Italian pistachio pasta is a wonderfully delicious, and easy pasta meal to make. With an incredibly unique flavor for a pasta dish, the use of pistachios will definitely be your new favorite pasta dish!
For Italians, pistachios are such a popular nut to use for an aperitivo, amazing desserts, and with mortadella panini, or even pizza.
In fact, pistachios are so popular the Sicilian government made gave them protected status! but, have you tried them with pasta? If not, I urge you to make this pistachio pesto pasta for your next meal, and don't worry, you can thank me later!
When I think of pistachios for cooking, my thoughts turn to pistachio gelato, or a pistachio spread for a cake. And for many, when they think of pesto, their minds turn to basil pesto, or even arugula. But the beauty of exploring different ways of using ingredients is that you can come up with something incredible, like pistachio pesto!
Using pistachios, you'll have an amazing nutty pesto that creates a unique and appetizing flavor for your pasta. It's so delicious, you might find yourself buying pistachio in the bulk section so you can make more!
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Why you Should Make Pistachio Pasta
- It's easy to make - a dish that comes together quickly, it's perfect for busy nights or when you're having having a get-together
- It's tasty - the flavor from the pistachio pesto is a nice variation on more well-known pestos, and will be a satisfying experience
- You can be creative - in making the pistachio pesto for the pasta, you can keep some extra pesto for pizzas, or panini!
Ingredients
- Pistachio pesto - this amazing pesto will bring the flavor to your pasta dish. It's made with lots of pistachios, a bit of basil, cheese, garlic and olive oil
- Pasta
- Pasta Water - the magic elixir that binds the pesto to the pasta
- Burrata (optional) - to add a little extra freshness and creaminess to your pasta
Which Pasta Shape to Use
For this recipe, any pasta shape will work, which is great if you need to use anything that is already in your pantry. In this version, I used spaghetti, but you could really use anything, short or long, it's up to you! For example, you could use penne, or rotini for short pastas, or you could you fettucine or linguine.
How to Make it - Step by Step
Add the pasta to a cold pan, and add in the pistachio pesto (photos 1 & 2)
Add some pasta water and mix until pesto melts into the pasta and is creamy. Then, add more pasta water if needed. (photos 3 & 4)
Plate, and top with burrata is using, as well as crushed pistachios and grated parmigiano or pecorino. Enjoy your pistachio pasta!
In this recipe, a pistachio pesto was used which can be synonymous for a pistachio sauce. This sauce is made of pistachios, basil, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano, garlic, a little bit of salt and olive oil.
This sauce is nutty in flavor, due to the large amounts of pistachios in the recipe. It's also a bit garlicky, and has a nice bite from the cheeses used.
There are many pistachio-flavoured baked goods and savory foods in Italy, so pistachio is quite prevalent in Italian cooking. Pistachios are grown in Italy, mostly in Sicily, and they are known to be of the utmost quality. Since such amazing quality pistachios are grown in Italy, it's easy to see why they are so popular in the country. In fact, pistachios are so popular the Sicilian government gave them protected status!
Storage
It's best to eat this dish right after making it, but if you have leftovers, you can store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to three days. To reheat, place leftovers in a small pan, add some olive oil and heat on stove until pasta is warm. You can also reheat in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish to your desired warmth.
Top Tips
- You do not need to warm up the pesto. Generally pesto should not be heated. The heat from the pasta and pasta water is enough to heat up the dish.
More Italian Pesto Recipes
- Burrata Crostini with Mortadella and Pistachio Pesto
- How To Make Authentic Pesto Genovese (Just Like In Genova!)
- Easy Arugula Pesto Recipe
If you tried making this Italian Pistachio Pasta, or any other recipe on the blog, please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below. I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST and TIKTOK to see more delicious food and what I’ve been up to.
Recipe
Italian Pistachio Pasta
Italian pistachio pasta is a wonderfully delicious, and easy pasta meal to make. With an incredibly unique flavor for a pasta dish, the use of pistachios will definitely be your new favorite pasta dish!
Ingredients
- 1 batch pistachio pesto
- 200 grams fusilli or any other short pasta or long pasta
- ½ cup burrata optional
- crushed pistachios optional
- grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese optional
- salt to taste
Instructions
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Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, salt the pasta water, and add in the pasta. Cook until al dente.
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Add the pasta to a cold pan, and add in the pistachio pesto.
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Add some pasta water and mix until pesto melts into the pasta and is creamy. Add more pasta water if needed.
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Plate, and top with burrata if using, as well as crushed pistachios and grated parmigiano or pecorino. Enjoy your pistachio pasta!
Recipe Notes
- You do not need to warm up the pesto. Generally pesto should not be heated. The heat from the pasta and pasta water is enough to heat up the dish.
- You can use any cut of pasta you'd like for this recipe, a short cut like the fusilli used in this recipe, penne would work well too. You can also use long pasta like spaghetti, linguine etc
