Pesto Caprese Penne Pasta - Three Olives Branch (2024)

by Kim

October 9, 2017

5 from 21 votes

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A bright and flavorful vegetarian pasta packed with protein. Add chicken or sausage for the meat lovers.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BarillaProteinPLUS #CollectiveBias

Pasta is a weakness of mine and I love trying out new pasta dishes that are hearty and nutritious. ThisPesto Caprese Penne Pasta is packed full of protein, fiber, and delicious mix ins for a fast and easy dinner!

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Table of Contents

Penne Pesto Pasta

One of my favorite things about pesto pasta is the amount of flavor that you get out of a few fresh ingredients.

I love to amp my pesto up with some extra garlic and lemon juice for a bold flavor. These flavors remind me of living in Italy where they make so many meals with simple, fresh ingredients.

It is appropriate that so many Italian foods have the same colors as the Italian flag: red, white, and green. Some say it is because of the food, and others say the colors represent various aspects and geographic areas of the country.

Regardless, the colors are so pretty together in a dish! I did not want to mix the pasta at first because I was admiring the colors all next to each other 🙂

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What is penne al pesto?

This is a simple and fresh Italian pasta recipe. Penne pasta is tossed with a fresh basil pesto sauce.

What pasta goes with pesto?

Anything with ridges and curves is great to help the sauce stick to the noodles. Penne is a perfect option and easy to find!

Other shapes with ridges and curves like cavatappi, rotini, or gemelli are also great options.

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Ingredients Needed for Penne Pesto

Here is what you need to make this pasta, including the homemade basil pesto:

Fresh Basil
Fresh Parsley
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Pine Nuts (although walnuts will work too!)
Lemon
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Penne Pasta
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella

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How to Make Penne Pesto

This Pesto Caprese Penne Pasta is incredibly simple and fast to make, making it perfect for busy nights when you still want a hearty and nutritious meal.

First, get your pasta boiling.

Do you serve pesto pasta hot or cold?

You can serve this either way!

I prefer hot but it also tastes just as great cold and would make a fun pasta salad.

Can I put pesto pasta in the fridge?

Yes! I have found that if made in advance or if eating as leftovers that the sauce gets absorbed a little into the pasta and it becomes a little dry.

So spruce it up with just a little water or a little more oil before heating (if serving hot) or if serving cold.

How do you pronounce penne?

It is pronounced peh-neh.

Pesto Caprese Penne Pasta - Three Olives Branch (7)

Pesto Caprese Penne Pasta Recipe

A bright and flavorful vegetarian pasta packed with protein. Add chicken or sausage for the meat lovers.

5 from 21 votes

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Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: 30 Min or Less, Pasta, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 807kcal

Ingredients

Caprese Pasta

1 pound penne pasta
1 cup cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes) (halved)
8 ounces mozzarella perline
1 1/4 cup basil pesto (recipe below, or your favorite pesto)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves thinly sliced, for tossing with the pasta

Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh parsley (or spinach, or kale)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 lemon
3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add the pasta and cook as per package directions to al dente, approximately 11 minutes. When the pasta is done, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the pesto. Toast the pine nuts over medium low heat until just starting to turn a golden brown.
In a food processor, combine all of the pesto ingredients together. Process until you reach your desired consistency. Season to taste with additional salt, lemon, garlic, or red pepper flakes.
Slice the tomatoes in half into bite sized pieces. Slice the 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves from the pasta ingredient list into thin slices.
Return the cooked pasta, pesto sauce, tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil to the large cooking pot (or in a large bowl). Toss to combine. Add a little of the reserved pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce for even coating. Serve immediately.

Notes

I love the mozzarella perline (pearl sized) cheese because it is the perfect bite sized shape for this pasta. You can also use larger chunks of mozzarella, cut to preference. Shredded mozzarella will also work but will likely melt and make a stringy pasta.

You can use any favorite, jarred pesto as an alternative. You will need approximately 1 1/4 cups of pesto for moderate coverage as in the pictures. Find my pesto recipe here! One batch is the perfect amount.

This pesto recipe is best with freshly grated cheese. Using canned cheese will greatly affect the flavor, texture, and final result of the pesto sauce.

Nutrition

Recipes with Pesto

Pesto Crusted Salmon

Caprese Pesto Risotto

Caprese Pesto Crostini

Chicken Pesto Caprese Pizza

Chicken Pesto Risotto

Keto Low Carb Cheesy Chicken Pesto Spaghetti Squash

Zucchini Lemon Stuffed Shells with Creamy Pesto Sauce

By Kim on October 9th, 2017

About Kim

Kim has grown up with a passion for cooking good food! You can find her in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes, making dog treats, and eating Italian food!

14 thoughts on “Pesto Caprese Penne Pasta”

Such a delicious looking pasta salad! I don’t like mayo so this would be a perfect option for me!
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Love the combination of pesto and caprese in this dish! Going to pin for later!
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- They really are great together! I hope you love it!
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I will be trying this tonight and will share the results
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Made this last night and after your mention about adding meat if you wanted, I added chicken. It was absolutely beautiful looking and the flavors were wonderful. Thank you! This recipe is a keeper.
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- Thank you so much, Monica! I am so glad you liked it! Definitely one of my favorites 🙂
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Superb! Great recipe
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Fantastic recipe.
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Is it 1 pound of uncooked or cooked pasta? The recipe says it makes 4 servings, which is a lot if it’s 1 pound of dry pasta. Can someone clarify? I’m a novice cook and rely heavily on recipes so this detail is not obvious to me lol. Thank you in advance. This looks like a tasty recipe!
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- Hi Hannah,
  It is one pound uncooked. If you are using protein pasta, it is much more filling. I also find the recipe, regardless of pasta type, is very filling when you add the cheese and tomatoes to it. Feel free to make more if you want to make sure you have enough!
  Reply
Make it all the time!!! We love it! Thank you
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- That is wonderful! I am so glad you like it! 😀
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Just made this. It was SO good!!!!!!!!!!!!
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- So glad you liked it! 🙂
  Reply

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