Creamy High Protein Broccoli Pasta Sauce
Creamy High Protein Broccoli Pasta Sauce is a fun way to encourage your entire family to eat more vegetables. Packed with veggies (broccoli!) and protein (you’ll never guess what makes this sauce so creamy), this delicious pesto-like green sauce will be a repeat dinner your entire family loves!
Nut Free, Egg Free, Soy Free
Cottage cheese is all the rage right now… but did you know that you can add it to PASTA SAUCE???
As much as I love to make a creamy red sauce from a jar of my favorite marinara sauce + cottage cheese blended up, this broccoli pesto sauce takes the cake.
Originally inspired by a mom who just wants her kids to eat some more vegetables (me, I’m the mom!), this creamy broccoli pasta sauce is great even if you don’t have kids! Most of all, you’ll love how easy it is to make, even if it does require a couple more pots and pans than my usual 1-pot meals.
This High Protein Broccoli Pasta Sauce is…
- So easy to make
- Delicious
- Packed with protein
- Loaded with vitamins and minerals
- GREEN + so fun!
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Green Sauce
You’ll need 8 ingredients to make Broccoli Pasta Sauce, including:
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Shallots
- Broccoli
- Pasta
- Cottage cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- White pepper (you can use black pepper too)
If you have picky eaters, like I do, this sauce is a fun way to get them to eat more veggies. Call it HULK sauce, SHREK sauce, or just GREEN GOO sauce to have some fun and encourage your kids to try it.
I never encourage parents to “hide” veggies (aka blend them in), but you also don’t provide an ingredient list to their Mac n’ cheese either. If they ask what it’s made of, share with your kids. But also make it fun… “Shrek gets green because he eats this sauce!”
How to Make Broccoli Pasta Sauce
This recipe is my favorite to make. There are a few different components (not going to lie), BUT a lot of them can be done simultaneously.
Here’s what I mean…
First, you’ll prepare the sauce. But in order to prepare the sauce, you need to cook the broccoli – either steam or boil it, so get 2 pots of water boiling (one for the broccoli, the other for the pasta)
While those are boiling, sauté the shallots and garlic.
Just before you start to make the sauce in the blender, add the pasta to the boiling water.
Now, as you’re ready to prepare the sauce, you’ll have the components ready and your pasta will almost be done cooking when you’re done with the sauce. In a blender you’ll combine broccoli, cottage cheese, the sautéed garlic and shallots, plus parmesan cheese.
When you finish making the sauce, the pasta will be ready to drain. Be sure to save some of the cooking water to thin out the sauce.
The last step is to toss it all together – the sauce and the pasta. And enjoy!
It may sound a little bit like a circus with a few different pots and pans going at once, but it’s worth it – I promise!
Kitchen Tools to Make This Recipe
This recipe requires more pots and pans going at once than most of my recipes, but that helps you be efficient! You’ll need…
- Set of pots and pans (2 pots to boil water, 1 to saute garlic and shallots)
- Spatula
- Blender – a Magic Bullet or a Vitamix will work great!
- Big bowl
Creamy High Protein Broccoli Pasta Sauce
Creamy High Protein Broccoli Pesto Sauce is a fun way to encourage your entire family to eat more vegetables. Packed with veggies (broccoli!) and protein (you’ll never guess what makes this sauce so creamy), this delicious pesto-like green sauce will be a repeat dinner your entire family loves!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large shallot, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 5 cups broccoli florets
- 8 oz pasta, I used Campanelle
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- ¼ cup shaved parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
- Bring 2 pots of water to a boil. Salt one of the pots (for the pasta).
- While the water boils, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Saute the shallots and garlic in olive oil until softened. Then turn off the heat and set aside.
- Once the water boils, cook the broccoli for 7 minutes, just until soft to fork. In the other pot of boiling water, cook the pasta in salted water for about 8-9 minutes, until al dente. Drain when done cooking and transfer to a large bowl.
- When the broccoli is done cooking, drain, reserving ¼ cup of the cooking water. Add the cooked broccoli, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and the sautéed shallots and garlic to a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth. To thin out the sauce add the reserved cooking water, adding 1 tablespoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
- Add the sauce to the pasta and mix together until it’s evenly coated. Serve immediately.
Love this recipe? Other pasta recipes to try:
- Spinach and Artichoke Pasta
- Lemon Basil Shrimp Pasta
- Gluten Free Greek Pasta Salad
- Dairy Free Creamy Avocado Pasta
- Garlic Lemon Pea Pasta
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XO