Creamy Pasta Primavera

Are you looking for a creamy pasta primavera with a healthy twist? One that you can customize according to what you’ve got on hand? This vegetable pasta primavera uses asparagus, peas and mushrooms, with options for adding other vegetables you might have handy. Add diced ham, chicken or shrimp for a fuller meal to please the whole family.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

If you enjoy pasta, but don’t want a heavy alfredo sauce adorning it (butter, cheese & heavy cream) you’ll love this healthy pasta primavera. With plenty of fresh vegetables and a lightened up sauce, it only tastes indulgent.

Why is it called primavera?

Primavera actually comes from the Latin Primus, meaning first and Vera, meaning Spring. So, first spring.  Primavera is an apparent ellipsis of the Italian, alla primavera.

Vegetable Primavera got its public start at the swanky New York restaurant, Le Cirque, where it appeared as a yet-unnamed item on the menu, until Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey  wrote an article for the New York Times, catapulting its popularity and requiring a title or designation. Pasta Primavera was born.

Since then, scores of chefs, cooks and bloggers have twisted, bended and tweaked pasta primavera to simply mean pasta with vegetables. Some versions have a cream sauce, others have a tomato based sauce.  Others aren’t sauced at all. Some use only fresh tomatoes, others bring an entire garden to the party.  Any way you look at it, it’s all good.

What vegetables are in pasta primavera?

Traditionally, primavera can be made using many different vegetables. For me, the key is to use what is seasonal and consider the blend of ingredients – do they seem like a good fit together?  In this creamy primavera recipe, I used asparagus, mushrooms, onion and sun-dried tomatoes, but these other garden vegetables would also work well:

• Broccoli (cut into small florets)
• Peas (Frozen, defrosted)
• Zucchini (diced)
• Yellow Squash (diced)
• Eggplant (diced)
• Fresh Tomatoes (seeded and diced)
• Sweet Peppers (diced)
• Cauliflower (cut into bite-sized florets)
• Snap Peas
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Shallots
• Spinach
• Leeks

Pick 2-4 and mix it up.

• Zucchini + Squash + Peas + Tomatoes
• Broccoli + Cauliflower
• Bell Peppers + Eggplant + Tomatoes
• Snap Peas + Mushrooms + Shallots
• Spinach + Leeks + Peas

Creamy lemon sauce for the primavera

You can’t think about pasta primavera without thinking of the sauce, am I right? I love a good cream sauce, but they stick to my belly and thighs long after enjoying the meal.  

Think about this: Just 1 cup of heavy cream has 821 calories, 55 grams of saturated fat and 88 grams of total fat. Holy sweatpants.

This lightened up the sauce, which makes nearly 2 cups and has only 338 calories, with 19 grams of saturated fat and 30 grams of fat overall. I’m not saying it’s diet food, but it’s much better than the heavy cream version and still makes a creamy pasta primavera that will have you licking your lips in anticipation.

Ingredients for lightened up creamy lemon sauce

• Yellow Onion (sautéed)
• Butter
• Flour
• Broth (Vegetable or Chicken – preferably low sodium)
• Half and Half
• Lemon Zest

Which pasta should I use for pasta primavera

Traditionally, long, thin pastas were used, but nowadays there are no rules. In my view, you should look at your ingredients and let them determine the best pasta.

• For instance if you did a spinach, leek and pea combination, I’d say a long noodle would be best, because the leeks and spinach will wrap themselves up in the pasta for twisting.
• If you chop the ingredients into bite sized pieces so that they’ll be easy to scoop or pierce with a fork, shorter pasta work well.

Best long pastas for creamy pasta primavera:

• Fettucini
• Linguiune
• Spaghetti or Thin Spaghetti.
• I don’t recommend angel hair because you need something a bit sturdier to hold up to the creamy lemon sauce. However, if you were using saucing with a broth or light butter sauce, angel hair or vermicelli would work well.

Best short pastas for vegetable primavera:

• Penne
• Orecchiette
• Small Shell or Seashell Pasta
• Farfalle

How to make primavera:

1. Trim the asparagus stalks of the tough bottom portion.  The best way to determine this is to pick up a stalk of asparagus, holding it at the halfway point and the bottom of the stalk. Bend the asparagus until it breaks.  Discard the bottom of the asparagus stalk.  Line up the rest of the asparagus on a cutting board, so the tips are even. Trim the remainder of the stalks, using the broken stalk as a guide.
2. Cut the tender stalks into 1″ pieces.
3. Blanch and shock the asparagus. If you’re not familiar with those terms, it just means that you bring a pot of water to a boil, add the asparagus and cook until it’s just tender (2-3 minutes). Then use a slotted spoon or spider to transfer the cooked asparagus to an ice bath (ice and water in a bowl).  This stop the cooking and keeps the asparagus that beautiful bright green color.  If you skip this step, the asparagus will continue cooking and won’t look as appetizing.
4. Saute the mushrooms in olive oil until tender and transfer to a small bowl.
5. Get the water started for the pasta, so it’s ready to go as soon as the sauce is complete.
6. Saute the onions in the pan until tender, then add the butter and flour, stirring until you have a bubbly paste — about 1 minute.
7. Stir in the broth and heat to boiling (stirring constantly) until slightly thickened and saucy.  Add the half and half and lemon zest and stir to combine – this is the creamy lemon sauce — it’s not overpowering but rather, light and fresh.
8. Stir in the cooked pasta, followed by the grated cheese until the pasta is coated.
9. Next come the add-ins. Add the asparagus, ham, cooked mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and mix to combine.
10. Finish the creamy vegetable pasta primavera with a final sprinkle of cheese and fresh herbs (if using). Serve.

Other variations:

• Instead of ham, add cooked chicken or shrimp.
• Make it vegetarian by skipping the ham and using vegetable broth.
• Use different pasta shapes like elbow macaroni, bowties or orecchiette.

I have to be honest, when I make this healthy pasta primavera for a weeknight dinner, we eat it straight outta the skillet (less dishes) but if I were serving this for company, I’d probably pull out a nice serving bowl.

Garlic & Zest is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Pin “Vegetable Primavera with Ham and Creamy Lemon Sauce” For Later!