Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta

This super simple yet crazy delicious Caprese Pesto Pasta is as good as it gets. The lemony pesto is a creamy blender pesto that is so easy to make. Pour that over pasta and toss with some sauteed cherry tomatoes and mozzarella and dinner is served. It's the perfect Meatless Monday vegetarian supper recipe.

All the stars have aligned, my friends! I am finally sharing my all-time favorite quick and easy pasta recipe. This should have happened years ago. I'm sorry for holding out on you.

This is one of those meals that hardly registers as a recipe in our house. It's usually my handsome man who whips up the pesto while I put a pot of water on to boil and quickly sear the tomatoes. It's what we eat when we're HUNGRY and need to eat right freaking now.

It's also a meal we swoon over every time we eat it. Seriously, it's so delicious.

Around here we simply call it pesto. For the sake of fancying things up a little, today I'm calling it Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta.

Why make blender pesto

The pesto here is all my handsome man's. I can't take credit for it. Before we met, I made pesto quite differently. It was roughly chopped and had lots of texture to it. It was nothing like the brightly colored creamy pesto you see here.

Fast forward a few years and this is the only pesto recipe I now make. It's simply too delicious to ever go back to my old recipe. It's also ridiculously easy to make. Here's how you do it:

→ Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.

That's it! I'm totally serious. One step and done.

What makes this pesto recipe unique

• There's parsley in here. And no, that's not a typo. It helps make the pesto the vibrant green color you see. You can leave it out, but it won't be quite as pretty.
• We don't use pine nuts. Or at least not always. Let's be honest, pine nuts are ridic expensive. While I love them, I can't always bring myself to use them. We've tried many different combinations of nuts and they all work great. We love using half almonds and half walnuts the best.
• We toast the nuts. Always. It adds so much more flavor to the pesto.
• There's water in this recipe. This is because the pesto needs to blend freely to get totally smooth and become pourable. You could add more oil, but honestly, water works just as well.

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4.98 stars (44 ratings)

Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta Recipe

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 10 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

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This super simple yet crazy delicious Caprese Pesto Pasta is as good as it gets. The lemony pesto is a creamy blender pesto that is so easy to make. Pour that over pasta and toss with some sauteed cherry tomatoes and mozzarella and dinner is served. It's the perfect Meatless Monday vegetarian supper recipe.

6 servings

Ingredients

Caprese Pasta

• ▢ 8 ounces pasta shells
• ▢ 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ▢ 2 pints around 30 cherry tomatoes
• ▢ 1 mozzarella ball (torn into pieces (See notes))
• ▢ Grated parmesan cheese (to garnish)

Lemony Pesto

• ▢ 1 cup basil leaves (packed)
• ▢ ½ cup toasted nuts (see notes)
• ▢ ½ cup grated parmesan cheese (See notes)
• ▢ ½ cup olive oil
• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ ¼ cup parsley
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic
• ▢ Juice of 2 lemons

Instructions 

• Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When it comes to a boil, add the shells, stirring as you pour them into the pot. Cook the pasta for 7-9 minutes then drain and set aside.
  8 ounces pasta shells
• While the water is heating, prepare the pesto. Place all the pesto ingredients into your blender and blend on high until smooth.
  1 cup basil leaves, ½ cup toasted nuts, ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, ½ cup olive oil, ½ cup water, ¼ cup parsley, 2 cloves garlic, Juice of 2 lemons
• Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the cherry tomatoes and quickly toss to coat them in the oil Let them cook undisturbed for 2 minutes then shake the pan and cook them for 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat.
  2 pints around 30 cherry tomatoes, 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Add the cooked pasta, the pesto, and the mozzarella to the pan and stir together. Serve the Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta topped with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese.
  1 mozzarella ball

Notes

While pine nuts are classic in pesto, other nuts work great. We like a combination of almonds and walnuts the best. Pecans and cashews work great, too. To toast the nuts, place them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 6-7 minutes, or until they are fragrant.

To easily make this a vegan recipe, skip the mozzarella use a tablespoon of nutritional yeast instead of the parmesan in the pesto.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ⅙ of the recipe, Calories: 457kcal (23%), Carbohydrates: 40g (13%), Protein: 13g (26%), Fat: 28g (43%), Saturated Fat: 6g (38%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 18g, Cholesterol: 10mg (3%), Sodium: 168mg (7%), Potassium: 556mg (16%), Fiber: 3g (13%), Sugar: 6g (7%), Vitamin A: 1273IU (25%), Vitamin C: 46mg (56%), Calcium: 162mg (16%), Iron: 3mg (17%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.