Some days just call for something easy. You know the ones: when the to-do list is never-ending and dinner needs to happen like now. So whenever I’m tired and I’m hungry, quick skillet pasta dishes like this Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta are perfect for such an occasion. This easy spinach pasta recipe only requires a few ingredients, cooks up super fast, is perfect for any day of the week, and leaves me feeling full and happy. And judging by the rave reviews, I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only one who keeps this recipe on regular rotation! 😊
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“This dish is amazing! Was extremely impressed with how flavorful it is. Definitely will be making it again”
Sheryl
Easy Recipe for Tomato Spinach Pasta
Spinach pasta doesn’t have to be fancy to be good. I make this one with pantry staples and a few fridge basics, and it still delivers major comfort. It’s creamy, garlicky, and loaded with flavor, all without spending much at all. It’s the kind of thing I can throw together without overthinking it, and even picky eaters don’t argue whenever I make this on pasta night!
Recipe Success Tips & Suggestions
- If you’re not into cream cheese, you could add a splash (1/4 cup or so) of half and half or heavy cream to achieve a similar effect.
- I used regular pasta, but whole wheat would actually be pretty good in this and would add some extra fiber and nutrients. You can also switch out the shape for another short pasta, like bowtie pasta or rotini.
- If fresh spinach is just out of your price range, you can add about 8 oz frozen spinach that has been thawed and squeezed of its excess moisture.
- I think this recipe would be delicious with added veggies, too. Mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, and thinly sliced carrots would all work well. I’d cook them with the onions and garlic in the beginning and then carry on with the recipe as written.
- Some readers have also had success making this a one-pot pasta with spinach! To do this, they added the dry pasta with the tomatoes, seasonings, and water, but bumped the total amount of water up to about 2 cups total. Simmer until the pasta is cooked, adding more water if needed, then add the cream cheese, parm, and spinach!
Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- ½ lb penne pasta ($0.49)
- 1 yellow onion (small dice, 340g, 1.5 cups, $0.78)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced, 1 Tbsp, $0.12)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.18)
- 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes (1 can, $0.96)
- ½ tsp dried oregano ($0.12)
- ½ tsp dried basil ($0.13)
- ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- ½ tsp salt ($0.02)
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.08)
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.14)
- ½ cup water ($0.00)
- 2 oz cream cheese ($0.46)
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan (30g, $0.51)
- 4 oz fresh spinach ($0.79)
Instructions
- Gather and prepare all ingredients.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and continue to boil until tender (7-10 minutes). Drain the pasta in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, prepare the creamy tomato sauce. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large skillet and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent (3-5 minutes).
- Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), oregano, basil, crushed red pepper, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to the skillet. Stir to combine. Add the tomato paste and a 1/2 cup of water to the skillet and stir until the tomato paste has mixed into the sauce.
- Turn the heat down to low. Cut the cream cheese into a few pieces and then add them to the skillet with the tomato sauce. Use a whisk to stir the sauce until the cream cheese has fully melted and the sauce is creamy. Add the Parmesan to the skillet and stir until it is melted into the sauce.
- Add the fresh spinach to the skillet and gently stir it into the sauce until it has wilted (2-3 minutes). Add the pasta and stir until it is well coated in the creamy tomato sauce. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Medium Skillet
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta Step-by-Step Photos
Gather all of your ingredients.
Cook the pasta: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add ½ lb. penne pasta. Boil the pasta until tender, then drain in a colander. You’ll prepare the creamy tomato sauce while the pasta is cooking.
Sauté the onion and garlic: Add 1 diced yellow onion and 2 cloves minced garlic to a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent.
Make the sauce: Add ½ tsp dried basil, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper, ½ tsp freshly cracked pepper, and one 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (with juices) to the skillet and stir to combine.
Also, add 2 Tbsp tomato paste and ½ cup water to the skillet. This will help make the sauce thicker and with a more tomatoey punch. Continue to stir and cook over medium heat until the tomato paste has been mixed into the sauce.
Turn the heat down to low. Cut 2 oz cream cheese into chunks and add it to the skillet. Stir or whisk the sauce until the cream cheese has melted into the sauce. It will look a little clumpy at first, but the cream cheese will eventually melt and the sauce will smooth out.
Once the cream cheese has melted in, add ¼ cup grated Parmesan. Stir until the Parmesan has melted into the sauce.
Stir in the spinach: Add 4 oz fresh spinach to the skillet. Stir the skillet until the heat from the sauce wilts the spinach (1-2 minutes).
Add the pasta: Finally, add the cooked and drained pasta to the skillet and stir to combine.
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Shown garnished with extra Parmesan and freshly cracked pepper.
serving suggestions
This creamy tomato and spinach pasta is kind of a meal on its own, but I’m never one to turn down a good side. A slice of crusty garlic bread is always a win with pasta, and if you want to bulk things up a bit, you could top it with sliced baked chicken breast or brown some Italian sausage in the skillet before adding the onion and garlic. Add a simple Caesar salad, and you’ve got a full dinner spread that feels a little extra special (all while keeping to a budget, of course).
Storage & Reheating
Let any leftovers cool before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. If you want to reheat it, you could use the microwave or warm it gently on the stovetop with a splash of water to loosen up the sauce.
More Easy Pasta Recipes
Our Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta recipe was originally published on 8/13/2013. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 5/28/25.
I’ve been using this recipe for several years, and most of this stuff is always in my kitchen. I vary the pasta–any shape works; I use more spinach, either a 5 oz bag of fresh or 10 oz frozen. The iffiest ingredient is tomato paste–I always freeze any leftovers from those tiny cans in 2 T portions in little plastic bags, not because tomato paste is expensive, but because it’s so convenient to have premeasured options–and it’s rare to not have any in the freezer. I find I use it more because these little amounts are great for soups and 1 dish meals. I always have either cream cheese or heavy cream–we like both versions. I’ve often added proteins, usually sausage or chicken, but a can of tuna is good, too. My grandsons love this simple pasta.
Love this recipe. So delicious you’ll want 3 bowls in one sitting.
Hello! I just made this today, and I figured I’d help with a price update. I shopped at Walmart in Pennsylvania for price context. I didn’t include prices for spices and staple ingredients as that seems to mostly not have changed. Everything purchased was Walmart brand (Great Value/Marketside), and calculated prices have been rounded to the nearest whole cent.
Penne Pasta: (1 16oz. box)
Total Price – $0.98
Recipe Price – $0.49 ($0.98/lb. * 1/2lb.)
Serving Price – $0.12
Yellow Onion: (I purchased a 3lb. bag)
Total Price – $3.24
Recipe Price – $0.46 (bag contained 7 onions, used 1)
Serving Price – $0.12
Garlic: (Had it at home already, but this is the current price)
Total Price – $0.64 (1 bulb)
Recipe Price – $0.16 (~1/4 bulb, assuming average of 8 cloves/bulb (made the math easier))
Serving Price – $0.04
Diced Tomatoes: (1 can)
Total Price – $0.96
Recipe Price – $0.96
Serving Price – $0.24
Tomato Paste: (Okay, I spent a little bit more, because if I got the Great Value can, it is one-time-use, but I got a tube with a cap, so it will stay for up to 45 days, instead of 3 for the can. More expensive, but I won’t waste any. And it’ll probably be better quality, as I got Cento Tomato Paste, from Italy. I also included pricing as if I had gotten the store brand can)
Cento:
Total Price – $2.68
Recipe Price – $0.67 ($2.68/8 oz., used 2 oz.)
Serving Price – $0.17
Great Value
Total Price – $0.86
Recipe Price – $0.17 ($0.86/10 oz., used 2 oz.)
Serving Price – $0.04
Cream Cheese: (Purchased 2 pack)
Total Price – $3.26 ($1.63 for 1 block)
Recipe Price – $0.41 (1/4 of block)
Serving Price – $0.10
Parmesan Cheese: (bought shredded instead of grated, identical per oz. price)
Total Price – $2.24
Recipe Price – $0.75 (1/4c.)
Serving Price – $0.19
Spinach: (Only option was a 5oz. organic plastic clam shell pak, they didn’t have the bag, which I would’ve gotten because it was a dollar cheaper. Pricing for that included as well)
Organic Clam Shell:
Total Price – $2.98
Recipe Price – $2.98 (used all 5oz.)
Serving Price – $0.75
Bag:
Total Price – $1.98
Recipe Price – $0.99 (1/2 bag)
Serving Price – $0.25
TOTALS: (out-of-pocket price is what I actually spent, but many of these ingredients are only partially used, and will be useful for other meals in the future)
Out-of-pocket: $16.98
Recipe: $7.08
Serving: $1.77
Hope this helps!
On the website side of things, just a thought. Instead of having the prices in the HTML as a string, it would make more sense to have a back end ingredient database, and have the website populate ingredient prices from that. That way, when it’s time to update a price, you only have to change it once, and the entire website updates. I’ve only done a little bit of coding, so forgive me if I am way off
That’s a great update. I usually go with 1/2 a bag of frozen spinach – it works well and definitely reduces the cost. My local grocery store sells individual Italian sausages that weigh about 4.5 oz for $1.29 in the butcher case, so I remove the meat from the casing and brown it with the onions + garlic. Delicious.
The recipe was delicious made exactly to the directions!!! Very easy and creamy! Will definitely make again!
Made this for my husband and I and he loved it!! It’s so yummy and cheap.
This was soooo good and cheap to make! I will probably add chicken or sausage next time. LOVE!!!
One of my fav go to recipes :) I have a giant box of spinach to use up this weekend and leftover tomato pesto (not in the ingredient list, but it needs to be used up and this recipe will be perfect for it). I like to add extras like carrots and bell peppers as well. Great recipe as is and also great to build on. Thank you so much for this amazing website! :D
Great recipe and very easy and cheap I “ veganize it” with cashew sauce instead of cream cheese and serve with a salad.
For me this recipe typically makes plenty of sauce to handle an entire pound of pasta. One thing I did most recently was took a blender to about 80% of it (without spinach) because I was noticing my kids were not eating as much of the chunky sauce. They absolutely devoured it this way (“101+ thumbs up”) and I felt better about them getting more nutrients! It has sort of a creamy vodka sauce flavor and is extremely delicious.
This dish is amazing! Was extremely impressed with how flavorful it is. Definitely will be making it again
I made this recipe for dinner today. It was wonderful! The sauce was flavorful and creamy. Even my very picky husband came back for seconds. Definitely going to make this again and again. I think that it would be easy to adapt to whatever pasta and veggies that I have on hand.
Hi, I just wanted to say this recipe is very special to me because I first made it about 8 years ago and have been adding to it and customizing it ever since, and now it’s one of my FAVORITE meals that I cook. Thank you!!!
I have made this a couple of times
My husband and son love it !
Made it again and added prawns
Absolutely delicious
It will always be part of our dinners now
Easy and delicious the prawns added another dimension!
Will add chicken next time
We love it just as it is as well
Awesome recipe!
This looks so freaking good. Your partner must love this!
This recipe was delicious and super easy to make. Did not change anything and will definitely make it again. My 90 year old father enjoyed it!
Wow, this pasta recipe is incredible! The flavors are perfectly balanced, and it’s so easy to make. Definitely adding this to my weekly rotation!
Fation from http://www.pastadaily.com