Pasta with sun-dried tomato ricotta pesto. This creamy red pesto could very well be your next obsession. The hearty sun-dried tomato ricotta pesto is a velvety, flavor packed sauce that might make you crave for pasta night. It’s bright, light and satisfying.
Why you’ll love this pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto and ricotta
Pesto is an insanely flexible and delicious sauce. In this recipe, we use semi-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, ricotta and a little bit of delicate white miso for an intensely vibrant, smooth pesto. Because the sauce is so rich, we can keep this dish simple and only add crispy baked pancetta. Once the pasta is cooked, we toss it with the pesto and top with toasted pine nuts. It’s ready in no-time and incredibly delicious.
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.
Helpful tips
- pesto and pasta are a match made in heaven, but this pesto is also heavenly when spread onto sandwiches stuffed with roasted vegetables
- no pancetta? Use bacon or swap it for shrimps. Or leave it out for a brilliant vegetarian dinner
- serve with a simple salad drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Storage
Keep leftovers refrigerated in airitight containers for up to 3 days.
You might also like
- Red Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms and Sun-dried Tomatoes
- Eggplant Miso Pesto Pasta
- Buttery Mushroom & Chickpea Pesto Pasta
Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Ricotta Pesto
Ingredients
- 7 ounces pasta like rigatoni, paccheri or penne
- 6 ounces pancetta or bacon, cut into cubes
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- fresh thyme for serving (optional)
Sun-dried tomato ricotta pesto
- 5 ounces sun-dried tomatoes drained (oil reserved)
- 4.5 ounces ricotta
- 1 ounce toasted pine nuts
- ⅓ cup oil from the sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp crushed red chili flakes less or more to taste
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
- Make the pesto. Add sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta, pine nuts, lemon juice, miso, chili flakes, smoked paprika and black pepper to your food processor. Purée until finely chopped. Add oil and process until smooth.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add pancetta and cook, 3 minutes. Discard any excess fat from pancetta, if needed. Add pine nuts, cook, tossing often, until pancetta is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until soft over low heat, 1-2 minutes.
- Add pesto and bring to a simmer over low heat, about 1 minute. Just until warmth through and well combined with pancetta, then immediately turn off the heat. Add pasta and 1/4 pasta water, toss while adding more cooking liquid until pasta is glossy and well coated with sauce. Taste and add more black pepper if needed. (If you’re not using pancetta, taste and add salt).
- Divide pasta among bowls. Sprinkle with extra freshly ground black pepper and garnish with thyme, eat!
Video
Nutrition
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I made this last night for dinner. The few things I did differently: I seared scallops instead of pancetta, added a splash of cream at the end since I forgot to save pasta water, and tossed in largely chopped garden tomatoes. Served with a simple green salad….. it was amazing! Thank you for the great recipe!
Sounds fantastic! Love it! I’m really happy you enjoyed the recipe, thank you for giving it a try!
What can I sub for miso? Soy sauce? Mirin?
Tomato paste will work
What can I substitute for miso? Soy sauce? Mirin?
Hi, you can use soy sauce or fish sauce. Enjoy the recipe!
This is a very unique dish. It probably is attempting to mix Asian and European and I think it falls flat. The flavor profile doesn’t mix right
This pasta dish is amazing – incredibly flavorful and not too rich. Very quick and easy. Because I like to take a solid recipe and tweak it to my liking, that’s just what I did. I used Mascarpone (only because I forgot the Ricotta) In this application I think it worked well imparting a creaminess to the blend. A dash of soy sauce in place of Miso and added some shredded Parmesan to the pesto blend as well. Bacon in place of Pancetta and also added some shallots, a few diced cherry tomatoes and some frozen spinach which was thawed and pressed of all liquid. DO NOT FORGOT THE PASTA WATER! aka “liquid gold”. This pesto would also be amazing as a spread for crostini as well!!
So glad you enjoyed Lisa!
We had this for dinner and it was amazing! Loved the flavors. I’m wondering how large a serving is for the calories? Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed Meghan! You can find the calories on the bottom of the recipe card.
We had this for dinner tonight and it was amazing! Loved the flavors. Thank you!
Hi Meghan, I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for giving it a try.