I don’t know about you, but I just love it when comfort food meets healthy. Indulging doesn’t have to mean sinking your teeth into something that isn’t all that good for you. And let me tell you, this Creamy Green Spaghetti is proof of that. To make this recipe we are using spinach as our base for a beautiful and delicious creamy green sauce that coats the spaghetti perfectly. The sweet pan-roasted garlic cherry tomatoes add bursts of flavour and the baked butter beans add some texture. We can’t get enough of this recipe, it’s such an eye-catcher with all those gorgeous colors coming together and it honestly tastes just as good as it looks, if not better. On top of all that, it’s incredibly easy to make and ready in 15 minutes!
![Spinach-spaghetti-2 Two hands hold a brown bowl with spaghetti with a green sauce.](https://lifeinourkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spinach-spaghetti-2.jpg)
Stop drooling! This wonderful healthy bowl of pasta isn’t going to cook itself now is it? Seriously, you have to give this recipe a try. I promise it won’t disappoint. If it does, I probably don’t want you here in the first place. Just kidding. Or am I?
All of the Ingredients
![Ingredients The ingredients for the recipe on a wooden table.](https://lifeinourkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Ingredients.jpg)
- Whole wheat spaghetti – we said it’s a healthy recipe, didn’t we? So yes, extra dietary fiber. As far as we are concerned, for this recipe it’s just as delicious as using regular spaghetti. However, if you don’t like to use whole wheat spaghetti, by all means use regular.
- Tomatoes – pan-roasted cherry tomatoes are real flavour bombs and we especially love using them in pasta dishes like this one. This dish just isn’t the same without them.
- Nutritional yeast – adds a wonderful, savoury and almost cheese-like flavour. Do yourself a favor and do not skip this one.
- Butter beans – one of our personal favorite beans in general, because of their buttery mouthfeel.
- Spinach – for that lush green sauce. And because veggies.
Nutritional Information
I’m not even sure if this still needs to be addressed, but healthy and delicious are NOT each others enemy. They can most definitely be Batman and Robin. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one is Robin and which one is Batman. In all seriousness, this creamy green spaghetti recipe is healthy because..
Whole wheat spaghetti is superior when it comes to nutrition if you compare it to regular (white) spaghetti. It has way more dietary fiber and it also contains B vitamins and some minerals. Tahini is relatively high in protein and is a source of healthy (unsaturated) fats. Just one tablespoon of tahini contains 27% of your recommended daily amount of copper, 9% phosphorus and 9% selenium. It also has some zinc, iron and calcium. Cherry tomatoes are rich in both vitamine A and C. They also provide your body with potassium, which plays a pivotal role in managing bloodpressure. Butter beans are high in plant-based protein and dietary fiber. They are high in potassium and contain a bunch of other vitamins and minerals. Beans in general are very healthy, as you probably already know. Unfortunately, most people don’t eat enough of them. Spinach is what popeye is known for. Or is it the other way around? I’m not even sure anymore. Anyways, I don’t think you need me to tell you that spinach is healthy. But I’m still going to. Spinach is healthy. For a vegetable, it’s actually quite high in protein, 100 grams of spinach equals about 2.5 grams of protein.
![Tomato-spinach-butterbeans A pan on a wooden board with fried tomatoes, butter beans and spinach.](https://lifeinourkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tomato-spinach-butterbeans.jpg)
Substitutions and Variations
- Plant-based milk – if you are feeling a little more fancy, you can choose to use plant-based cream instead for an extra creamy sauce. Mind you, it won’t be as healthy.
- Cherry tomatoes – you can use any type of fresh tomatoes. However, for the best results we recommend you stick with cherry tomatoes.
- Butter beans – instead of using butter beans you can use either cannellini beans, white beans or even chickpeas. We prefer the butter beans because they make the dish look a little more rustic, but any of those beans will work.
- Tahini – you can use cashew, macadamia or almond butter instead.
![Green-Spaghetti A fork in a brown bowl filled with green spaghetti topped with tomatoes and butter beans.](https://lifeinourkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spinach-spaghetti-3.jpg)
FAQ
![Two hands hold a brown bowl with spaghetti with a green sauce.](https://lifeinourkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Spinach-spaghetti-2-150x150.jpg)
Healthy and Creamy Green Spaghetti
- Total Time: 20 min
- Yield: 2 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
We can’t get enough of this recipe. It’s one of our favorites, because it’s comfort food, but also very healthy. On top of all that, it’s easy to make and ready in 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- A pinch of salt
- 1 cup (150 grams) canned butter beans
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Italian herbs
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 5 cups (100 grams) spinach
- 5.3 OZ (150 grams) whole wheat spaghetti noodles
- Extra virgin olive oil (optional)
For the Sauce:
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) plant-based milk
- 5 cups (100 grams) spinach
- 3/4 cup (100 grams) butter beans
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Cook the spaghetti noodles for about 7 minutes.Â
- Add a splash of water to a large skillet or wok over medium heat.Â
- Add the cherry tomatoes and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring regulary. Use a fork to crush the tomatoes down a little bit once they start to soften, so they can release some of the moisture.Â
- In the meantime, prepare the green sauce by combining all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.Â
- Add the butter beans, garlic and Italian herbs to the tomatoes and stir. Sauté for 2 more minutes.Â
- Add the lemon juice and spinach, stir and cook for another minute. Then, transfer to a bowl.
- To the same skillet, add the green sauce and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Drain the spaghetti noodles, reserve some of the cooking liquid.Â
- Add the spaghetti noodles to the sauce and mix until evenly coated. When the sauce is a little thick, add some of the reserved cooking liquid to loosen.Â
- Serve the spaghetti together with the vegetables.Â
Notes
Nutritional facts are estimates. If you want to be sure about the nutritional facts, be sure to check your product labels.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Category: Dinner, 30-minute meal
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 513kcal
- Sugar: 8,6g
- Sodium: 0,6g
- Fat: 8,1g
- Saturated Fat: 1,5g
- Carbohydrates: 73,1g
- Fiber: 19,3g
- Protein: 27,6g