Cheesy Florentine Pasta

Cheesy Florentine Pasta with an easy creamy Parmesan sauce, fresh spinach and roasted bell peppers. The perfect weeknight meal that’s also great as a cold lunch option!

 Cheesy Florentine Pasta

Cheesy easy pastas are how we survive the week around here when we’re out of proteins to cook with. I have a lot of friends who intentionally make vegetarian dinners on a weekly basis but for us, we like chicken pastas more than almost any other comfort dish.

This florentine pasta is a quick and easy recipe that comes together with some fresh spinach and either bottled or home roasted bell peppers tossed with an easy creamy cheese sauce.

The sauce on its own is a basic roux with milk, mozzarella and parmesan. The addition of the bell peppers and pasta make the flavors pop even more.

The flavors of spinach and cheese run pretty deep on this blog including one of my all time favorite recipes, Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Flank Steak which has fresh spinach and provolone cheese wrapped in steak and seared.

You can enjoy the dish warm or cold, we often eat this recipe cold for lunches or picnics out. In fact the last time we attended the Hollywood Bowl we picnicked with this recipe as our main entree.

What to serve with this Florentine pasta?

We love to serve it with grilled chicken or ribeye steak. We also love sides like Roasted Garlic Butter Mushrooms for a more savory (umami) flavor if you are looking for a meat free alternative for making this a more filling meal.

5 from 5 votes

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Cheesy Florentine Pasta

Cheesy Florentine Pasta with an easy creamy Parmesan sauce, fresh spinach and roasted bell peppers. The perfect weeknight meal that's also great as a cold lunch option!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword cheesy Florentine pasta

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 Servings

Calories 488 kcal

Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients

• 1 pound penne pasta
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup roasted peppers , sliced

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta one minute shy of the directions listed on the box and drain (do not rinse).
2. Add the butter to the pot you just used for the pasta (make sure to have at least rinsed it out well).

3. Once melted add in the flour and whisk well, cooking for about a minute.

4. Add in the milk slowly while whisking until smooth.
5. Add in the salt, pepper, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and whisk well.
6. Add the pasta back in and toss well.
7. Add in the spinach and bell peppers and toss a bit more before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Cheesy Florentine Pasta

Amount Per Serving

Calories 488 Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value*

Fat 16g25%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Cholesterol 44mg15%

Sodium 580mg25%

Potassium 418mg12%

Carbohydrates 65g22%

Fiber 3g13%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 21g42%

Vitamin A 2405IU48%

Vitamin C 8.3mg10%

Calcium 325mg33%

Iron 1.9mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.