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Pink Pasta is here to brighten up mealtime! Tender spaghetti twirled with a creamy and vibrant sauce, makes a unique pasta dish that adds a serious pop of color to your plate. With a simple list of ingredients and just 20 minutes from start to finish, this pink pasta recipe is super easy to make, too.
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If you’re looking for a recipe for Valentine’s Day, this pink pasta made with beetroot is the perfect way to show the love to the whole family!
Nutrient-rich, hot-pink beets are the star of the show here, making a pink pasta sauce that’s as flavorful as it is colorful. The combination of sweet beets with savory ricotta and tangy Greek yogurt makes a velvety smooth pasta sauce that is so good! This easy pink pasta is perfect on its own for a lighter meal, or pair it with a protein and a simple salad for something more substantial.
This recipe was part of our monthly Cooking Challenge for February 2024!
Recipe At a Glance
Cuisine Inspiration: American
Primary Cooking Method: Stovetop
Dietary Info: Vegetarian
Key Flavor: Earthy and cheesy
Skill Level: Beginner
Summary
- Creamy and delicious: The flavors of earthy beets and creamy ricotta complement one another so well. Pink pasta will change the minds of declared beet-haters!
- Kid-friendly: Kids love this colorful pink pasta, plus, there are some hidden nutrients thanks to the beets.
- No food coloring: Wholesome beets are the sole source of that gorgeous pink hue.
- Simple and fast to make: This easy pink pasta recipe has a short list of ingredients and comes together in 20 minutes. Cook the pasta, puree the sauce in your blender, and mix it together–that’s it!
Ingredients to Make Pink Pasta
- Spaghetti: The creamy sauce is so good with a long, thin pasta like spaghetti where it can cling to every strand.
- Beets: The beets are steamed before being added to the blender and pureed. When selecting your beetroot, choose ones that are firm and heavy for their size.
- Ricotta cheese: I like whole milk ricotta cheese for its rich creaminess, but a part-skim ricotta will work, too.
- Greek yogurt: Use plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt.
- Shaved parmesan cheese: You can find pre-shaved Parmesan in the cheese section of most grocery stores, or you can shave your own with a vegetable peeler.
- Garlic powder: Such an easy way to add a punch of garlic flavor! You can substitute a small clove of fresh garlic; just be sure to mince it before adding it to the blender so that it blends completely with the sauce.
- Salt & pepper: Salt highlights the flavors and helps offset the sweetness of the beets, while freshly ground black pepper adds the tiniest bit of savory spiciness.
Popular Substitutions & Additions
- Use a different pasta: Try pink pasta sauce on another long, flat pasta shape like fettucini or bucatini, or on tubular pasta shapes such as penne, rigatoni, or paccheri.
- Increase the nutrients with a heartier pasta: Try whole wheat pasta, chickpea pasta, or lentil pasta for more protein and fiber.
- Make it gluten-free: Swap in your favorite gluten-free pasta such as brown rice pasta.
- Top with fresh herbs: A sprinkling of chopped parsley is so pretty on this colorful pink pasta. Fresh basil or dill are great too!
How to Make Pink Pasta
- Add the steamed beets along with the other pasta sauce ingredients to the blender.
- Puree until smooth and velvety.
- Pour sauce over cooked pasta.
- Toss until evenly distributed throughout the strands of pasta, adding additional pasta water as needed.
Tips for Making the Best Pink Pasta Recipe
- Steam your beets beforehand: Scrub beets clean with a vegetable brush and place them in a steamer basket set in a pot over boiling water. Cover with the lid and steam until fork-tender, 30-40 minutes. Once cooled, slip the peels off under running water.
- Salt your water before adding the pasta: Add a liberal amount of salt to your pasta water. This will help to flavor the pasta while it is cooking.
- Reserve some of the pasta water: Scoop out a cup or two of the pasta water before straining your pasta. This starchy water can be used to help the pink pasta sauce coat the spaghetti when you’re tossing it together.
- Don’t rinse cooked pasta: Rinsing your pasta will cool it down, and you want it hot, so it will warm the sauce when you toss it together. Also, rinsing pasta washes away the starches that help the sauce cling to each strand.
What to Serve With This Pink Pasta Recipe
How to Store & Reheat Pink Pasta
To store, first cool any leftover pasta to room temperature, then transfer it to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator. To reheat pink pasta, microwave on high in 30-second increments until warmed through. You can also reheat it on the stovetop. Place the pasta in a medium saucepan over low heat along with a splash of milk or water and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until warmed through.
How Long Will Pink Pasta Last in the Fridge?
Pink pasta will last about four days in the refrigerator.
Can I Freeze Pink Pasta with Beetroot?
You can freeze the sauce, but I don’t recommend freezing the pasta with the sauce because pasta can be mushy when frozen and reheated. To freeze a batch of sauce, transfer the sauce to a freezer bag and place in the freezer for up to three months. Transfer to the refrigerator to thaw overnight or for at least eight hours, then warm gently on the stove with a splash of water, milk, or pasta cooking water to help loosen the sauce. Then toss with freshly cooked pasta and serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You have a few options for making pink pasta in advance. It’s best when fresh, but you can make it ahead of time and store it in your refrigerator for up to four days before eating it. Add a splash of water or milk when reheating for creaminess. You can also make just the sauce ahead of time, storing it in the refrigerator, then adding it to freshly cooked pasta when you’re ready to eat. Steaming the beets in advance always makes for a fast and easy recipe as well.
Yes! You can use any other color of beet such as golden, purple, or striped Chioggia beets. It will taste similar, but the color will, of course, be different.
Yes! Roasted beets are delicious in pink pasta. You can even buy pre-roasted beets at some stores which makes it even more easy.
Vivid pink pasta is an incredibly easy yet impressive recipe that’ll wow the whole family! It takes just 20 minutes to make, uses a surprisingly short list of ingredients, and has the added nutrient boost of wholesome beets for a winning recipe that is gorgeous and tastes so good!
More Vegetarian Pasta Recipes:
- Vegetarian Italian Pasta Salad
- Cottage Cheese Alfredo Pasta
- Lemon Pasta
- Hidden Veggie Mac & Cheese
- Creamy Vegan Cashew Tomato Pasta
If you try this feel good Pink Pasta recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
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Pink Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 2 large steamed beets
- ½ cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water, drain and return the pasta to the pot, covered.
- Meanwhile, place the beets, ricotta, Greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small blender and blend until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the sauce on top of the cooked pasta and toss to combine. Add as much of the pasta water as needed for your desired consistency. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
This was really delicious and also visually stunning given the bright fuchsia coloration (I can imagine this sauce acting as a nice accent for other dishes – vegetarian especially-as well).
I should add that we didn’t have ricotta in house and substituted cottage cheese.
Also, we had some left over and the color held up in a tight container without loosing any umph.