Ready in less than 20 minutes, this pea and bacon pasta is a great dish for a healthy weeknight meal. The combination of sweet peas, salty bacon, fresh mint, and starchy pasta ensures that every bite is full of flavor while remaining a well-balanced meal complete with carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
Although this pea and bacon pasta recipe was made with rigatoni you could easily swap it for any form of pasta that you like. Penne, fusilli and macaroni noodles would all work very well.
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Pea and Bacon Pasta
Made with bacon, frozen peas and rigatoni, this creamy pea and bacon pasta is a delicious combination of sweet, salty and savoury flavours.
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Prep Time: 5 minutes -
Cook Time: 15 minutes
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Total Time: 20 minutes
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Yield: 2 servings
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Category: Main
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Method: Stovetop
Prep Time:
Yield:
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Method:Ingredients
- 170 grams rigatoni, dry
- 4 slices bacon, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 30 grams parmesan cheese, roughly 1/2 cup, freshly grated
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 handful fresh mint, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Once cooked, drain the pasta, reserve a 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and set aside.
- In a large pan on medium-high heat, add the sliced bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and crisp. Once cooked, remove the bacon from the pan, transfer it to a plate with a paper towel, and set aside.
- In the same pan on low heat, leaving the bacon fat in the pan (you can remove some if there’s too much for your taste), add the minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until tender. Add peas, toss to combine with the garlic, remove from the heat, and set aside.
- Once the pasta is cooked and strained, return rigatoni to the pot, add butter, bacon, garlic, and pea mixture, and stir to combine.
- Add heavy cream and parmesan cheese and stir until well incorporated. Add a splash of pasta water to loosen the mixture as needed until a smooth texture is reached.
- Add mint, stir to combine again and season with additional salt, pepper and parmesan cheese to taste.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 servings
- Calories: 614 calories
- Sugar: 6 grams
- Fat: 27 grams
- Carbohydrates: 73 grams
- Fiber: 6 grams
- Protein: 19 grams
HOLY this is yummy!! To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the recipe since there were so few ingredients but it is a BANGER of a recipe!!! I am a pescatarian so I switched up the bacon for tempeh bacon and it was so delicious and satisfying!! I highly recommend you make this for dinner! Super simple, explosive flavour!!
I’m so happy you liked it and what a great swap with the tempeh bacon! Thank you so much for sharing!
Great recipe, very tasty, quick, and easy. My only critique would be to drain at least half of the grease from the bacon. I made 3x the amount of the recipe for my family and there’s no way that full pan of grease would be necessary…and I LOVE bacon. Will definitely make this again.
I’ms so happy you liked it Steve, really appreciate the feedback/tip too! Thank you for sharing.
A FANTASTIC RECIPE!
Appreciate that so much and so happy you enjoyed!