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Creamy Farfalle Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions. This simple meatless Italian dinner is pure comfort food! The bow-tie shaped pasta is perfectly matched with rich and buttery Parmesan sauce!
Farfalle - Bow Tie Pasta
- Farfalle pasta is meant to be used with creamy sauces, such as with chicken broccoli alfredo (with or without chicken) or with this creamy four-cheese pasta sauce. In fact, this farfalle recipe was inspired by another family favorite that features a rich creamy pasta sauce: spinach mushroom pasta.
- Farfalle works great both in meatless recipes and in dishes with meat. This particular recipe is meatless. However, you can easily add any kind of meat or seafood. Add easy seared chicken or grilled chicken to this creamy bow tie pasta. Who doesn't like creamy pasta, especially if you add some chicken to it? It's a perfect dish to make for a family weeknight dinner.
- If you enjoy seafood, add seared scallops with bacon or trout with garlic lemon butter sauce.
Farfalle: Italian Pasta
This Italian-inspired recipe features bow-tie shaped pasta smothered with easy cream sauce along with vegetables and mushrooms. You'll love this simple comfort food on a plate.
- Simple ingredients. This recipe requires basic ingredients that you can buy pretty much at any store: bow-tie pasta, spinach, mushrooms, onions, garlic, cream, and Parmesan cheese.
- Packed with veggies. This meatless farfalle recipe uses spinach and caramelized onions. It's a great and delicious way to incorporate more vegetables into your dinners.
- Caramelized onions add so much flavor and sophistication to this dish!
- Weeknight dinner recipe. This easy recipe is perfect for those busy weeknights when you don't have much time for cooking. It's also a great recipe to use any leftover chicken. Just throw in some leftover cooked chicken together with creamy farfalle pasta, and you have a perfect family dinner!
- Flexible recipe. What I love about this creamy bow-tie pasta is that you can serve it as is, without meat! Or, you can add protein, if you like. Serve farfalle with grilled steak, grilled chicken, or fish.
What is farfalle?
- Farfalle is a bow-tie shaped Italian pasta. Farfalle pasta can also be described as butterfly-shaped pasta. In fact, "farfalle" means "butterflies" in Italian.
- Farfalle dates back to the 16th century in Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna Regions in Northern Italy.
- Farfalle is often used with cream sauces and in tomato-based sauces. It's also popular in salads.
Substitutions
- What can you use instead of farfalle? You can substitute penne, rigatoni, fusilli, or orecchiette for farfalle without affecting the flavor.
- What can you substitute for spinach? You can use kale, Swiss chard, or arugula instead of spinach.
- What kind of mushrooms can you use? Use button mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, portobello, shiitake, or oyster mushrooms.
- How to make this recipe gluten-free? Use gluten-free farfalle or other types of gluten-free pasta.
- What can you use instead of half-and-half? Use ½ cup of heavy cream + ½ cup of milk instead of 1 cup of half-and-half.
Cooking Tips
- Make-ahead tip. Make caramelized onions ahead of time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container, and use within the next 3 days. You can also freeze caramelized onions for up to 2 months and thaw them whenever you need them.
- If the creamy Parmesan sauce is too thick, slowly add a small amount of half-and-half to thin it out. Make sure the sauce continues to simmer and does not come to a standstill, while you add half-and-half to thin it out.
- If the creamy Parmesan sauce is too thin, add a small amount of shredded Parmesan cheese, and stir it in, while the sauce simmers.
How long do you cook farfalle?
- Usually, farfalle is cooked in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
- To prepare farfalle al dente, cook farfalle for 8 minutes, or for 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions.
How to make farfalle pasta
- First, caramelize onions for 30 minutes to reach a nice deep brown color. (See: how to caramelize onions). This step can be made ahead. Make caramelized onions a day or two in advance and keep them refrigerated in an airtight container.
- Next, cook the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Then, add spinach to cooked mushrooms and stir until spinach wilts.
- Next, make the creamy pasta sauce. Add half-and-half and shredded Parmesan cheese to the skillet with spinach and mushrooms. Stir, while the sauce simmers, until the cheese melts.
- Add caramelized onions to the skillet.
- Add cooked and drained farfalle pasta to the skillet with the pasta sauce and reheat on low heat for a couple of minutes.
Side dishes
- Bread. Serve garlic bread or baguette with creamy farfalle pasta.
- Green Salad. Make a basic green salad, such as spinach or arugula salad. Use a simple dressing made with olive oil, coarsely ground black pepper, and shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Fresh salad. Make this tomato cucumber avocado salad or tomato mozzarella salad.
Other pasta recipes
- Linguine with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
- Fusilli Pasta with Spinach, Artichokes, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts
- Mushroom Ravioli with Spinach
Farfalle Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions
Creamy Farfalle with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions. The bow-tie pasta is perfectly matched with rich and buttery Parmesan sauce! Serve this easy meatless Italian meal as-is, or with grilled chicken! Satisfying and comforting dinner that a whole family will love!
Ingredients
Caramelized onions
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 yellow onions , large, sliced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Creamy pasta sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 10 oz mushrooms , sliced (I used button mushrooms)
- 6 oz spinach
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese , shredded
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Pasta
- 8 oz farfalle pasta
Instructions
How to caramelize onions:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add sliced onions and cook on high heat for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring with the spatula.
- The onions should start to brown, but without burning.
- Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking onions for 10 more minutes, continuing to stir, as onions brown even more without burning. At this point add a pinch of salt over onions.
- Continue cooking for 10 more minutes on medium or low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure onions don’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn.
- In total, you should have cooked onions for 30 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from heat and sprinkle the onions with a small amount of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan.
- Using a spatula, stir the onions, scraping the bottom of the pan and coating onions with a pinch of balsamic vinegar you just added. Remove caramelized onions to a plate.
How to cook mushrooms and spinach:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same skillet on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
- Cook mushrooms for about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms are soft.
- Add fresh spinach to the skillet and stir on low heat just until spinach starts to wilt.
How to make creamy pasta sauce:
- Add half-and-half to the mushroom and spinach mixture and bring to a quick boil. Immediately reduce to simmer.
- Add ⅔ cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon salt. Keep stirring while the sauce simmers until the cheese melts.
- Add caramelized onions back to the skillet with the pasta sauce.
Cook pasta:
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain.
- Add cooked and drained farfalle pasta to the creamy sauce. Stir on low heat for a couple of minutes to reheat.
- If the sauce is too thick, add a small amount of half-and-half to thin it out. If it is too thin, add a small amount of shredded Parmesan cheese, and stir it in, while the sauce simmers.
- Serve with more shredded parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
Notes
Substitute for half-and-half: Use ½ cup of heavy cream + ½ cup of milk instead of 1 cup of half-and-half.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information
Farfalle Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions
Amount per Serving
Calories
511
% Daily Value*
Fat
22
g
34
%
Saturated Fat
10
g
63
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
2
g
Monounsaturated Fat
9
g
Cholesterol
39
mg
13
%
Sodium
761
mg
33
%
Potassium
816
mg
23
%
Carbohydrates
58
g
19
%
Fiber
5
g
21
%
Sugar
7
g
8
%
Protein
22
g
44
%
Vitamin A
4399
IU
88
%
Vitamin C
20
mg
24
%
Calcium
436
mg
44
%
Iron
3
mg
17
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
First time cooking this & it was delicious! I adjusted a few things for flavor. I added 3 cloves of minced garlic the last 2 minutes of cooking the onion's & doubled the balsamic vinegar. After the mushrooms cooked & before adding the spinach I added miniature cherry tomatoes that I had just harvested from my garden. I also doubled the spinach. When the cream sauce was simmering I added 1 Tbsp of dried marjoram & 1/2 tsp of pepper. After mixing all of it together the sauce was too thick, so I melted 3 Tbsp of butter with a 1/2 cup of cream & stirred it in, adding 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese & salt to taste. I will definitely make this recipe again & recommend it!
Linda, those are delicious additions! Glad you liked the recipe! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a thoughtful comment and the star review! 🙂
Taste is awesome but I sliced my onions too thin. I had globs of onion, spinach snd cheese. Make sure your onions are on the thicker side!
Great feedback - thank you!
Perfect recipe to use with a bowtie pasta. Pretty and delicious.
I have made this numerous times, so easy and delicious! I increase all the ingredients and use the whole box of pasta. I often make chicken on the side for the meat eaters. The onions make the dish.
Diane, your comment made my day! So glad you've been enjoying this recipe numerous times. Thanks for the 5-star review! 🙂
This was insanely delicious! At first I thought 3 onions would be too much but nope! It was so good! I did sub homemade cashew cream for the heavy cream and it was amazing!
Tina, I am so glad you liked this pasta! Homemade cashew cream instead of heavy cream sounds delicious! Thank you for stopping by and sharing a 5-star review! 🙂
This was delicious! My husband loved it. I only used 2 onions which was a mistake - definitely could use 3 since they cook up so much. I also used whole milk to make it a little healthier. It was good, but will probably try the half and half next time. Will definitely make again!!
Roxanne, I am so glad you liked it!
It was DEEluscous. I add some garlic and yellow bell pepper. I will definitely make it again.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Love the addition of yellow bell pepper. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your comment! 🙂
Made this last night with rainbow bow ties. Hubby said, no meat? I said, nope! He didn't miss the meat at all!! It was so flavorful! I did spend some more time sautéing the mushrooms - I'd read somewhere recently that they have great flavor if you cook them a bit longer like cartelizing onions and boy the flavor was amazing! Thank you!
Jen, you are very welcome! Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share a 5-star review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
What a beautiful dish!!! Super easy to make and such simple ingredient that make a marvelous dish. Thank you you made my dinner plan so much easier haha
Rose, you are very welcome! Thank you for 5-star review! 🙂
This was amazing! Looking for a meal to use up some things in my pantry, worked perfectly!! Used frozen chopped spinach and worked just fine. Little herbs de provence, and white pepper for seasoning with the shrooms *chef kiss* such a simply and fabulous recipe to have in the back pocket. Thank you!
Kevin, you are very welcome! Glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for the comment and the 5-star review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
I’ve altered the recipe a bit, as I didn’t have mushrooms. I’m not a grated cheese fan, (so my wife adds it in, upon serving her the dish). I caramelize the onions, add garlic as well, while the asparagus is lightly cooking, in a small amount of Chicken Stock. I add cut-up chicken breast into the onions and garlic, saute’, and add the steamed asparagus, baby spinach, and frozen green peas, along with some diced Italian canned tomatoes, simmer, while I boil the water. I p”cook the bowtie pasta al dente’, then add it to the vegetable mixture in the pot. I bring to a boil, reduce the heat. I bring the grated cheese to the table along with the completed dishes!
Charlie, your version sounds delicious! Love the addition of all these veggies!
I was disappointed in this recipe after all the great reviews.
OMG this was the best pasta dish I have made in a while. The carameled onions added so much flavor and sweetness. I used vidalia onions. We had some left over chicken sausages that I cooked to eat on the side.
Thank you so much! This is a keeper.
Gloria, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing such positive feedback!
Hi. I've had this recipe Pinned for a long time and finally got around to making it tonight. I have to say it is really, really good! It was time consuming with the onions but not a huge effort. The outcome was worth the time though! Three of us ate the entire skillet's worth! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Trisha, you are very welcome! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for such a positive comment - I really appreciate it.
This was delicious! Even my pickiest eaters loved it! Only thing I didn’t like was caramelizing the onions for 30 mins lol but so worth it in the end!
Melissa, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Yes, caramelizing the onions is worth the time!
Sounds wonderful. Could you prepare this a day ahead, put it in a casserole dish, and then the next evening add the cheese on top and bake?
Sounds absolutely delicious! Definitely gonna try it, pinning too !!