Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers
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If you enjoy simple and light pasta dishes, then you will love this Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers! Lemony, creamy, light… The red peppers give a delightful crunch and the beautiful bits of green spinach add such gorgeous color to the dish, it’s hard to resist!
Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers
My neighbor gave me several Meyer lemons from her mother’s lemon tree as a thank you for taking their family portrait last month. (So in addition to this Lemon Ricotta Pasta recipe, prepare yourself for a few more lemon recipes over the next couple of weeks.) I’ve never cooked with Meyer lemons before, so I don’t know if all Meyer lemons are like this or if these were especially good since they were homegrown and allowed to ripen fully before harvesting, but these lemons were fabulous- they were a bit hard to zest, but they had so much juice in a single lemon!
I really like light pasta dishes and the combination of the lemon and ricotta in this Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers dish was really good.
The pasta dish was simple to put together and tasted so fresh and light. I tossed this dish together for my hubby and me the day after my little missy’s birthday party. I fed the kids leftover hot dogs instead of the pasta for dinner; so I can’t say whether or not this would be a hit or miss with my kids, but if your kids like pasta, I’m sure they would like this one too.
Look how creamy the pasta looks! This was with only 2/3 cup of Ricotta and the pasta water, yum! (and so pretty with the bright red peppers and just barely wilted spinach.)
Suggested Add-ins:
Of course, if you don’t like red peppers or spinach, the creamy lemon ricotta pasta mixture would be perfect for any type of add-in. You could try:
- peas
- asparagus
- fresh zucchini
- snap peas
- cherry tomatoes
- tofu
- chicken
You get the idea, lol.
Recommended Pasta
I love the way the finished dish looked with the fettuccine noodles, but any type of pasta that holds a lot of sauce would work great. A few good examples are:
- Penne
- Gemelli
- Farfalle
- Fettuccine
Recipe tips:
Be sure to salt your pasta water according to the package directions and DONT skip the red pepper flakes. They really make this dish pop!
More lemon-based recipe you might enjoy:
- Microwave Blueberry Lemon Mug Cake for Two
- Lemon Mousse w/ Strawberries
- Lemon Cheesecake Pie Recipe
- Homemade Lemon Curd Recipe
- Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta
Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers
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Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers
- Prep Time: 3
- Cook Time: 17
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: main dish
- Method: skillet
Description
If you enjoy simple and light pasta dishes, then you will love this Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Spinach and Red Peppers!
Ingredients
- 12 oz fettuccine
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tbs fresh lemon juice (you might need more depending on what kind of lemon juice you are using, just give it a taste.)
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
- plenty of salt and crushed black pepper (to taste, of course)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper (increase to your taste level- this makes the dish pop!)
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups diced red bell pepper
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, using the recommended amount of salt in the water. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup pasta water.
- While pasta is cooking, in a separate bowl, thoroughly combine ricotta, lemon juice and rind, 1/4 teaspoon salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. (I listed 1/8 tsp of crushed red pepper, but don’t be shy, this dish is even better with a bit of a kick from the red pepper, so adjust according to your taste level ).
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and garlic, saute for 3 minutes.
- Add pasta, ricotta mixture and 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water to skillet. Stir until combined, adding additional pasta water as needed to achieve desired creaminess.
- Add Spinach, cook about 1 minute or until spinach wilts. Top with extra salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper if desired.
- Enjoy!
Keywords: pasta, skillet meal
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this was the perfect recipe to use up my leftover ricotta, thanks.
★★★★★
This was so good!
★★★★★
Going to make this tonight. I have learned that if you use a little more jalapeño it doesn’t have to be a scorcher, but it lends to the flavor. I will let you know how it turns out!
Mmm this was so good! I added shrimp to this dish too – super yummy!
How many people does this recipe feed?
The box of fettuccine says 6 servings, (2 oz each) which is about 1 cup of pasta cooked. So I guess it depends on how much pasta you want… 6 1 cup servings or 4 1.5 cup servings.
~Jamie
I was looking for a recipe with ricotta because I had some extra after making dinner the other night. I came across your blog and this recipe – it was absolutely perfect for tonight! I had all of the ingredients in my fridge! Thank you, I love what you're doing.
Thank you!
~Jamie
I made this tonight and it was so wonderfully delicious =) Marcy @ day2day SuperMom
I'm so glad you liked it!
I can't wait to taste your awesome Lemon Ricotta Pasta, we will really enjoy this dish. Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope you have a great weekend!
Miz Helen
Yum. I love pretty much everything in this! Pinning.
OHMYGOSH this looks TO. DIE. FOR. I saw it featured at the Party Bunch so congrats on that and THANK YOU for sharing such a yummy recipe! Pin'd, sharing and making ASAP =) Marcy @ day2day Supermom
Visiting from 52 Mantels – love the freshness and simplicity of this meal. Beautiful!
I saw this on Time to Sparkle and had to click over to check it out. These are some of my favorite flavors -this pasta looks great!
Oh my goodness that looks and sounds SO delicious!
ohhhh yummm i need some. so tempting though.
stopped by from inspiration monday .
added you in G+ and Pinterest
This sounds really good and it's pinned to make in the near future! I am SOOOOOO envious that you know someone whose mother has a lemon tree. We are in New England, where it's too cold in the winter to have trees like that in our yards. But, we have cranberry bogs which the warmer climates do not have, so I guess we all have to give up something!
This looks delicious and so refreshing! I really love pasta dishes. Pinning it now!
This looks amazing and involves all my favorite food!
YUM! Pasta pretty much my weakness and this looks to die for!! The only thing my pantry is missing right now is ricotta cheese…I think I might need to go pick some up!!
Oh this looks so so good! Sounds so flavorful!
I'm not going to lie–I usually breeze right over the food related posts in my bloglovin app but this looks absolutely delicious!!! Thanks for sharing it 🙂