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Calling all goat cheese lovers! This spinach goat cheese pasta recipe is loaded with fresh spinach and a touch of lemon. It’s simple and fast to make.
You may also like my Tomato Goat Cheese Pasta. Readers seemed to like that one, so I wanted to make another easy pasta recipe with goat’s cheese.
The great thing about goat cheese pasta sauce is that it’s naturally creamy. The cheese provides the creaminess (in this case I used goat’s cheese and parmesan), and stirring in the hot pasta water helps create that silky texture.
Recipe notes & tips:
- You could add some lemon zest if you want this recipe to be even more lemony.
- Got fresh herbs in your garden? Throw some in. Rosemary in particular goes well with goat’s cheese.
- Feel free to use your favorite kind of pasta or whatever you’ve got in your pantry.
- I prefer to grate my own parmesan cheese… it tends to taste better and melt nicer than the pre-grated stuff. I use an older model of this cheese grater, and I love it.
- If you want to add in a protein, some cooked chicken (like from a rotisserie chicken) would work.
Love goat’s cheese? Try my Beet and Spinach Salad or this Whipped Goat Cheese Dip.
I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe! It’s another one to add to your meatless/vegetarian recipe box.
Other pasta recipes to try:
- Ridiculously Easy Boursin Pasta
- Creamy Chicken Spinach Pasta
- Chicken Feta Spinach Pasta
- Creamy Lemon Asparagus Pasta
Questions about this spinach goat cheese pasta? Made it? Leave me a comment below and tag me #saltandlavender on Instagram.
Spinach Goat Cheese Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 4 ounces goat cheese crumbled
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach (packed)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (optional)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil a salted pot of water and cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Important: reserve about a cup of the pasta water before you drain it! Drain the pasta and set it aside.
- In the same pot you cooked the pasta in, add the butter and melt it over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the cooked pasta back into the pot. Stir in the goat cheese, parmesan, and lemon juice. Add a splash of the pasta water (a little at a time) and keep stirring/tossing until you've got a nice, creamy consistency.
- Add in the spinach (and basil if using) and toss with the pasta. Cover the pot for a minute or two to help the spinach wilt.
- Season with salt & pepper as needed and serve immediately.
Notes
- Goats cheese can be quite strong, so I only recommend making this recipe if you really like the stuff!
- I used a 4 ounce soft goat's cheese log for this recipe.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe is lovely – so light and not heavy. The goat cheese comes through perfectly- I love the lemon. I used cooked frozen spinach and it worked fine – will definitely be coming back to this one
Thank you so mcuh!
This is so good and so simple to prepare
So happy you enjoyed it, Peter! Thanks for you 5-star review!
Made this today butvit was a little dry. I added a bit of chicken broth and it improved it alot.
Did you reserve a cup of the hot pasta water as the recipe suggests? It was dry after you used all that up?
Quick and delicious! I used chickpea pasta and it still came out great.
Excellent!! I appreciate your review, Rosie! 🙂
Love this! So simple. I didn’t have spinach so I used arugula and that was great, too!
Excellent! So glad you enjoyed it, Anne!
What a wonderfully simple and easy dish, thank you for sharing! My husband doesn’t eat a lot of pasta but he always requests this (-:
I added some roast pumpkin/ chorizo and garnish it with some toasted pine nuts… yum!
You’re very welcome!! I’m so glad he likes this one. Love the additions too!
Lovely tasty and easy dish- but in what universe does it serve 4 as a main dish for dinner?
Thank you! Well… it’s always tough to gauge serving sizes. Honest to god, they say 2 oz/person of uncooked pasta is the recommended serving size, and many recipes use it, so that’s what I go by haha. I am assuming you mean the portions are too small?
This is absolutely fabulous. A really nice veggie option as we’re cutting down on meat in our household. Quick, simple and delicious – like so many of the recipes on here. I think Natasha, you have a talent for keeping cooking instructions succinct too. Thank you.
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it, Doug! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I try hard with the instructions!! Haha 🙂