30 minute dinner that is elegant, loaded with unique veggies, and is quite a show stopper...Salmon Pesto Pasta is filled with pantry staple ingredients and is so easy to make!
Prep ahead and simply top with salmon right before serving, it's the perfect dinner for weeknight or serve it up for Sunday dinner!
Table of Contents
Salmon Pesto Pasta Loaded with Veggies!
This pesto pasta is lemony and bright, toned down with a little cream. I've chosen to LOAD this pasta with vegetables for something a little different.
- Penne or rigatoni pasta
- 1 lb salmon
- ¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup pesto
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- 2 cups shredded Brussel sprouts
- salt, pepper, garlic powder
- ⅚ slices of bacon
- juice of 1 lemon
How To Make Light Pesto Cream Sauce & Salmon
Making the pesto cream sauce for this salmon pasta is SO easy! You could use any of your favorite jarred pesto or make it yourself.
If you want to sneak in even more vegetables into this dish you could try my homemade Broccoli Pesto!
This pesto cream sauce could go well directly over the salmon if you want to keep it low carb, or toss it all together with the pasta. The choice is yours!
- Bake the salmon at 425 degrees for 17-19 minutes.
- Boil pasta according to package directions, reserve 1 cup pasta water.
- In a small bowl combine the cream, pesto, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Whisk.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta and add in the pasta water.
- Stir in the olives, walnuts, bacon, and Brussel sprouts.
- Top with flaked, baked salmon, and enjoy!
Best Way To Cook Salmon
There are so many great ways to cook salmon. Poached, baked, pan-seared, air fried and many more!
For this recipe I recommend baking it so you can prepare the other parts of the meal while the salmon is cooking.
So when the salmon is done cooking your creamy pesto pasta should be ready as well!
Tips and Tricks
Did you accidentally buy salmon with the skin on? No worries! Head to this blog to learn my two easy ways to remove the skin from salmon.
You could also pan sear the salmon instead of baking it, but that turns this one-skillet 30 minute dinner into more work! So I'd stick with baking.
Store-bought or homemade pesto? Either will work great for this Pesto Pasta!
More Recipes Using Pesto
If you love pesto as much as I do, check out these other recipes!
Sausage and Veggie Pesto Pasta
Salmon Pesto Pasta and Veggies
Ingredients
- 16 oz Penne or rigatoni pasta
- 1 lb salmon
- ¼ cup kalamata olives pitted
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup pesto
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- 2 cups shredded Brussel sprouts
- salt pepper, garlic powder
- ⅚ slices of bacon
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Bake the salmon at 425 degrees for 17-19 minutes.
- Boil pasta according to package directions, reserve 1 cup pasta water.
- In a small bowl combine the cream, pesto, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Whisk.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta and add in the pasta water.
- Stir in the olives, walnuts, bacon, and brussel sprouts.
- Top with flaked, baked salmon and enjoy
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