Linguine with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

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.