon juice

lemon zest

sea salt

black pepper

pasta (cooked al dente)

Red pepper flakes (to taste)

Parmesan Parmesan

Bring a medium pot of water to boil and place a bowl of ice water nearby. Blanch the broccoli in the boiling water for 30 seconds, and then use a slotted spoon to scoop it into the ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain and pat dry.

Place the broccoli into a food processor with the basil, olive oil, cheese, lemon juice and zest, garlic, salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper. Pulse until combined.

If desired, toss the pesto with the cooked pasta. Serve with pine nuts, red pepper flakes, and additional cheese. Season to taste and serve.

Make this broccoli pesto pasta for a fresh and veggie-packed dinner! This recipe features broccoli, toasted pine nuts, green olives and Parmesan. The green olives disguise the broccoli flavor and bring this dish to life. Recipe yields 4 to 6 servings.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Green Olives

pasta,

green olives,

basil leaves (about 1 1/3 ounce, or 2 small containers)

garlic, roughly chopped

Parmesan cheese

twists of freshly ground black pepper,

Salt,

Optional, olive oil

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the broccoli to a blender.

Bring the water back to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes, or according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.

Cook the pine nuts in a small saucepan set over medium heat, moving the nuts around, until fragrant and toasted, about 3 minutes.

Add the pine nuts to the broccoli in the blender, along with the olives, basil, garlic, Parmesan, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Pulse until combined, stopping to stir as necessary.

With the blender running, stream in the olive oil, stopping the blender and scraping down the sides as needed, until the pesto is pureed. Taste and season with salt and additional pepper.

In a large bowl, toss together the pasta with your desired amount of pesto (I used all of it), thinning it with additional reserved pasta water 2 tablespoons at a time if needed. Sprinkle with some additional grated Parmesan, if you&#8217;d like.

Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled. Serve in individual bowls, as-is or with dollops of ricotta, sprinkle of red pepper flakes or a light drizzle of olive oil. Leftover pesto pasta keeps well in the fridge, covered, for 4 days.

Thank you! I put in about 4 tbs - still tasted delicious! Great recipe :)

Absolutely amazing! I add two teaspoons of trader Joe's soffritto seasoning and it adds even more spice and flavor

I made this tonight - it was really tasty, very satisfying and I LOVED that the pesto had so much broccoli in it. I had more broccoli on hand than the 2C in the recipe, and I blanched some of the littlest florets to be a garnish or mix in over the whole dish. This is exactly what I want to eat right now, and I want to check out this cookbook! Thanks for the post!

This looks delish! Definitely going to make on the weekend :) (Also, lol at all the comments about pine nuts!)

This was delicious!!! My teen even liked it and she is super picky. I used toasted walnuts instead of pine nuts as this is what I had. Sooo yummy!!

Hi Kate! Intrigued by the unusual combination, I made this the other day and both my husband and I were blown away by how flavorful it was.  We are turning the leftovers into a frittata for lunch today.  
I am curious about what kind of olives you used - I ransacked my fridge and combined castelvetranos, Greek green olives, and Sicilian spicy green olives, and it came out great, but I don't always have an assortment like that in my fridge. Have you ever tried it with black olives? I was thinking kalamatas, though the color might not be very attractive.... Congratulations on another superb and easy recipe!

This was sooooo good! Subbed nutritional yeast for parm to make it vegan, and it was delicious. I hate olives, so was hesitant to try it, but I’m so glad i did! I plan to add this to my regular recipe rotation and share it with all my friends/family. I made it last night and I kind of want to make it again today, haha. Thank you - this is a winner!

My boys and I really enjoyed the dish! I played it cool with one of them that it contained olives, and he ate it without fussing. Speaking of olives, any tips on what kind work best? I opened a can from Trader Joe's, and they tasted so similar to canned black olives, I decided to try something else- the jars of basic green olives we keep on hand, which are the really salty ones. Tips on a smoother puree welcome- I just used our food processor. We also went GF and dairy free, and subbed pumpkin seeds for allergy friendliness.

We made this tonight and it was delicious!  My daughter loves the pesto in a jar at Costco and now wants me to stop buying it and only make this.   Luckily it was easy to make.

Just to let you know made it without the pine nuts, just all the other ingredients - only because we don't like the taste of them.  So quick and easy and it turned out perfectly without them. Awesome, thank you.

Tasty and simple - a really fun twist on pesto! I enjoyed this with gluten-free red lentil penne, with a couple sundried tomatoes on top. 
I also appreciate how you re-use the water and don't boil multiple pots - the little things that make it a bit more planet-friendly :) 

Funny story - I was trying to double the recipe to make some extra to freeze, but I mistyped the recipe pretty badly when I was making my grocery list and got four heads of broccoli (not four cups of florets). It made nearly a gallon of pesto. Thankfully, as I said, it's very tasty and freezes well. I will be eating and sharing this for some time, LOL.

Wow! 
What a healthful and delicious recipe.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and will gladly make it again as well as for guests. Thank you Kate! And Cookie too...

I used walnuts instead of pine nuts. It was great!! Thanks Kate.

Great recipe. Made it according to the instructions, and used a vegan parmesan in  the pesto and on top for serving. The hub, who only likes broccoli when it is well disguised, thought it was great!  Thank you so much for another keeper. You are a rock star. Hugs to you, from one Missouri girl,now in Texas, to another.

Never seen so many questions about pine nuts, looks great 

This was so delicious! I added lemon juice to it too. Thank you!!

Hey broccoli and olive pesto recipe looks good, thanks! Big fan of yours. But....don't think you should be recommending pine nuts unless they are local and sustainably harvested. Recall an NYT piece a few years ago indicating that that global demand for pine nuts was resulting in overharvesting with likely detrimental ecosystem effects...
Best 
Tom Boo, MD

Tasty and easy to make.  Substituted in brown rice pasta.  Perfect for a quick and healthy week night dinner!

You'll love this twist on pesto pasta with broccoli and a good splash of fresh lemon juice. Loads of flavor! And you'll have extra pesto to freeze for later use!

Lemon Broccoli Pesto Pasta Recipe 

Kosher salt

broccoli (or 1 head broccoli, stems and florets)

pine nuts,

lb short pasta

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously. Add the broccoli and cook until crisp tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to transfer the broccoli to a large bowl of ice water. Do not discard the cooking water (you will use it to cook the pasta later). Drain the broccoli and dry on a paper towel.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the broccoli, 4 tbsp of the pine nuts, 1 1/2 cups of Parmesan, the basil leaves, and lemon zest and juice. Process until combined (about 30 seconds or so). Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover and run the processor again. And while the processor is running, slowly stream in the extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring the same pot of water back to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions (about 10 minutes or so). Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

Return the drained pasta to the pot over medium-low heat. Add 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the reserved 1/4 cup of pasta water and cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese coast the pasta (about 1 minute).

Remove from the heat and add half of the broccoli pesto (I added a bit more than half). Toss to coat the pasta with the broccoli pesto. (Reserve extra broccoli pesto or freeze it for a later use).

Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Top with the remaining Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp pine nuts, and a little lemon zest. Garnish with a few basil leaves. Enjoy!

This is yummy! I used cashews (no pine nuts in my house today) and cut back on the Parmesan. I tossed with a hemp rigatoni for a hearty dish!

I made this recipe this afternoon and followed directions to a T. Oh my goodness, so good.  I haven't put it over the pasta yet - I can't wait to try it.  I could however sit and eat the broccoli pesto with a spoon.

Made this last night and we all LOVED it!  So easy!  Because I was cooking for vegans, I just left out the cheese, but a vegan alternative can easily be substituted, or just added at the end.  Even without the cheese this dish is delicious and creamy! Thank you so much!  I love adding more veggies to my meals

One of the most delicious pesto recipes I've ever had! I had to use lime juice in place of lemon because I didn't have it on hand, but I WILL be making this again with lemon, and it was honestly just as good with the lime. This recipe is so delicious, feels light and healthy, and is super easy. I added chickpeas with the pasta and pesto to make a filling meal.

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