People are always asking us how we come up with recipes, and also what we cook when we don’t really have a plan, or we’re short on time. We’ll be the first to admit that we’re not above drive-throughs, cold cereal, and frozen meals. But sometimes you just want a good, hearty, home-cooked meal. This is a great example of a really good dinner, that was created by simple ingredients I already had around my kitchen. I’ve said over and over that the trick to being able to whip up quick, yet delicious meals in a pinch is keeping a well-stocked pantry. One of the things I always have around is dried pasta, in all shapes and sizes. I love quick cooking tortellini that can be a great base to so many quick dinners- and there’s something fun about little pouches of cheese! I also almost always have a giant package of fresh spinach from Costco in my fridge, and it’s so cheap that I don’t hesitate buying it in such large quantities. After a week or so I’m always looking for ways to use it up quick before it goes bad.
This is an awesome little pasta bake and the great thing is that it looks fancy and tastes decadent, but it’s super simple to throw together (shhh…no one has to know!) And although it’s rich and creamy and cheesy, it’s also fairly healthy. I love dinners that I can throw together during my baby’s nap-time and pop in the fridge to have ready at dinner time when things get crazy.
Let’s cook.
Obviously you’ll need tortellini! You can find dried tortellini in the regular pasta aisle- a great thing to have in your pantry.
You don’t need to have any jarred sauce on hand for this dish- the sauce is SO good and you’ll be amazed how quick and easy it is. Start by cooking up a few strips of bacon (or pancetta would be great too) until crisp. It only takes a little bit for good flavor throughout the dish.
After you take the bacon out of the pan, you’re going to make a simple roux– but instead of butter, we’ll take advantage of the fat we’ve already got right there in the pan! You’ll just use a little bit, and discard the rest of the grease. I usually just take a wad of paper towels and soak it right up and toss it in the trash. (Or save it in a jar if you’re a save-the-bacon-grease type of person)
In the little bit of bacon grease in the pan, toss in some minced garlic. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again- the smell of fresh garlic sauteing in bacon drippings is one of the most intoxicating smells in the world. Glade needs to market that one. Add a little flour and a little milk (non-fat is fine) and you’ve got yourself a base to a nice creamy sauce.
We’ll flavor it up with salt and pepper of course, a little basil, and then some fresh lemon zest, lemon juice, and some red pepper flakes. The lemon is so bright and so fresh, it adds the perfect flavor to this creamy, savory dish. And with the red pepper flakes, you can add just a little, for flavor and no heat- or a lot, for flavor and a nice kick. Up to you. It’s like a choose your own adventure book (remember those??) I added 1/4 teaspoon and it wasn’t spicy at all. Really. I promise.
By now those tortellini are done cooking (they only take about 10 minutes) so drain those and then place them back in the pot they came out of.
When our recipes call for “loosely packed spinach” this is what we mean. Just set the spinach in the measuring cup gently and don’t pack it down.
And when we say “roughly chopped” it just looks like this- no need to be meticulous, just run a knife through it real quick.
The tortellini is back in the pot and now we’ll toss in the spinach and the bacon (I reserve about 1 tablespoon of the bacon to put on top at the end)
We’ll also add a little cheese, both Parmesan and Mozarella, for flavor and creamy-melty-cheesy-goodness. If you wanted to bulk up the meal and add some protein, some chopped grilled chicken would be fantastic ion there too!
Stir in the sauce and pop it all in a baking dish with a little more cheese and bacon on top. At this point it can be covered in foil and go in the fridge for later, or right into the oven.
It bakes up in 20-30 minutes, and while it’s in the hot oven the flavors have a party and come out tasting even better than when they started. Amazing how that happens!
Serve it as a one dish dinner with a piece of crusty french bread on the side, or as a side to chicken or steak. Makes a great addition to a pot-luck too. With the fun tortellini and the yummy cheesy sauce, my kids said NOTHING about the fact that there was spinach in there. Plus one for team Mom!
Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce
Recipe by Our Best Bites
12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)
4 oz bacon or pancetta, (about 4 strips bacon)*
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.
Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain. Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.
While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce. (Note: I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes. If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) . Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.
* For a vegetarian meal, omit bacon.
Serves 4-6
Questions & Reviews
I made this tonight, and it was delicious. It did take me a bit longer than I expected, but it was SO worth it. I had never tried the boxed tortellinis before, so that’s a nice discovery. I’m vegetarian, and I substituted sun-dried tomatoes for the bacon. I’m going to make this again next week when my in-laws are visiting!
I just made this for dinner and WOW it’s a great recipe! My family lovvvvvved it! Putting this in my permanent recipe file. Thx
Where can I get this dried tortellini? I only ever see the Bertoli kind in the refridgerator section.
I found mine in the dry pasta aisle of Walmart (and it was even the right brand, Barilla). I lucked out because the stores where I live don’t usually carry such things and there were 3 bags on the shelf.
Made this tonight. It was a huge hit! My extremely picky eater 7 year old threw a fuss about having to try any. I only gave him 2 tortellinis. Well, pretty soon he was dishing up some more of it for himself – twice!! Thanks for a “keeper!”
I made this last night for my family, and it isn’t the first of your recipes I have re-created! Everyone LOVED it. My husband took the leftovers for lunch today, and he called me just to tell me again how amazing it was. And his grand idea was to add sun-dried tomatoes to the mix next time. I think this is one of our new favorites. Thank you so much for yet another incredible and easy recipe!!
This looks divine. I can’t wait to try it. And just so you know – my mom gave each of her daughters an early Mother’s Day gift – your cookbook! (There are five daughters – you should have heard the squeals and exclamations of delight – woo hoo!). Every time we have family dinner with all my siblings, spouses, etc., there’s at least OBB recipe on the table now – not to mention at our own homes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I always have bags of frozen tortellinis but I didn’t even think to check for boxed tortellinis! I love them though (tortellinis, that is) and this looks very tasty!
My book club does a recipe exchange and I am sending this one out to share! Looks great, and a perfect weeknight dinner. Bummer, I live near Seattle but will be in Utah in June…when you’ll be here for signing books.
Wow! My husband was blown away and he’s not usually a tortellini guy, but he loved this. He kept saying it tasted like we were at a restaurant. Too bad we weren’t. Hey, I’m all for family dinner, but I’ve got five boys ranging from 10 to 1. Boys 7 & 6 were fighting during dinner. Anyway, this was a HUGE hit, literally!
I made this tonight and it was De-Lic-Ious! My 2 year old even asked for seconds (which has not happened in weeks)!! Thanks! : )
My kids refuse to eat tortilini, but I decided to try it anyways….low and behold, they all gobbeled this up!!! I used turkey bacon instead so there was no greese for the sauce, so I added a small bit of butter to saute the garlic in. This was super super yummy! Thanks!
I did the same…used Turkey Bacon and frozen tortellini (couldn’t find the other) and it was great!
I just made this recipe! It’s soooo good. Definitely going to be making it again!
I frequently click on your blog if I’m in a rut and need dinner ideas. I’m so glad I pulled it up today. I made this for dinner and will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
This looks amazing…sadly, I have yet to discover gluten free tortellini. Maybe in a few years…
I made this last night! I doubled the garlic, added mushrooms (a great addition), forgot the lemon juice (oops), used only mozzarella cheese, and used tricolor/three cheese tortellini. My hubby raved about it (he even called my mom to thank her for raising me to be a good cook.) It was delicious, fast (30 minutes start to table!), and I didn’t have to measure anything! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
I so love the big cheap bag of spinach at Costco! One tip to make it last longer is to put a paper towel in it once you open it, I just fold it in quarters and slide it in on the side of the bag. I think it’s supposed to just suck up extra moisture,I know mine lasts so much longer with it. I keep bacon in a ziploc in my freezer for this kind of recipe too. You can slice off the pieces even when it’s frozen and it works perfectly for when you need just a little for for the flavor. Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
This is a great recipe, but I wasn’t crazy about the lemon in it. Next time, I’ll just stick with the cheesey goodness and add a little more red pepper flakes.
We had this for dinner last night and it was awesome! I didn’t have a lemon, so just left that out. I used a package of frozen tortellini and just added them to the rest of the ingredients while the tortellini was still frozen. It was delicious!! Thank you 🙂
I have a silly question on “kosher” salt. Many of your recipes call for it– and we have regular salt and sea salt, but not KOSHER– so I went to look for it and all I found was COARSE kosher salt…. so do you use that? Do you grind it up first? Did I look in the wrong place? Sorry to be dumb:) I bought the cookbook and am LOVING making so many things!! Thank you!!
Noe- that’s exactly what you want, the box looks like this:
http://www.mortonsalt.com/products/foodsalts/Coarse_kosher.htm
And no, you don’t grind it or anything. Check out this post for more info!
https://ourbestbites.com/2010/01/all-about-salt/
I have everything but the lemon, do you think it would still be good without it?
Marcy, it will definitely still be good- you’ll just miss that flavor component. You might want to add a little more basil or a dash of oregano instead, just too add a little more flavor in place of it.
This looks fantastic – I can’t wait to try it. I love bacon, but I’m wondering if I could use my leftover ham from Easter instead…
I made this for dinner last night and it was fabulous. The crushed red pepper gave it the perfect kick and the lemon made me feel somehow less guilty about the bacon and cheese. It really brightens the dish:)
This looks great! I’ve never seen that pasta, but I’m definitely going to be looking for it today when I go to the store.
This looks divine. I know I could get my kids to eat it, not so sure about my husband. 😉
Opa! That looks so good! I’ve been needing a good recipe for the lemon in our fridge. Thanks! I can’t wait to try this one!
yum yum yum! i made it tonight and added 2 poached chicken breasts and it was a HIT! all 4 of my kids, even the baby and even the pickiest, gobbled it up! thanks!
Pleasing picky eaters is the best compliment! So glad your family enjoyed it!
Any AZ book signings in the works?
Not at this point Michelle- but maybe in the future! We’ll actually be in AZ next month but the trip is looking too busy to squeeze in a signing!
I second this by the way!! Please sign in AZ!
This sounds absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much!
BTW, I bought your cookbook and I love it. It’s beautiful!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a HUGE hit! When all three of my kids will eat all of it I know it’s a must make again recipe! 🙂 My grocery store didn’t have the barilla brand of the spinach and cheese tortellini so I used a different brand and the tortellini’s were green. Even though the color wasn’t as pretty my kids still ate it all.
Next time I’m going to try adding grilled chicken to it. YUM!
I think I’ll try adding grilled chicken some time too. I’m so glad your family loved it!
Oh my, I will definitely be making this. I’m just not sure I want to share it! Thank you!