Linguine with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce takes just 30 minutes to make! This simple Italian pasta is a great choice for a weeknight dinner! Linguine is generously coated in a comforting creamy sauce made with garlic and Parmesan cheese.
This delicious linguine has been inspired by the sun-dried tomato pasta I made a while back. This recipe features the best homemade pasta sauce you'll ever try! It's full of flavor and color! The creamy linguine Alfredo sauce is made with garlic, paprika, cream, and shredded Parmesan cheese.
This linguine recipe makes a great meatless dinner. If you crave some protein, you can easily add grilled chicken or cooked shrimp to the dish. Just like in this simple chicken pasta or this shrimp pasta.
Linguine with creamy alfredo sauce
- Creamy comfort food. In this recipe, linguine is smothered in a simple homemade alfredo sauce made with cream, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. The silky sauce coats the linguine to produce one of the most comforting and decadent pasta dishes you'll ever try! Sun-dried tomatoes and spinach add so much flavor to the creamy deliciousness!
- 30-minute recipe. This beautiful pasta dish takes only 30 minutes to make.
- Only 9 ingredients. Simple recipes are the best! This recipe uses basic ingredients that you can easily buy in any grocery store.
- Beautiful presentation. This easy pasta makes a beautiful and colorful presentation. Creamy alfredo sauce has a light pink color thanks to sun-dried tomatoes and paprika. Spinach also adds vibrancy to the linguine!
What is linguine?
- Linguine is a long, thin, ribbon-style pasta of Italian origin. It's similar to fettuccine and spaghetti. Linguine is like flattened spaghetti and not as wide as fettuccine.
- Linguine originated in Genoa of Liguria region, Italy.
- Linguine is usually served with seafood or with pesto sauce. Other common dishes made with linguine include puttanesca sauce, linguine carbonara, and linguine with clams.
- Linguine is made with durum wheat semolina.
Fun fact: Did you know that "linguine" in Italian means "little tongues"? "Linguina" means "little tongue" in Italian, and "linguine" is plural of "linguina". The root of the word is "lingua" (Latin) which means tongue.
Substitutions
This pasta dish is very flexible, and you can use all kinds of different ingredients:
- Don't have linguine? Use spaghetti or fettuccine pasta.
- What can you use to replace Parmesan? Use Mozzarella cheese, Pecorino Romano, or Asiago cheese.
- Don't have spinach? Use Swiss chard, arugula, or kale.
Linguine vs. fettuccine
- Both linguine and fettuccine are ribbon style, long strand pasta. Fettuccine is a flat thick pasta. Fettuccine is noticeably wider than linguine. Linguine is more like flattened spaghetti.
- The most common dish made with fettuccine is fettuccine alfredo. Linguine is usually served with seafood, pesto, carbonara sauce, or with clams.
Linguine vs. spaghetti
- Both linguine and spaghetti are ribbon-style long-strand pasta. They are very similar in shape. Linguine is like a flatter version of spaghetti.
- Spaghetti is usually served with tomato sauce or meat. Linguine is traditionally served with seafood or pesto.
Sauces that go well with linguine
- White cream pasta sauce. Linguine tastes amazing when coated in the white cheese Italian pasta sauce. Make simple white cream pasta sauce for linguine or any other pasta!
- Sun-dried tomato cream sauce. Sun-dried tomatoes and basil in a homemade creamy Mozzarella sauce will make a perfect sauce for linguine. This sun-dried tomato pasta recipe shows you how to make it.
- Alfredo sauce. Make linguine alfredo by following this recipe for chicken broccoli alfredo. You can even add chicken and broccoli, or keep them out of the recipe and just follow the steps for the alfredo sauce.
Gluten-free friendly recipe
- You can easily make this recipe gluten free by using gluten free linguine.
What to serve with linguine
- Bread. Serve Baguette or Italian garlic bread.
- Fresh salad. Make this tomato cucumber avocado salad or tomato mozzarella salad.
- Spinach salad. Because this linguine has spinach, it would be a great combination to serve it with a basic spinach salad. Just toss together some spinach leaves with shredded Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Or, if you want something more sophisticated, try this spinach salad with prosciutto and pears. Or, make a spinach salad with beets.
How to cook linguine al dente
- To cook pasta al dente, cook linguine in salted boiling water about 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions. I cooked linguine for about 9 minutes in boiling water.
Cooking Tips
- Reserve some pasta water. Use it to thin out the cream sauce if it gets too thick.
- Make sure to season the creamy linguine sauce with just the right amount of salt. That means you might have to add more salt than indicated in the recipe. Salt really helps to bring out all the flavors!
How to prepare the sauce for linguine - step-by-step
1) Cook chopped sun-dried tomatoes and minced garlic with olive oil on medium heat, for about 30 seconds.
2) Add 1 cup of half-and-half, paprika, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer.
3) Add shredded Parmesan cheese. Stir for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts.
4) Add spinach.
5) Keep stirring on medium heat until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute.
6) Add cooked and drained linguine to the sauce. Stir well. Taste the linguine, and season with more salt, if needed.
Other pasta recipes
Below are other meatless pasta sauce recipes that will go great with linguine. What's beautiful about these recipes is that you can easily add protein. Add grilled chicken, pan-seared scallops or seared shrimp.
- Creamy Spinach Mushroom Pasta with Caramelized Onions
- Sun-Dried Tomato Mushroom Pasta
- Four Cheese Garlic White Cream Pasta Sauce
Linguine with spinach and sun-dried tomato cream sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz linguine
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes , chopped
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese , shredded
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 oz spinach
- 5 basil leaves fresh, finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook linguine according to package instructions. Drain.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.
- Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and minced garlic. Cook on medium heat for about 30 seconds, constantly stirring.
- Add 1 cup of half-and-half, paprika, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer.
- Add ½ cup of shredded Parmesan cheese (half of what the recipe calls for). Stir for about 30 seconds or longer until the cheese melts. If the sauce is too thin, gradually add more cheese. Keep stirring around all of the skillet for a couple of minutes.
- Note: if the sauce gets too thick, add more half-and-half.
- Add spinach. Keep stirring on medium heat until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute.
- Add cooked and drained linguine to the sauce. Stir well.
- Taste the linguine and add more salt, if needed. Top with finely chopped fresh basil leaves.
Notes
Nutrition
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.
Love this recipe! So easy and delicious, my entire family loves it!
Thanks, Aileen, for your review and the 5-star rating! 🙂
This has quickly become a family favorite! Excellent flavor and loved by all. Delicious!
Yay! So glad it's a favorite! 🙂
made this last night for dinner with Gluten Free Fettuccine and added chicken. It was delicious. this is a keeper. Next time I will double the sauce. thank you!
Thank you, Lorraine, for your 5 star review! 🙂 Love that you've added chicken and made it gluten-free!
So tasty! I used whole milk because I didn’t have the cream. It turned out great Thank you
Wow, so nice it worked well with whole milk!!
Not enough sauce and the sauce beans very grainy and not appetizing. I should have used whipping cream.
Michelle, some troubleshooting tips:
1) Make sure the sauce simmers on the lowest boil setting - it should not be boiling aggressively.
2) I recommend using freshly grated or shredded Parmesan cheese that you shred/grate yourself for best texture.
Very good and quick! Added chicken- will have again!
So glad you liked it, Carrie! 🙂 Love that you added some protein to make it more substantial!
Very tasty recipe! We like ours drowning in sauce so I'll probably double the sauce next time. We substituted bowtie pasta because I didn't have linguine and it was delicious! I also didn't have fresh basil and it was good without but I'm looking forward to trying it with the basil.
Shawna, so glad you loved this recipe, and, I have to agree, the more sauce, the better!! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your review! ❤️
I agree with other review saying not enough sauce - I love sauce a lot. This flavor though is amazing!! So easy to make too. I used almond milk instead of heavy cream and added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it a little. Also used baby spinach 🙂
Thank you, Karli, for your feedback about successfully using almond milk + conrstarch slurry. So helpful to other people who might want to try the same! ❤️
Just want the recipe, not all the crap that comes with it¡!!!!!!
Easy to make and so delicious. I'll never buy a shop bought sauce again.
Monica, I am so happy to hear that! Homemade creamy pasta sauces are definitely superior to the store-bought ones!
Can I use whole milk only to make it a less caloric sauce or must I add the cream?
Kat, you can try using whole milk - in a smaller amount, or adding it in small amounts gradually along with the cheese.
Also, if using whole milk (or in general, it's a good idea), make sure the grated or shredded Parmesan cheese is at room temperature (take it out of the fridge as the first step of the recipe). If using a block of Parmesan, grate it or shred it at least 30 minutes before making the recipe and keep it near the heating source so that it reaches room temperature faster.
This is a wonderful recipe. So simple, makes a beautiful presentation and it absolutely delicious. I made it exactly as written. No need to change a thing! This goes on my "loved it and will make it again" board. Thanks, Julia.
Not enough sauce and should use baby spinach, not regular spinach as it 'clumps' and makes the dish a bit bitter.
Evan, another alternative could be to chop up regular spinach so that it doesn't clump up.
Made this recipe tonight. Delish!
Hello Julia
I love the flavour of sundried tomatoes but not the texture, I was wondering if I could used sundried tomato pesto as a substitute for the sundried tomatoes.
Thanks for ALL your great recipes !!
You’ll have a different but tasty result. Let us know if you try it and what you thought about it:
Sun-dried tomato pesto would work just fine, just keep in mind that the texture will be different, and don't add too much of the pesto as it's packed with oil and might make your sauce to oily. I would add it gradually to see how it affect the texture.
Loved it! Delicious and quick!
Delicious recipe! You can also add your favorite veggies or chicken. Tasty just the way it is!