Four Cheese Spinach Pasta is a great option for a quick dinner and a way to add a lot of flavor to a batch of quinoa.
Jump to RecipeAs a lot of our recipes do, this pasta dish came from having a lot of leftovers. About once per month, we do a “pantry week” to prevent foods from going bad. Especially in the midst of the COVID pandemic, we were limiting how much we went out.
Another thing we’ve been doing lately is experimenting with different types of cheese. The fontina cheese used in this meal was leftover from making Five Cheese Pull-Apart Bread.
Your four cheeses in this recipe are:
- Fontina Cheese
- Ricotta Cheese
- Cream Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
The ricotta and cream cheese help make the dish creamy. The fontina cheese is also soft and adds a delicious earthy taste to the dish. Then parmesan cheese is a great garnish at the end to add a bit of that nutty flavor it’s known for.
Step by Step
Gather your ingredients and prepare quinoa in a medium saucepan according to the package, omitting any salt. Reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid when draining the quinoa.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the oil, spinach, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for about 3-5 minutes, until the spinach wilts.
Add the fontina cheese, ricotta cheese, and cream cheese. Stir constantly to prevent scalding until the cheese has melted, about 1-2 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the quinoa to the spinach cheese mixture. Add the salt, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Stir to gently coat the pasta with the sauce.
Divide the pasta into 4 serving bowls and top with remaining parmesan cheese.
Leftovers
We were able to place the leftovers in the refrigerator and reheat it the next day. I placed it back in a saucepan over medium heat. It took about 8-10 minutes of stirring often until it was heated through. If it’s a bit dry, you can add a splash of milk while it’s heating to make it creamy again.
Recipe
Originally Published On: December 18, 2020
Four Cheese Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz tri-color quinoa
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 10 oz spinach
- 1 tbsp garlic (dried, minced)
- 2 oz fontina cheese (shredded)
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 oz cream cheese (softened)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Prepare quinoa in a medium saucepan according to the package, omitting any salt
- Reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid when draining the quinoa
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the oil, spinach, and garlic
- Cook, stirring often, for about 3-5 minutes, until the spinach wilts
- Add the fontina cheese, ricotta cheese, and cream cheese
- Stir constantly to prevent scalding until the cheese has melted, about 1-2 minutes
- Remove from the heat and add the quinoa to the spinach cheese mixture
- Add the salt, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
- Stir to gently coat the pasta with the sauce
- Divide the pasta into 4 serving bowls and top with remaining parmesan cheese
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Oh yum! I love spinach in pasta! Also who doesn’t love cheese! This sounds fantastic!
I didn’t when I was younger, but now I love spinach in pasta, too!
Some of the cheese in this recipe is totally to me, and have to get it for the first time haha. Seems delicious though.
I only recently started trying out new cheese options and they are delicious!
I love cheesy pasta dishes, but I don’t think I’ve ever used cream cheese in a pasta recipe! I’ll have to try it out.
The cream cheese definitely makes it thicker and more creamy! It’s a great way to give it a different texture.