Cajun Spiced Spinach Recipe
Cajun-spiced spinach pasta is incredibly easy to make. This will make dinner easy and is delicious that you'll be happy to have leftovers. If you like Cajun flavors, this Pasta will be ready in 20-25 minutes tops! To keep the dinner time stress-free, try this recipe made with store-bought ingredients, but with tons of flavor.
Ingredients
- 227 grams 8 oz | ~3 cups Penne pasta; gluten-free if required
- 3 tablespoon Olive Oil; divided
- 1 teaspoon salt + more to taste
- 60-70 grams ½ cup Onion; finely chopped
- 2-3 large Garlic cloves; finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Red chilli flakes; adjust to taste skip for a milder version
- 1-2 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning; adjust to taste reduce the quantity for a milder version
- 80 grams 2 cups Fresh Spinach;
- 250 ml 1 cup tomato-based pasta sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes; optional
- Grated Parmesan for garnish; optional
Instructions
- Add pasta, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 2 cups of water to the Instant Pot. Cook on High Pressure (Manual Mode. Pressure Cook Mode) for 5 minutes (assuming the pasta cooks in 10-11 minutes on the stovetop). Quick pressure release. [Be careful here. There might be heavy foam build up]. Reserve a cup of pasta water and drain the pasta.
- Give a quick rinse to the steel pot and dry it.
- Turn the Instant Pot in Saute mode. Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil followed by onion and garlic. Saute till onion turns translucent.
- Add red chilli flakes, if using, followed by Cajun spice. Saute for two minutes.
- Once the spices turn fragrant, add the finely chopped spinach and saute until it wilts about 2-3 minutes.
- Mix the pasta sauce and cook for a couple of minutes. Taste and add salt if required.
- Tip in the cooked and drained pasta and mix well to coat the pasta with the sauce.
- Add a little reserve pasta water if the pasta seems a little dry.
- Serve hot.
Video
Notes
- 1 CUP = 250 ML. (US cups are typically 240 ml. You can use US cups with no significant change to the dish)
- Grams to cups measurements – we strive to provide these conversions as accurately as possible. There might be some slight variations depending on the brand, weighing scale, etc.
- Serving size – 8 OZ pasta typically serves 3-4 people. But then there are times when my hungry teenager wants more :). Always adjust the serving size to suit your dietary needs.
- This is a pretty forgiving recipe. You can adjust the spices and seasonings to taste.
- Skip the red chilli flakes and reduce the quantity of the Cajun Spice for a milder version.
- Any tomato-based (not cream-based) pasta will work in the recipe.
- You can try the recipe with Kale, Chard, or any other of your favorite greens instead of spinach.
- I do not add additional salt while preparing the sauce, since the storebought pasta sauce and the cajun seasoning has salt in them.
- Short forms used in the video ----> TBSP- tablespoon; TSP - teaspoon; GMS - grams; OZ- ounce; mts - minutes