This super easy broccoli pasta recipe is a quick meal for a busy night! The veggies keep it healthy, and the garlic, lemon, and red pepper make it extra tasty, making it one of my favorite quick pasta dishes. Originally published December 9, 2015.
Table of Contents
- Easy pasta and broccoli boiled together!
- Ingredients for broccoli lemon pasta
- How to cook broccoli pasta
- One-pot pasta with broccoli substitutions and variations
- Storing, freezing, and reheating broccoli and pasta
- What to serve with broccoli pasta?
- Other easy pasta recipes you´ll love:
- Lemon Broccoli Pasta Recipe
You know when you are on the phone with someone and you have to climb stairs and pretend like you are not totally winded? I always fail miserably. I get almost to the top of the stairs sounding totally normal, and then suddenly I interrupt whatever they are telling me, (GASP) “Sorry, (deep breath), I’m climbing the (puff puff) stairs and I think I’m (wheeze) going to die.”
So a couple of weeks ago I decided that I need to start some kind of exercise regimen so that I don’t die from climbing stairs before I’m even 30.
So I did some yoga for the first time ever after some recommendations from my girl Sarah over at Broma Bakery. (She is all about the yoga. Check out them abs.) And I loved it! I did an hour and twenty minutes the first day and vowed to do it every day for the rest of my life. I told my whole family. “I’m a yoga person now! I love it!”
The next day I did an hour. The next day I did 45 minutes.
Last night my dad asked how the daily yoga was going. My brother chimed in, “I watched her do some yoga yesterday…for 45 seconds.”
45 minutes…45 seconds…who’s counting really?
And seriously who’s got time for yoga when there are Christmas cookies to be eaten?
I don’t know about you but all of my free time in December is dedicated to baking, which means I’m usually too tired to feed my family actual dinner. Ain’t nobody got time for extravagant dinners when there are presents to wrap and stockings to stuff and Christmas PJs to lounge in. (Let’s be real.)
That’s where this one-pot meal (with vegetables to boot) swoops into the rescue and keeps me from eating Christmas cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After all, if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything (Princess Bride anyone??).
Easy pasta and broccoli boiled together!
Yep, you read that right. None of this boil the pasta in one pot, boil the broccoli in another. Just throw it all in together. Perfectly al dente pasta and deliciously tender broccoli cooked together, tossed in a salty, lemony, garlicky, slightly spicy cheese sauce.
Oh, and it’s also ready in 20 minutes flat.
Does it get any better than that?
Featured Comment
“My three-year-old told me this was the best dinner ever. Thanks :)”
– Katie
Ingredients for broccoli lemon pasta
This one-pot broccoli lemon pasta is loaded with fresh and flavorful ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need. The full recipe can be found in the recipe card down below.
- water
- salt
- broccoli
- rotini pasta
- spinach
- butter
- lemon
- garlic
- crushed red pepper
- Parmesan
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
How to cook broccoli pasta
This is the best kind of recipe because it’s so basic that you can literally swap in whatever you have on hand. It’s just rotini, broccoli, spinach, and a simple lemon-butter-garlic sauce. No broccoli? Use asparagus! No rotini? Use spaghetti! No lemons? Use another acid like red wine vinegar (make sure you taste as you go!)
If you do use lemon though, I highly recommend zesting with a microplane grater (here’s the one I have). It will take you 30 seconds and amps up the flavor a ton. It’s my favorite kitchen tool!
This is a true one-pot recipe. Bring your salted water to a boil. Add the rotini and boil on high for 4 minutes. Then add the broccoli to the pasta pot, cover, and set a timer for 3 minutes, and boom! Perfectly cooked al dente pasta and broccoli.
Do you guys have these Analon pans? They are awesome. I took the top left picture so that you could see the part where it says “Metal Utensil Safe.” (And so you could see me taking the photo. HIII!!) How many pans have you ruined because you used a metal spoon on it? Soooo many. I love this!
One-pot pasta with broccoli substitutions and variations
- Use another pasta. Pretty much any pasta shape will work! Just make sure it requires around the same cooking time as the rotini would (about 7 minutes), so it cooks at the same rate as the broccoli.
- Add a protein. Bulk up the pasta with cooked chicken, chopped bacon, sausage, or even chickpeas to keep it vegetarian.
- Make it cheesier. Love cheesy pasta? Add more cheese! Feta or mozzarella would be delicious, but let your cheese-loving heart guide you.
- Add veggies. Give your meal even more color and flavor with zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, red onion, asparagus, you name it. These vegetables don’t do well boiling, so toss in some already cooked leftovers, or roast, saute, or grill before stirring them in with the parmesan.
- Make it creamy. Mix in a splash of heavy cream or half-and-half along with the lemon butter if you’re craving something a little more decadent.
Storing, freezing, and reheating broccoli and pasta
Leftover pasta with broccoli will last in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months, but keep in mind the texture won’t be quite the same.
To reheat, thaw in the fridge if frozen, then warm on low on the stove or in the microwave until heated through. Adding a splash of chicken or vegetable broth when heating will help preserve the texture. No mushy pasta!
What to serve with broccoli pasta?
This pasta and broccoli is a full meal on its own, but you can definitely add homemade bread or rolls (no one will complain, I promise) or serve a salad for even more veggies. . Here are a few of my favorite salads and breads you could serve with this recipe:
- Cheesy Bacon Ranch Puffs >> delicious and super easy to make
- Big Fat Crescent Rolls >> the best crescent rolls of your life
- One Hour French Bread >> one hour, I promise!!!!
- Easy Fluffy One Hour Dinner Rolls >> soft, pillowy, and full of buttery flavor
- The Best Garlic Butter Bread >> there is no stopping this garlic bread, it is the BEST recipe
- Grilled Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella Salad (Caprese Salad Recipe) >> the ultimate flavor punch
- My Favorite Green Goddess Salad >> this salad makes my heart sing in a way I didn’t even know was possible
Other easy pasta recipes you´ll love:
- Easy BLT Pasta Salad >> 30-minute no-brainer dish is perfect to throw together right before the potluck
- Brown Butter Gnocchi with Asparagus and Prosciutto >> sounds fancier than it is (30 minutes, tops)
- Best Chicken Alfredo Recipe >> if you’ve never had homemade chicken fettuccine alfredo, you haven’t lived
- Easy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe (30 minutes) >> stupid easy, beloved by all, and done in 30 minutes flat
- {Very Quick} Garlic Asparagus and Pasta with Lemon Cream >> you can’t ask for a quicker or more delicious meal than this
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Pasta (One-Pan) from Munchin’ with Maddie
- Easy Pasta Primavera from Splash of Taste
- Creamy Garlic Shells from Iowa Girl Eats
Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
Lemon Broccoli Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 & 1/2 pounds broccoli, fresh
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
- 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 3-4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup Parmesan, fresh, plus more to garnish
- olive oil, to garnish
- salt and pepper , to taste
- lemon wedges, fresh, to garnish
Instructions
- In a large skillet or pot, bring the salt and water to a boil.
- While you wait, prep your broccoli by trimming the stems and cutting the florets into similar sized pieces (I like mine bite-size.)
- Add the rotini and boil on high for 4 minutes. Add the broccoli, cover, and set a timer for 3 minutes (Leave the burner on high enough to keep a rolling boil).
- When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and drain the pasta using a lid or colander.
- Return to the pan. Stir in 3-4 cups fresh spinach.
- Sprinkle with lemon zest. Let it sit for a few minutes so the spinach wilts.
- Meanwhile, in a small skillet melt the 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. (I let mine get brown, because that’s just how I roll, but that’s not necessary).
- Add the minced garlic and crushed red pepper and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Turn off the heat and add 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Add the lemon butter to the pasta and stir.
- Stir in 1 cup fresh parmesan cheese. Add a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with more cheese, fresh lemon wedges, and eat hot!
This was absolutely delicious and like nothing I’ve had before! I doubled the lemon butter, took out the spinach, and used gluten free noodles. I was in heaven! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Doubling the butter is a good idea in pretty much any recipe, right? ;)
I love this pasta!!! Thank you for the recipe.
This looks great. My kids are all grown and gone, so I don’t have to worry about quick and easy any more! But I also used a lot of canned beans, even to add to pasta. They’re a great combination, and add fiber and protein.
I’m making this tonight! What are your thoughts about adding a tablespoon or 2 of nutritional yeast in place of the Parmesan? We have lactose intolerance in the fam
Hey Kelly! I’ve never experimented with nutritional yeast! Let me know how it goes!
This is delicious!! Super easy! I love that it contains lots of veggies and has great flavour!
Hey Melissa, I’m glad you liked the pasta! I love veggie heavy meals like this. Thanks for the comment!
Your recipes look very healthy and l keep kosher so l can use your recipes in my meal planning. Thanks
Question. Am I boiling the broccoli and pasta together at the same time
Yes, in step 3 you boil the pasta and then add the broccoli to the boiling water after a couple minutes.
Can I use frozen broccoli for this recipe?
Hi Savannah, I haven’t tried it but I think it would work great! You will have to boil it a bit longer.
This was very tasty, I did steam the broccoli and used olive oil instead of the butter (Doctors Order). I have made pasta salads before never with lemon though, at least I don’t think I did.
Yes, they say the memory is the first to go, I say the gut is…🍋
Good idea to steam the broccoli Bob! I’m glad you liked the pasta, thanks for the review!
I made this light recipe last night for supper. I used whole wheat rotini and it was delicious: otherwise I followed the recipe to a T.
love those whole wheat pastas they have now, such a great idea. Thanks Kirsten!
My family love this dish. Yummy hot or cold a real winner.
I make this exactly as written except I use vegan butter and no cheese. My husband and I love it so much. Thank you.
Oh good idea Brenda, I like the vegan butter tip. Thanks for your comment Brenda!
Can you use cheddar cheese
Hey Taryn, why not, I’m sure it would be good!
Found this receipe today and just cooked it for my lunch meal prep for the upcoming week. It was so delicious that I’m down one lunch for the week because I just needed to eat a bowl of it right away. Thanks for sharing this one!
Haha I feel like this is why hardcore meal prepping would never work for me. I would just eat it all right away. I’m glad you like it though! Thanks for commenting! Good luck saving the rest for lunches!
Oh wow is all I can say. My kids who weren’t hungry polished off 2 plate fulls each. Tasty easy and quick to make. Thank you
So happy to hear that Debra! It’s always so nice to find something the kids will like. Thanks for the review!
Delicious and super easy – thank you!