Creamy Hummus Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppersgrated carrot salad
We love the way store-bought hummus creates a creamy, savory sauce in this surprisingly healthy and filling vegetarian pasta. For a crunchy side, we've added a fresh grated carrot salad. Smarts: Using bagged pre-grated carrots in this recipe can be a real time-saver!
Ingredients
- Bell peppers, red - 1, chopped
- Shallots - 1, chopped
- Spinach, fresh - 5 oz, chopped
- Pasta (we like Fusilli or Cavatappi in this recipe) - 8 oz
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Hummus - 6 oz
- Carrots (sub bagged shredded carrots) - 10 oz, grated
- Lemons - 1, juice of
- Oil, olive - 2 tsp
- Paprika - 1/2 tsp
- Sugar - 1/2 tsp
- Harissa paste (opt, sub other hot sauce) - 1/2 tsp
- Pine nuts (opt) - 1/4 cup
- Parsley, fresh, flat-leaf - 3 Tbsp, chopped
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make carrot salad - Grate carrots in a food processor or using a box grater. Combine carrots with lemon juice, oil, paprika, sugar and harissa paste. Season with some salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
- Toast pine nuts (if not already toasted earlier in the week) in a frying pan over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes, until pine nuts are golden and fragrant. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Bell peppers / Shallots - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Spinach / Parsley - Prep as directed.
Make
- Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Salt generously and add pasta. Cook until al dente, tender but not soggy. Save 1 cup (235 mL) of pasta water (amount is for 4 servings; adjust accordingly if customizing).
- While pasta cooks, heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add bell peppers and shallots and saute until tender, ~3 minutes. Add spinach and saute until spinach cooks down and residual water evaporates, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and add pasta, hummus and half the reserved pasta water. Stir to evenly coat pasta in sauce. If sauce still seems thick, add remaining pasta water a bit at a time until sauce appears smooth and creamy. (The sauce will thicken as it cools.)
- Toss carrot salad with pine nuts and parsley. Serve pasta with carrot salad on the side. Enjoy!
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Reviews
This meal has 40 reviews
I used roasted garlic hummus to kick up the flavor, but I still found the pasta bland. The carrots were just strange, overly sweet and oddly flavored. I usually love harissa in everything, but not this. Pass.
This is a super easy, in your back pocket, healthy meal that tastes good! Added chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, tons of salt and pepper, fresh grated Parmesan, a smidge of red pepper flakes, and sweet smoked paprika. I think it would have been pretty boring without all of that. I used the full 10 oz (not 6) roasted red pepper hummus, and about a cup of pasta water. Even Erik loved it, and he was convinced it would be disgusting.
Great alternative to pasta sauce, and so easy!
I roasted the pepper, removed charred skin and diced as directed. The salad was very tasty.
Used siracha sauce. And added two garlic cloves to pasta. Used caramelised onion hommus which was very yum!
Subbed the red pepper for roasted butternut squash, cherry tomatoes and a green chile. Would definitely make again!