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💭 Why you’ll love this recipe
Convenient, comes together in 30 minutes: This is a super efficient meal that comes together in no time. Perfect for weeknight dinners. Nutrition packed and delicious: Broccoli has so many vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Lemon zest and cherry tomatoes add a zing! Great for make-ahead, keeps well in the fridge: I love making this pasta as a make-ahead meal for a quick weekday lunch I can heat up.
📋 Ingredients and notes
You’ll need long pasta, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice and zest, fresh basil, broccoli, garlic cloves, pine nuts and olive oil for this recipe. I also love adding some whipped ricotta, but that’s optional. Ingredients notes and variations below to mix it up every once in a while!
Notes and Variations
Roasted broccoli: I love adding roasted broccoli to this dish. You can also use roasted broccoli in your pesto! To do either of these, warm your oven to 400F and roast broccoli florets for 30 minutes. Use fresh or frozen broccoli: Both fresh and frozen broccoli work! For another great recipe, check out this cheesy broccoli cauliflower soup!Vegan vs. vegetarian: I love adding vegetarian parmesan or whipped ricotta (inspired by Half Baked Harvest) but, if you omit the cheese, the recipe is totally vegan!Nuts vs. nut-free: I like using pine nuts for a traditional pesto flavor, and top my pasta with some pine nuts too. You can substitute this with pistachios, walnuts, cashew nuts if you wish. To go nut-free, you can use pumpkin or sunflower seeds, roasted broccoli (instead of blanched) or just leave the nuts out and make the recipe as written.
📖 Step-by-step instructions
Prepare the broccoli
Preheat your oven to 400F. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and fill a mixing bowl with some ice cubes. While the water is boiling, rinse and break down your head of broccoli. Set aside a cup of broccoli florets and dump the rest on a baking sheet. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. You can totally roast the stalks as well! These are delicious. Add the cup of broccoli florets you set aside to the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds. Then transfer to the mixing bowl to stop cooking.
Cook the pasta
Allow the water to come back to a boil, add a pinch of salt, and then cook the pasta to package directions (mine was 8 minutes for al dente pasta).
Make the broccoli pesto
On a skillet, toast pine nuts on a medium flame for about 1-2 minutes until golden and toasty. Set aside two tablespoons for garnish. Add a cup of blanched broccoli florets and a cup of fresh basil, some garlic cloves, and half a cup of the pine nuts to a food processor and pulse to get a coarse mixture. Slowly add olive oil slowly through the chute to emulsify to a smooth (but somewhat chunky) consistency. Finally, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside. Check out my detailed broccoli pesto post for step-by-step photos!
Assemble the pasta
In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add a finely diced shallot and sauté for a minute. Then, add fresh lemon zest along with a teaspoon of minced garlic (roughly one clove) and sauté until fragrant (30 to 45 seconds). Drain your cooked pasta (reserving half a cup of pasta water) and add the pasta to the skillet. Then, add the broccoli pesto, turn the heat to low, and toss to coat the pasta (using pasta water as needed). Finally, add the roasted broccoli, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and the remaining toasted pine nuts. Drizzle with lemon juice. Your pasta is ready. If making whipped ricotta, just add a cup of whole milk ricotta to the same food processor along with a teaspoon of lemon zest and juice, and pulse until it’s creamy and whipped. Serve the pasta with a nice dollop of this whipped ricotta!
🍴 Serving and storage suggestions
I love making this pasta (minus the whipped ricotta) ahead of time. Usually, if making ahead, I’ll store the garnishes and the pasta separately so they don’t get all mushy. But you can also just throw them all in one airtight container and throw it in the fridge. It’ll last a couple of days! If you like this recipe, don’t forget to try out my other pasta recipes: If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 Recipe
