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Creamy broccoli pasta is a delicious and easy-to-make dish that combines al-dente pasta with tender broccoli and a rich, creamy mascarpone-parmesan sauce. This recipe is perfect for busy weeknights or when you’re craving a comforting, warming meal.
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Creamy Broccoli Pasta
- Tips & FAQs
- Recipe
- Check out these other great recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you like Alfredo sauce and broccoli seasoned with minced fresh garlic, then this is the perfect weeknight recipe for you! The addition of the mascarpone cheese makes this dish creamy along with the half & half, so you won’t need heavy cream at all! Sprinkling in parmesan cheese adds a nutty, alfredo-like taste and acts as a thickener for the sauce, since half & half is light on its own and doesn’t thicken up as fast as heavy cream. This dish is packed with broccoli, so rest assured you and your family will be getting your greens in for the day. This recipe is perfect for those on a busy schedule (like me). It’s simple, comes together within 30 minutes, and requires no special kitchen techniques. It’s also versatile, so you can customize this vegetarian pasta by adding different veggies or even a protein. Grilled chicken or shrimp are wonderful suggestions.
Ingredients for Creamy Broccoli Pasta
(Full ingredient amounts and complete instructions are available in the recipe card down below).
- Rotini Pasta: Any short cut pasta will work. You can use medium shells, cavatappi, or rigatoni.
- Fresh or Frozen Broccoli: Fresh or frozen both work in this recipe. Both can be boiled in the water with the pasta, however the frozen broccoli will need to go in about 3 minutes before the pasta is done. You will need to bring it back to a boil since the cold will cool the pasta water down and slow down the cooking.
- Garlic: What’s a pasta recipe without garlic? A boring one! I wouldn’t recommend using jarred garlic, only because it can sometimes have a bitter taste. Mincing fresh garlic is always and will be my preferred method.
- Shallot: I love the flavor that shallot adds to dishes. You can choose to substitute shallots for yellow or brown onions if you would like.
- Unsalted Butter: Always use unsalted butter in cooking, unless the recipe states otherwise. It helps control the salt content of the recipe and how much is added.
- Half & Half: Not too rich, but not too light. It’s the perfect balance of cream. You can choose to substitute for heavy cream; it will just make the dish a bit richer and you will need to lower the amount of parmesan cheese to keep it from being too thick.
- Low Sodium Vegetable Stock or Broth: This adds a bit of a flavor to the dish. You can use chicken stock if that’s what you have on hand, but for the sake of making this dish vegetarian, I opted in for vegetable stock.
- Mascarpone Cheese: An Italian soft cheese that’s similar to cream cheese, however, it is different. It uses a base of whole cream rather than milk. Like cream cheese, it is a fresh cheese that is not aged before it is eaten. This cheese has a mildly sweet, almost nutty flavor with a fresh buttery character.
- Grated Parmesan Cheese: The second cheese used to make this sauce cheesy. It acts like a thickener in a way.
- Salt, Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Onion Powder, Red Pepper Flakes: The seasonings used for this pasta. The pepper flakes are completely optional if you don’t like spice.
Tips & FAQs
- Storage: Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat this in the microwave, just be sure to add a little bit of water or milk to loosen it up a bit. You can also reheat this in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat.
- I do not recommend freezing this. The sauce will “break” apart.
- Variations:
- Add a protein such as grilled chicken or shrimp.
- Swap out the vegetable stock for chicken stock if that’s what you currently have on hand.
- Substitute the half & half for heavy cream. It will thicken up faster, and also make the sauce richer. You can also opt in for regular milk or even dairy-free milk then whisk in flour or cornstarch before adding it to the pan.
- Add fresh lemon juice to the stock before adding in the half & half for a creamy lemon sauce. Do not add it after the half & half, or the cream will start to curdle, and will definitely end up thin.
- Broccoli cooking time will depend on how big you cut the pieces. I recommend chopping them into bite size pieces so they cook evenly and quickly. If you choose to use frozen broccoli cuts, then just cook them with the pasta until they are defrosted and bright green.
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Recipe
Creamy Broccoli Pasta
Ingredients
- 16 oz rotini (any type of short pasta)
- 4-5 cups frozen cut broccoli, or fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 medium shallot, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or more
- 2 cups half & half
- 6 oz mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring to boil a pot of salted water. Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente
- Add the frozen broccoli in 3 minutes before the pasta is al-dente. You will need to bring the heat back up since it will lower the water temperature. If using fresh broccoli: add in the broccoli about 6 minutes before the pasta is al-dente. Taste the broccoli every minute to ensure it’s tender, but not mushy.
- Drain the pasta and broccoli, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots & garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Pour in the vegetable stock. Season with salt & pepper to your preference, Italian seasoning, onion powder, and red pepper flakes, if using. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add the half & half, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t overboil. Stir in the mascarpone cheese until melted through. Whisk in the parmesan cheese. Season with salt & pepper if needed.
- Simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat.
- Add in pasta & broccoli, and toss to coat. Add the pasta water if needed if the sauce is too thick.
Notes
Storage: Keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat this in the microwave, just be sure to add a little bit of water or milk to loosen it up a bit. You can also reheat this in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat.
- I do not recommend freezing this. The sauce will “break” apart.
Variations:
- Add a protein such as grilled chicken or shrimp.
- Swap out the vegetable stock for chicken stock if that’s what you currently have on hand.
- Substitute the half & half for heavy cream. It will thicken up faster and also make the sauce richer. You can also opt in for regular milk or even dairy-free milk then whisk in flour or cornstarch before adding it to the pan.
- Add fresh lemon juice to the stock before adding in the half & half for a creamy lemon sauce. Do not add it after the half & half, or the cream will start to curdle, and will definitely end up thin.
Broccoli cooking time will depend on how big you cut the pieces. I recommend chopping them into bite-size pieces so they cook evenly and quickly. If you choose to use frozen broccoli cuts, then just cook them with the pasta until they are defrosted and bright green.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
630.82Fat (grams)
31.55 gSat. Fat (grams)
18.84 gCarbs (grams)
67.89 gFiber (grams)
4.51 gSugar (grams)
6.91 gProtein (grams)
19.1 gSodium (milligrams)
351.37 mgCholesterol (grams)
79.1 mgThe nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and the brands of ingredients used.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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