One Pot Creamy Broccoli Pasta

This easy Broccoli Pasta comes out so creamy – and everything cooks in one single pot! Even the pasta cooks right in the sauce for an easy vegetarian dinner, or a quick side dish.

Another day, another new one pot pasta recipe!

If you can’t tell already, I absolutely love the concept of it: You add everything to one pot, the pasta cooks to perfection and at the same time a wonderfully creamy sauce forms right in the same pot or pan. No need to pre-cook the pasta in a separate pot, which means less clean-up and less work.

Here I’m sharing my favorite way to make a simple broccoli pasta: With a creamy, silky sauce and plenty of broccoli. It makes a great vegetarian dinner, but it’s also an easy way to make a vegetable and a starch side dish at the same time!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Broccoli: I know it may seem like a LOT of broccoli, but I promise it works. If you want to use frozen broccoli, I very very highly recommend steaming it in the microwave and then adding it at the very end. Otherwise, the dish just doesn’t come out quite right; and frozen broccoli tends to get quite mushy in a one pot pasta.
• Pasta: This recipe works best with smaller, short pasta shapes. Think Orecchiette, medium shells, large elbow macaroni (I think the correct term would be Pipe Rigate).
• Milk: Feel free to use evaporated milk for a pantry-friendly ingredient swap, or half-and-half to make the dish a little richer. I used whole milk, 2% is also fine. Skim milk yields a thinner sauce.
• Broth: Chicken or vegetable broth are both fine.
• White wine: You can replace this with more broth if you don’t want to use alcohol. Use a dry white wine for cooking, not a sweet one.

How to make Broccoli Pasta

1. Cook the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Then add the white wine and lemon zest and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.

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2. Add the broth, milk and seasoning and bring to a boil.

Then, stir through the pasta and simmer for 8 minutes, stirring often to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the dish.

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3. Stir the broccoli into the dish, then cover with a lid and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove the lid, stir carefully and cook for one more minute until the pasta and broccoli are done. Take off the heat.

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4. Take off the heat and stir through the cream cheese, parmesan cheese and lemon juice. Add a few splashes of milk if needed to create a creamy sauce.

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I highly recommend to serve the pasta immediately, that’s when it is the creamiest.

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Recipe tips

• Pan: I highly recommend using a wide sauté pan for this recipe (mine holds about 3.7 quart if you need a size reference). It’s much easier to get everything cooked evenly over using a standard pot.
• Stirring: Make sure to stir the pasta often during the first 5 minutes of cooking, it tends to stick to the bottom and then you risk it burning.
• Broccoli size: You want the broccoli chopped into florets, and then larger florets cut in half. Otherwise it will not cook in time.
• Cooking time: My pasta indicates a cooking time of 8 minutes on the package (one pot pastas take about twice as long to cook vs boiling the pasta in water). If your pasta indicates a shorter cooking time, add the broccoli after just 5 minutes. If your pasta indicates a much longer cooking time, you may want to wait for 10 minutes before adding the broccoli.
• Broccoli cooking time: Adding the broccoli for the last 5 minutes leaves the broccoli tender, but still with a bite. If you prefer very cooked, almost overdone broccoli for pasta, then add it 2-3 minutes earlier.

Tips for leftovers

If you have leftovers, place them in a casserole dish, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

To reheat, remove from the fridge, uncover and let sit on the counter for 15 minutes as your oven heats to 400°F.

Stir in ½ cup of milk, then sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the casserole is heated through and bubbly.

Serving ideas

If you want to round out your meal with a protein, here are some of our favorite ideas:

• Oven Baked Chicken Breast or Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
• Air Fryer Chicken Breast or Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
• Stir 1 can of white beans through the pasta at the end, then heat through
• Homemade Meatballs or Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf
• Air Fryer Steak or Air Fryer Pork Chops
• Instant Pot Chicken Thighs or Instant Pot Lemon Chicken
• Garlic Butter Baked Salmon or Lemon Garlic Baked Cod

More one pot pasta recipes

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.