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
Made this for my mommy who was visiting for Mother’s Day! DE-LICIOUS! We baked 1 1/2 chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper and a garlic and herb seasoning (from Sam’s Club) and then diced it up and added it in with the spinach and cheeses before baking… it was so GOOD… like Olive Garden good! Served along with salad and rolls, the perfect Mother’s Day meal! THANKS again for ANOTHER yummy EASY meal!
Made it. Loved it.
Got the cookbook for myself for Mother’s Day!
🙂
I have never posted a comment but every recipe that I have made has been awesome!! I never worry if it will be good as I know that it will!! This was another winner and I will make it again. Honestly I was worried about the lemon,thought that it might be too overpowering but it was perfect in this dish. Thought maybe I would try it with just penne next time. Thanks!
I just had to tell you that I was sitting here about an hour ago, unsure of what I was cooking for dinner. Then I remembered this blog and that I picked up some of this pasta. I didn’t have any spinach but I just grilled up some chicken and asparagus for the side. Yum! It was a hit. Thanks! I love that your recipes are super yummy and can almost always be flexible if I’m missing something.
I made this for dinner the other night and posted it on my blog. I linked it back to you guys. I love everything I make from your recipes and so far, not one has been even remotely so so. Keep making such wonderful dishes, please.
Sincerely,
I made this for dinner this last week and we loved it. I used a couple tbls of butter since I had pre-cooked bacon. I also added a chicken breast, thinly sliced, and pan seared with garlic salt. It was wonderful and oh so easy.
LOVED this! Husband LOVED this too!! He had wide eyes all through dinner and kept asking, “what’s this called??!” Thank you!!!
i have a question about spinach – fresh spinach can be so expensive and frozen is a lot more reasonable, however i HATE defrosting spinach because it seems like the water NEVER comes out!! i squeeze and squeeze and there’s always more, and then it’s chopped so small that it goes through the strainer holes and I lose half of it haha. do you know of any good methods for defrosting spinach? I definitely prefer fresh because I think it tastes better and is a lot easier so my second question is can you freeze bagged spinach, because mine usually goes bad before I can use it all
Oh my…..as I sit here, based on aroma alone (and perhaps a lick off the spoon of the leftover sauce) I am resisting the temptation of eating the entire casserole dish, before my little ones wake up! Thank you for this recipe, I already love it and I haven’t even taken a bite!
I was skeptical that it was on this was on the healthy side, but I plugged it into my WW recipe builder and it only comes out to 5 points with 8 servings. Tomorrow night it is!
Tortellini and Lemon? What a combination! This is a recipe our whole family would love – we have to try it.
This looks AMAZING! Will definitely put it on my list for next week!
Do you think it would work ok with round ravioli?? I have raviolis that I have been wondering what to do with them…. hmmmmmm…. any opinions?
Jamie- ya, I think it would be good!
Jamie – did you try it with ravioli? I think I’m going to try it tonight with the ravioli because that’s what I have on hand.
Can’t WAIT to try this. Easy and delicious – right up my alley! Thank you!
I made this last night and my husband, who does not like cream-based pasta, could not stop talking about it. He had a second helping at dinner and ate the leftovers for lunch today. We loved it so much that we’re making it on Sunday for mother’s day at my parents house. Thanks for the awesome recipe! And for those of you who weren’t sure about the lemon – that is the best part!
Wow! This looks incredible. I love the bunch of spinach in there and the bright lemon flavors. I cannot wait to give this a try! Thanks!
hmmmm we have a big bag of spinach in the fridge… i think that is a good sign to make this!
oh my goodness, how good does this look!! I’m so hungry now!
Yum! I made this for dinner tonight. You’ve really done it again, Sara. Thanks a million!
I wonder if it’s a coincidence that our Super Target was out of this particular tortellini this past week. 🙂
lemon is my absolute favorite flavor, when it comes to yummy, succulent dishes. i can’t wait to try this (although I’m going to have to go to the store for ALL the ingredients.) I just tried a Greek lemon soup recipe recently, and it really was to die for. thanks for sharing!
I made this for dinner last week and couldn’t believe that ALL 7 of us LOVED IT!!! My husband had his heated up later…since he didn’t get home till super late that night…and he still LOVED IT!!! In his words, “THIS IS A KEEPER!!!”
Thanks for all the yummy recipes!!! 🙂
Any good ideas for left over hard boiled eggs???
I made this last week and froze it. We had it for dinner last night and it was delicious! I added some cooked, shredded chicken, and used the fresh tortellini that you only have to cook for like 6 minutes. Turned out great – my husband gave it an 8/10 – and he is a tough critic! Thanks for a great and extremely easy dinner idea!
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! I’m just coming off of finals week and guess I’m still a bit frazzled as I was rushing around like a mad woman trying to pull this together (I didn’t think ahead and pull the ingredients out before I started cooking). I had the pasta boiling too high and the sauce not high enough but once I finally got those under control, it was a breeze to make. It smells and tastes divine! I will be making this recipe again.
I just made this and it was delicious! The lemon and the red pepper flakes really add something. I had a huge bag of spinach and some garlic from my food co-op bag for this past week that I was trying to dwindle down. I used reduced fat cheeses, skim milk and turkey bacon and it was just as creamy and tasty as it would have been with the full fat ingredients(IMO). Thanks for a great recipe! I’m going to keep this one on file for sure.
Wonderful! Just made this for lunch and the whole family loved it. The lemon is a must, it’s what puts this recipe over the top. I could only find the cheese tortellini ( like Carissa, commentor 64, I had to buy two bags and it was rather pricey; will check Sam’s Club) and it worked great. And I hate to say it, but I may even prefer this dish without the bacon (gasp!). Thanks, can’t wait to use this recipe to impress my vegetarian friends.
This made for a fabulous dinner tonight. Even our guests loved it and wanted to know where the recipe came from. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I can find the pasta, but I can’t find it in 12 oz size, only in 8 oz. Does it come in bigger bags and I’m just not seeing it? Or can I just use any dried tortellini? It’s too expensive for me to buy 2 bags of the 8 oz stuff! But I really want to make it and have everything else for it!
The only place I could find the 12 oz. bag was Vons. I looked and looked, didn’t want to pay for two small bags either!
I kept the bacon, but also added some chopped leftover ham from Easter and it was fantastic! My store didn’t have dried tortellini so I used some from the refrigerator section. I used fresh basil since I have a basil plant and am always looking for excuses to use it. Thanks so much for the recipe – yum.
I just ate this for dinner, yummy! I added some artichokes and it was divine!