This creamy pasta with creamy ricotta sauce, sautéed spinach and crispy bacon is total comfort food. It’s flavor packed, satisfying and it can be on your table in about 20 minutes. Made with only a few ingredients, this pasta fits the bill perfectly.
To make this pasta creamy, we add cream of course, but the secret is the ricotta. We add a few big spoonfuls to the pot, it blends with the cooking water and coats the pasta in a rich and velvety sauce. Just be sure to reach for whole-milk ricotta and not part-skim, which can make the sauce grainy.This is how we do it. Not counting the seasoning, there are only five main ingredients in this dish. And they’re all important, especially the two that form the sauce. To make it, first we cook the bacon until crisp, then add garlic and onion. Next, we add spinach and stir briefly just until wilted.
If you’re not a spinach person, swap in cooked broccoli, peas or arugula. We finish off with some cream and ricotta. Toss in pasta and add a final splash of starchy pasta water that allows you to control just how thick you’d prefer the sauce to be. Serve with some extra red pepper flakes to cut through the creaminess.
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.
Helpful tips
- The pasta shapes that best complement this sauce are small-shaped pieces, like shells, orecchiette, penne, or fusilli, these shapes hold the sauce.
- It’s important to use whole milk ricotta, lower-fat versions or versions with lots of stabilizers, can result in a grainy sauce.
- Swap spinach for steamed broccoli, baby kale or green peas.
- Storage: Keep leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
More creamy ricotta, please!
Cooking Video
Creamy Ricotta Bacon Pasta
Ingredients
- 5 ounces pasta like shells or orecchiette
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 7 ounces salted bacon bits
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small brown onion finely chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp sweet paprika
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 5 ounces spinach
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 5 ounces ricotta
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously salted boiling water, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon, cook until crispy and golden brown, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and onion, cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in salt, pepper, oregano, paprika and red pepper flakes.
- Add spinach and stir until slightly wilted. Pour cream and bring to a boil. Then add ricotta and stir until combined. Toss with pasta and add a splash of cooking water. Stir and add more water if needed, to create a glossy sauce. Season with more salt or pepper if needed.
- Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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I’ve tried several recipes from here and they always exceed my expectations. This one fell short. I was really excited because the ingredients are all things I love. But, It’s just kinda….meh.
So sorry you did not enjoy this dish, wish I could help. Have a great day!
This was delicious! We decided next time to add some yellow squash to the sautée, and maybe less ricotta, but add lots of fresh parm. Anyway, great recipe! Can’t wait to tinker with it to suit my family’s tastes!
Hi Jennifer! Yellow squash sounds absolutely delicious. I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe, thank you so much for you comment!
How many people does this recipe feed?
Hi, it serves 2. Hope you love it!
I thought this was outstanding. Really nice flavours.
Thanks Phil! So glad you enjoyed!