I am so excited to be sharing a savory recipe with you guys today. The truth is, I love to cook savory food as much as I love to bake! It’s just a little harder to take the time to photograph dinner sometimes before my family scarfs it down. This dinner is perfect for a mid-week meal when you don’t want to spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen cooking. You can have this pasta hot and ready to eat in 30 minutes or less and it’s something the whole family will love.
This dish starts with a creamy sauce made from Parmesan cheese, cream, pasta water, lemons and sugar. Yes, I said sugar, just trust me! It’s loaded with green sweat peas, shallots, bacon and pasta shells. Pasta shells are the perfect vessel to soak up all the delicious Parmesan cream sauce in this dish. Seriously what’s not to love in a dish that involves bacon, pasta and CHEESE! The ultimate comfort food. And the best part is it’s done in 30 minutes or less!
Tips & Tricks:
- If you want to get fancy, you can use pancetta in place of the bacon in this dish.
- If you have a hard time finding shallots, you can substitute them with 1/4 cup very finely diced red onion
- I like to buy fancy Parmesan cheese in large chunks from the cheese counter but you can totally use pre-grated Parmesan in a pinch. Just don’t use the kind that comes in a shaker bottle! That kind is no good!
- If you don’t have pasta shells on hand, you can substitute the shells for whatever kind of pasta you have.
- This dish tastes even better as leftovers. I ate it for 4 days after I made it!
30 Minute Creamy Parmesan Pasta
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
The ultimate comfort foods; bacon, pasta and cheese. What more could you want? This quick and easy 30 minute meal will please the entire family!
Ingredients
- 8 strips thick bacon, cut into chunks
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1 large shallot or 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
- 2 cups frozen sweet peas (or fresh when available)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 lb dry pasta shells
- 1/4 cup reserved pasta water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tsp salt plus more to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Extra grated Parmesan for topping
Instructions
- Boil pasta according to package directions being sure to heavily salt your pasta water.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the bacon to a skillet over medium/high heat. Saute until the fat is rendered and the bacon is slightly crunchy.
- Remove the bacon from the pan to a paper towel lined plate to drain the excess oil.
- Discard all but about 1 tbsp of the bacon grease.
- Add your butter to the bacon grease and turn the stove to medium heat.
- Add your shallots and heat them for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add frozen peas to the shallots and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- When your pasta is just about done, take 1/4 cup of the pasta water and add it to the pea mixture. Stir and let cook for 2 minutes while you drain the pasta.
- Drain the remaining pasta and set aside.
- Add the heavy cream to the pea mixture and heat until nice and bubbly.
- Add the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to the mixture and stir until the cheese is melted.
- In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
- Stir the lemon and sugar mixture into the sauce.
- Add the pasta and the bacon to the sauce and stir until everything is nice and coated in the sauce about 2-3 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot with additional Parmesan cheese.
Keywords: Pasta, 30 minute meal, Quick Dinner, Easy Dinner, Pasta Dinner, Bacon, Peas, Parmesan, Creamy Parmesan Pasta
Leave a Reply