Sometimes you want a quick meal that doesn’t take all day to pull together. This Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce is a great example of a really good dinner, that was created by simple ingredients I already had around my kitchen. I’ve said over and over that the trick to being able to whip up quick, yet delicious meals in a pinch is keeping a well-stocked pantry.
One of the things I always have around is dried pasta, in all shapes and sizes. I love quick cooking tortellini that can be a great base to so many quick dinners- and there’s something fun about little pouches of cheese! I also almost always have a giant package of fresh spinach from Costco in my fridge, and it’s so cheap that I don’t hesitate buying it in such large quantities. After a week or so I’m always looking for ways to use it up quick before it goes bad.
This is an awesome little pasta bake and the great thing is that it looks fancy and tastes decadent, but it’s super simple to throw together (shhh…no one has to know!) And although it’s rich and creamy and cheesy, it’s also fairly healthy. I love dinners that I can throw together during my baby’s nap-time and pop in the fridge to have ready at dinner time when things get crazy.
Let’s cook.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Tortellini – You can find dried tortellini in the regular pasta aisle- a great thing to have in your pantry. You can also use fresh tortellini that you find near the deli or frozen tortellini would work, too.
- Bacon – Pancetta will also work.
- Fresh garlic
- All-prupose flour
- Milk
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Dry basil
- Red pepper flakes – These don’t make the dish spicy, they just add a nice kick of flavor.
- Lemon
- Fresh spinach leaves
- Mozzarella cheese – Freshly grated is best!
- Parmesan cheese – Freshly grated is best!
How to Make a Tortellini Spinach Bake
- Get some water boiling and get those tortellini started, then move on to building your sauce.
- You don’t need to have any jarred sauce on hand for this dish- the sauce is SO good and you’ll be amazed how quick and easy it is. It’s starts with cooking up a few strips of bacon (or pancetta would be great too) until crisp. You’ll use the fat from the bacon to make a roux with some fresh garlic, flour, and a little milk.
- We’ll flavor up that sauce with salt, pepper, basil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. The lemon is so bright and so fresh, it adds the perfect flavor to this creamy, savory dish. Add some red pepper flakes (a little just adds a kick of flavor, more will add some spice).
- When the tortellini are done cooking, we’ll drain those and return them to the pot they were cooked in. Toss in some spinach and bacon (reserve a bit of bacon for a topping at the end as well).
- We’ll add a little cheese, both Parmesan and Mozarella, for flavor and creamy-melty-cheesy-goodness. Stir in the sauce and pop it all in a baking dish with a little more cheese and bacon on top.
- At this point it can be covered in foil and go in the fridge for later, or right into the oven. It bakes up in 20-30 minutes, and while it’s in the hot oven the flavors have a party and come out tasting even better than when they started. Amazing how that happens!
- Serve it as a one dish dinner with a piece of crusty French bread on the side, or as a side to chicken or steak. Makes a great addition to a pot-luck too. With the fun tortellini and the yummy cheesy sauce, my kids said NOTHING about the fact that there was spinach in there. Plus one for team Mom!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 4-5 days for best results.
- Terminology tip: When a recipe calls for “loosely packed” spinach, it looks like the first photo below: lightly piled into your measuring cup. When it calls for it to be “roughly chopped,” it looks like the second photo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can assemble the entire dish, cover it, and refrigerate it before baking.
Sure. Sub in another oil or fat for the bacon grease. There will still be plenty of flavor from the garlic and cheeses.
Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini find them in the dry pasta aisle
- 4 ounces bacon or pancetta (about 4 strips bacon)*
- 3 cloves garlic pressed in garlic press or finely minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoon dry basil
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy
- 1 medium lemon
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach roughly chopped
- ¾ cups grated mozzarella cheese divided
- ¾ cups grated Parmesan cheese divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.
- Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain. Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.
- While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce. (Note: I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes. If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) . Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.
- Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Store cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 4-5 days for best results.
- You can find dry tortellini on the pasta aisle, fresh tortellini near the deli, or frozen tortellini on the freezer aisle. All will work!
Questions & Reviews
Are we off the diets?? uggghhhhh… I HAVE NO WILL POWER PEOPLE!!
Looks delicious. I might have to make for dinner this week. Thanks!
Thank you for coming up with my dinner tonight. Really appreciate that. 🙂 I was getting a little worried.. But you pulled through as usual.
Any time girl, that’s what we’re here for 😉
This pasta sounds wonderful and is the exact kind of dish I through together when I don’t have a clue what to cook. Thanks for sharing.
This looks yummy….would thawed-out frozen spinach work instead of fresh? Fresh spinach goes bad on me before I have a chance to use it so I usually just buy frozen (that and my husband is picky with veggies…yet my toddler loves spinach. Go figure!). I guess I’d have to use a smaller amount since the frozen spinach is so tightly packed? What do you think? :o)
Yes Anne- that would work just fine! Just squeeze out all of the liquid of course. Honestly, you could probably add the whole box- I would just give it all a rough chop first. And just eyeball it if you don’t want so much in there.
That’s what I figured…thanks!
Lemon? Spinach? Bacon? I’m down!
That is just beautiful! I love those kind of wonderful dinners and my kiddos will gobble it right up! Thanks so much for sharing your talents with all of us!
This looks so good! I need to add fresh spinach to my regular grocery list because there are recipes like this one I can use it for – it’s just not something I normally have on hand. And I think my little boy would eat this because he loves the spinach/cheese ravioli you can get at Costco. 🙂
Follow-up: Made this for dinner last night and it was a hit! I originally was just going to half the recipe because there is only three of us, but then that didn’t seem like very much so I went ahead and did the whole recipe. My husband is not a big fan of white/creamy sauces (other than for homemade mac-n-cheese) and he ate two helpings AND took the leftovers for lunch. My four-year-old turns his nose up at anything new and he ate ALL of his!! My only thought was the lemon was just a little too strong for my liking, but not enough to deter me from finishing it. I think this will become a regular on our dinner menu. 🙂
This looks fabulous. Unfortunately my hubby wont eat tortellini. It goes back to an experience when he was younger and ate them while he was sick. Maybe I could try this with some raviolis…
Um… what temperature do I bake this at? I am super excited to try this asap!!
350 🙂