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This creamy spinach fettuccine is a quick, easy pasta dinner that’s super adaptable and always delicious. Tender noodles get tossed in a light and silky spinach Alfredo sauce and then topped with garlicky toasted bread crumbs. Yum!
If you live in a house of pasta lovers like I do, check out my quick lemon chicken fettuccine and garlic butter pasta with spinach, too.
We scarfed down this AMAZING spinach fettuccine for dinner last week and it’s already on the menu again! I think that’s largely because a) it’s delicious and b) it’s the quickest pasta dinner, maybe ever. You simmer up a light and creamy Alfredo-style sauce loaded with leafy baby spinach, fresh garlic, and parmesan cheese, and then toss that with tender fettuccine. Top everything off with garlicky, crunchy breadcrumbs, and there you have it. It’s ready to go in 30 minutes or less.
Why I Love This Spinach Fettuccine Recipe
- Creamy and savory. I learned many moons ago that if you add enough garlic to a recipe, all delicious things fall into place. This easy fettuccine recipe has plenty of rich, garlicky flavor in the cream sauce and breadcrumb topping.
- Ready in 30 minutes. Who doesn’t love a speedy dinner on a weeknight? Any meal that I can have on the table in a half hour or less is automatically in my good books.
- Breadcrumb crunch. Crunchy breadcrumbs are such an underrated pasta topping. They’re not just for mac and cheese! I toasted up some chunky panko crumbs with garlic to sprinkle over this spinach fettuccine when serving. BIG success.
- Flexible. There are so many ways that you can adapt this creamy fettuccine with spinach. Change up the greens, add veggies, or top it with protein. I include some easy add-in ideas later on.
Ingredients You’ll Need
I think what I love most about quick pasta recipes like this spinach fettuccine and others, like my one-pot pasta and chicken broccoli pasta, is that they don’t require any fancy ingredients to turn out delicious! Just a few fridge and pantry ingredients, that’s it.
Check out my notes on what you’ll need for this recipe here, and scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list with the full details.
- Fettuccine – Technically, you can make this recipe with any pasta you’d like. Other good choices are linguine, spaghetti, and short-cut pasta shapes like rigatoni, penne shells, or bowtie pasta.
- Olive Oil – Avocado oil or butter also works.
- Onion and Garlic – Chopped yellow or white onion and freshly minced garlic.
- Vegetable Broth – You could also use low-sodium chicken stock or broth.
- Flour – I recommend all-purpose flour, to thicken the broth.
- Milk – Any milk you’d like, to make the sauce creamy, similar to a béchamel.
- Baby Spinach – You can also make this recipe with chopped regular spinach or kale.
- Seasonings – Garlic powder (or onion powder), salt, and pepper. You can replace the garlic powder in this recipe with an extra fresh garlic clove if you’d like.
- Parsley and Parmesan – Chopped parsley and freshly grated parmesan cheese or pecorino, to finish off the sauce.
- Breadcrumbs – I love the extra crunch of topping creamy pasta dishes with toasted seasoned breadcrumbs (like my ravioli lasagna). Panko has nice, big crumbs, but regular breadcrumbs will also work. I toast them with butter and a little garlic before sprinkling them over the pasta when serving.
How to Make Spinach Fettuccine
Ready to meet your next favorite weeknight pasta recipe? Follow these easy steps, and scroll a bit further down for easy variations and serving suggestions afterward.
- Cook the pasta. Start by boiling the fettuccine al dente following the directions on the package.
- Sauté. Meanwhile, sauté the onion and garlic in a skillet with oil or butter.
- Make the sauce. Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth, then add it to the skillet. Whisk in the milk. Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer while you wilt in the spinach leaves.
- Combine. Once the sauce thickens, give it a quick season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir in the fresh parsley. Lastly, take the pan off the heat and add the parmesan cheese.
- Toast the breadcrumbs. Get some minced garlic sautéeing with melted butter in a separate skillet. Stir in the breadcrumbs, and keep stirring while they lightly toast for a few minutes.
- Put it all together. Finally, add the cooked fettuccine to the sauce and toss to coat. Sprinkle the pasta with your freshly toasted breadcrumbs, and serve!
Easy Variations
This pasta is a great vegetarian meal, or I’ll top it with juicy baked chicken for a tasty chicken fettuccine with creamy spinach sauce. Or, I’ll toss in some shrimp scampi for an easy shrimp fettuccine. You can add just about any protein you’d like! Even juicy steak slices would go great here, as they do in my Alfredo pasta with steak. You can also change up this recipe with more easy add-ins:
- Veggies. Stir in sautéed or roasted mushrooms, cooked broccoli, diced carrots, or asparagus.
- Cheese. My favorites are crumbled feta and goat cheese.
- Spices. Sprinkle in crushed red pepper flakes, or try Cajun seasoning for a variation of Cajun pasta.
- Pesto. For a flavor boost, stir in a spoonful or two of parsley pesto or spinach pesto.
- Extras. Add in chopped pitted olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, or pine nuts.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this spinach fettuccine as-is or topped with your favorite protein (see above). I love my pasta dinners with a side of homemade garlic breadsticks or soft dinner rolls for mopping up the sauce that’s left over on the plate. Meanwhile, a fresh Mediterranean salad or La Scala chopped salad is a nice way to lighten up the meal. For something sweet afterward, I love this olive oil cake or these mini chocolate chip cookies!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Do your best to store any leftovers without the breadcrumb topping, otherwise the crumbs tend to get a bit soggy. Store this spinach fettuccine in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat. Warm leftovers in the microwave or a saucepan on the stovetop. I like to sprinkle the pasta with a little water or broth to loosen up the sauce and add a fresh sprinkle of toasted breadcrumbs before serving.
More Quick Pasta Recipes
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Spinach Fettuccine
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dry fettuccine pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup skim milk, you can also use 2% or whole milk
- 10 ounces baby spinach
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
FOR THE PANKO BREAD CRUMBS
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ cup panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Boil the pasta. Cook the fettuccine according to the directions on the box.
- Sauté. In the meantime, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.
- Make the cream sauce. In a small bowl whisk together vegetable broth and flour. Transfer the broth mixture to the pan and whisk in the milk; continue to whisk and bring to a boil.
- Add spinach. Reduce heat to medium and add spinach leaves. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently until the spinach is wilted and the sauce is thickened.
- Season the sauce. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and fresh parsley. Remove from heat.
- Put it all together. Stir in parmesan cheese, add the cooked fettuccine, and toss to combine. Set aside.
- Prepare the breadcrumb topping. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add panko bread crumbs to the skillet and continue to cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, or until lightly browned and toasted.
- Serve. Top your spinach fettuccine with the toasted bread crumbs and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
It was an easy recipe but not even close to enough sauce. It was fairly dry. I would double or triple her sauce part of it.