Vegetarian pasta e piselli is a simple one-pot dish that uses only 5 ingredients! Onion is sauteed in olive oil, then peas and water are added. Finally the pasta cooks right in the broth, and releases its starches to add a beautiful creamy consistency to the dish. Don't forget the parmigiano!
I will never tire of pasta e piselli. It's a quick dish to make (25 minutes!), but it's also comforting. And you don't get that often. Usually comfort dishes take hours to make. But not this one.
I grew up with pasta e piselli, both with this vegetarian version, and the pasta e piselli with tomato and pancetta version. It's something nonna and my mom would make often in our Italian kitchen.
And it's a dish I continue to make to this day for my family. Hopefully my son will make it when he grows up, too. Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?
Let's get cooking!
Top tips
- Blending part of the peas is optional but highly recommended! It will give the dish a beautiful creamy consistency.
- I use water in this recipe but you could also use vegetable broth
- If you'd like the dish a bit more soupy/liquid, feel free to add more water towards the end of the pasta cooking process
Recipe
Vegetarian Pasta e Piselli
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- ½ cup onion chopped into small dice
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 4 cups water divided
- 170 grams small pasta ditalini or small shells
- 3 tablespoon parmigiano reggiano grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To a large pan or pot, over medium heat, add the olive oil.
- Once olive oil is heated through, add the chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once onion is fragrant, add the peas. Cook for about 1-2 minutes. Pour in about 2.5-3 cups of water.
- Once water and peas come to a boil, remove about 1 ¼ cup of peas and a bit of broth to a measuring cup or jar.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the peas until creamy.
- Add the cream mixture back into the pan. Adjust for salt and pepper if needed.
- Once it comes back to a boil, add in the pasta.
- Cook the pasta until tender. If while cooking, it starts to dry out too much, add more water. Stir often, or else the pasta and peas will stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat.
- Off heat, add a bit of olive oil and grated parmigiano. Stir. This will give the dish an even creamier consistency.
- Serve, top with more grated parmigiano and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days
- To reheat, place in a sauce pan on the stove and warm through over medium heat. The pasta will likely have absorbed most oof the liquid by this point, so feel free to add a bit more water to the saucepan to rehydrate.
Beverly K-Moses says
Awesome
Pina Bresciani says
Thanks Beverly!
-Pina
Christina Ballarin says
Delicious!
Pina Bresciani says
Thanks Christina! So glad you liked it.
-Pina
Anita Succheralli says
Excellent yummy
Pina Bresciani says
Yay so glad you liked it Anita!
-Pina
Brian says
Very tasty and healthy!! I used the smaller peas called "petite peas" Thank you for such a great
no-fuss simple and tasty recipe. Am adding it to my repertoire!
Pina Bresciani says
Hi Brian! I'm so glad you liked it.
-Pina
Stephen says
I never leave comments but this was so delicious. Only changes I made was from TikTok comments which was to throw in some bacon and a bit of garlic but otherwise this will be a staple of mine going forward
Pina Bresciani says
Hi Stephen! That's so awesome, I'm glad you liked it. Adding garlic and bacon sounds great.
-Pina
Marylee says
I made this recipe and it is the most delicious pasta and peas recipe I ever made. And I have made a few!!
Pina Bresciani says
Thanks Marylee! I'm so glad you liked it.
-Pina
Tammy says
Very tasty! I will keep this in my go-to recipe rotation. Thanks so much!
Pina Bresciani says
Thanks Tammy! So glad you liked it.
-Pina