Looking for a quick dinner recipe? Here’s a 20-minute broccoli pasta recipe that your family will love. This easy-to-make, super-tasty pasta fix is perfect for busy weekdays.
For a quick vegetarian weeknight dinner, try pasta e piselli (pasta with peas). Your family will love it.
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This broccoli pasta is your quick-fix emergency dinner that takes 20 minutes with multitasking. You’ll need basic everyday ingredients and 20 minutes on your clock to get dinner to the table!
Ingredients
Step-by-step Instructions
Have two pots on the stove. One large pot with enough water to cook pasta and a second pot with a steamer with little water. Bring water to boil in both pots on high heat.
Step 1: Cut broccoli into small, bite-size florets. Steam the broccoli florets for 2-3 minutes. Remove the broccoli from the steamer before it is cooked through. Alternatively, you can blanch the broccoli in boiling water.
Step 2: Salt a pot of boiling water. Cook pasta according to the packet instructions. Tip: Cook pasta al-dente. Drain the pasta 2-3 minutes before the time mentioned in the packet. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water.
Step 3: Melt butter in a large pot. Add minced garlic, onion powder, red chili flakes, salt, and ground pepper to taste.
Step 4: Saute for 2 minutes with constant stirring.
Step 5: Add the cream to the pot, and stir well.
Step 6: Pour a little (start with 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup) of pasta water into the sauce.
Step 7: Stir until the sauce comes together. Do not cook the sauce for too long or on high heat.
Step 8: Cook until just heated. Turn off the heat.
Step 9: Make the pasta dressing by adding olive oil, a little salt and cracked pepper, dried herbs, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a jar with a lid.
Step 10: Cover the lid, and shake vigorously.
Step 11: While sauce is still hot, add cooked pasta steamed broccoli, pasta dressing, and grated cheese. Stir everything together.
Step 12: Add pasta water as needed to bring the dish together. Serve immediately.
Helpful Tips
- Chop broccoli into small pieces so it cooks fast and easy to eat.
- Adjust the red pepper flakes quantity according to your heat tolerance levels.
- Parmesan cheese (freshly grated) and cheddar-mozzarella cheese (freshly grated from the block) taste great. Parmesan cheese adds umami savory flavor and mozzarella-cheddar cheese that melts well adds rich taste to broccoli pasta dish. You can use any cheese that melts well – white cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss cheese, or Monterey Jack will work.
- Pasta dressing does not overpower the dish with a lemony-tang flavor. It’s not like the regular lemon broccoli pasta, dressing adds a subtle tang to the dish which is amazing.
Recipe FAQs
For this pasta dish, you have to cook broccoli to help keep broccoli crispier briefly. Do not overcook broccoli.
Steam – you’ll need no more than 3 minutes to steam broccoli in a steamer.
Blanch – add small broccoli florets to boiling water and blanch briefly for 2 minutes.
Roast in oven – roast in a preheated oven at 400°F for 20 minutes or until it begins to brown.
Yes, you can. Thaw first, drain excess water, and use.
Yes, you can use any type of pasta you have on hand. Short pasta like penne, rotini, macaroni (or elbow pasta), and ziti will work.
The consistency of the diary (heavy cream) is slightly altered when you freeze and reheat. Having said that yes, you can freeze. Hold the cheese to the added to the recipe if you freezing. Cook everything else according to the recipe, stir everything together (except cheese), and freeze.
To reheat frozen pasta, thaw in refrigerator first then reheat in microwave.
I prefer to store broccoli pasta refrigerator. It stays good for 3 days.
Other Favorite Pasta Dinner Recipes
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20 Minutes Broccoli Pasta
Ingredients
- 12 oz. pasta
- 2 heads broccoli about 4 cups
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoon red chili flakes adjust quantity according to your heat tolerance level
- 2 teaspoon mixed herbs
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup cream
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 1 cup cheese that melts cheddar, mozzarella
Instructions
- Have two pots on stove. One large pot with enough water to cook pasta and second pot a steamer with little water. Bring water to boil on both pots on high heat.
- Salt boiling water in pasta, throw in pasta to cook in boiling water as per packed instructions.TIP: always remove pasta 2-3 minutes before the mentioned time in your packet. Cook pasta al-dente always. Pasta continues to cook afterwards plus we will be stirring it in sauce.
- While pasta cooks, quickly chop broccoli head. Cut broccoli into small bite size florets so it’s easy to eat.
- Make the pasta dressing by adding olive oil, little salt and cracked pepper, dried herbs, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest and lemon juice to a jar with lid. Cover lid, shake vigorously.
- Steam broccoli florets for 2-3 minutes. Remove broccoli from steamer before it get cooked through. Alternatively you can also blanch broccoli in boiling water.Pro-Tip: reserve about 1 cup of pasta water. This water will be added in the end, it brings the dish together making it creamy.
- Drain al-dente pasta, keep aside.
- Melt butter in a large pot.
- Saute minced garlic for 2 minutes with constant stirring.
- Add onion powder, red chili flakes, salt and ground pepper to taste, stir well.
- Add the cream along with ¼ cup of pasta water reserved. Stir everything together. Do not boil the cream mix, cook until just heated.
- Turn off heat.
- While sauce is still hot, add cooked pasta steamed broccoli, pasta dressing and grated cheese.
- Stir everything together.
- Add pasta water as needed to bring the dish together.
- Note: looking at the photo it’s hard to believe this dish is creamy and cheesy! Trust me, it’s creamy. You won’t be disappointed. I took for every to shoot the pics one after another. And the sauce kept drying. Too much distraction from the family.
- Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Chop broccoli into small pieces so it cooks fast and easy to eat.
- Adjust red pepper flakes quantity according to your heat tolerance levels.
- A combination of Parmesan cheese (freshly grated) and cheddar -mozzarella cheese (freshly grated from the block) tastes great. Parmesan cheese adds umami savory flavor and mozzarella-cheddar cheese that melts well adds rich taste to broccoli pasta dish. You can use any cheese that melts well – white cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss cheese, Monterey Jack will work.
- Pasta dressing does not overpower the dish with lemony-tang flavor. It’s not like the regular lemon broccoli pasta, dressing adds subtle tang to the dish which is amazing.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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Jyothi Rajesh is the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail. She lives in Bangalore, India, and is the mom of two beautiful kids. Her passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. She’s been blogging since 2007 and many of her recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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