Cheesy Florentine Pasta

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on Last updated

19 Comments

4.34 from 6 votes
6 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
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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 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.

Cheesy Florentine Pasta in bowl

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.

Spinach and bell pepper cheesy pasta

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Dinner, then Dessert

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!
Yield 6 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Author Sabrina Snyder
Cheesy Florentine Pasta in bowl
PrintRate

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

  • Cook the pasta one minute shy of the directions listed on the box and drain (do not rinse).
  • Add the butter to the pot you just used for the pasta (make sure to have at least rinsed it out well).
  • Once melted add in the flour and whisk well, cooking for about a minute.
  • Add in the milk slowly while whisking until smooth.
  • Add in the salt, pepper, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and whisk well.
  • Add the pasta back in and toss well.
  • Add in the spinach and bell peppers and toss a bit more before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 488kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 580mg | Potassium: 418mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 2405IU | Vitamin C: 8.3mg | Calcium: 325mg | Iron: 1.9mg

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Florentine Spinach Pasta
Florentine Pasta with spinach and bell peppers

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. I have not yet made this dish, but it sounds super yummy, so I’ll make it soon. I know that we’ll love it. For us, I will add some garlic & sliced Baby Bella (Crimini) mushrooms, since that’s what we like. Some leftover chicken would also be good, if added.

    Reply