Spring Pea and Asparagus Pasta
This green pasta dish is bursting with spring flavors, including peas, asparagus and fresh herbs. Lemon, pine nuts and parmesan send it over the top!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
My search for clarity has left me empty-handed this week, which isn’t to say that I haven’t tried. There have been long walks and talks with friends, vinyasas at yoga class and lots of sleep, maybe too much. Though my preoccupied mind and tiny kitchen haven’t produced any original recipes worth sharing this week, I am glad to share this one. I was flipping through a cookbook during a phone call when this recipe spoke to me. It’s seasonally appropriate, bursting with flavor and gorgeous green hues, and from one of my most trusted resources, Aida Mollenkamp’s Keys to the Kitchen.
Beware that this recipe requires some serious chopping work, but the end result is worth the effort. The recipe yields quite a bit of food, enough for six to eight servings, so it may be best created with helpers and shared with a small crowd. I’ve realized lately that good food tastes much better when shared.
Spring Pea and Asparagus Pasta
This very green pasta dish is bursting with spring flavors, including peas, asparagus and fresh herbs. Once you have prepped your vegetables, the dish comes together rather quickly. This recipe yields a lot (enough for 6 to 8 servings) so feel free to halve it if you are serving two.
Ingredients
- 1 pound (16 ounces) whole grain pasta (conchiglie, orecchiette, shells, fusilli or linguine will work)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for garnish
- 5 shallots, quartered lengthwise and sliced very thin crosswise
- 1 pound pencil-thin asparagus, woody ends snapped off, and cut in ½-inch slices on the bias
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups shelled fresh or frozen English peas (defrost peas if frozen)
- ⅔ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or regular Parmesan), plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from one lemon)
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (less than one lemon)
- 1 cup roughly chopped mixed herbs (I used flat-leaf Italian parsley, chives and mint, other suggestions include chervil and tarragon)
- ¾ cup toasted pine nuts
- sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- First, prep your vegetables. Then bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the package directions. Reserve 2 cups of the pasta water and drain the pasta.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in your largest frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden brown (about 5 minutes).
- Add the asparagus and garlic, season with salt, and cook until the asparagus is knife-tender and bright green (about 3 minutes). Stir in the peas and cook until the peas are bright green (about 2 minutes).
- Add the drained pasta to the pan along with 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss to coat. Cook until the sauce starts to coat the pasta (about 2 minutes). Remove the pan from heat and transfer its contents to a large serving bowl. Add the cheese and butter and stir to coat. (Add more pasta water as needed. The sauce should just cling to the pasta.)
- Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, herbs and pine nuts. Taste and adjust seasonings as required (add a pinch of salt, red pepper flakes and/or a squeeze of lemon juice if desired). Grate some cheese over the top and garnish with freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Minimally adapted from Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook by Aida Mollenkamp.
- Leftovers will keep well for a couple of days in the fridge, covered.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Just had this for dinner and we loved it! Thanks so much and be well. Namaste
Thank you, Minda!
Hi Kate,
I have just recently discovered your blog, and I love it. Not only do the recipes look great, I am grateful for the tips you have written for those of us who are just starting out in the food blogging world – very helpful. This recipe looks amazing and I think I’ll try it out soon, even though it’s now autumn so not so seasonal! Oh, and Cookie looks so cute, I personally think mongrels are the best :-)
Thanks, Katie! Please let me know what you think of the pasta. Cookie says hi.
Didn’t have any of your suggested pasta shapes so used Cavatelli. Result was excellent, truly amazing combination of flavours. Thank you.
Jennifer, so glad you enjoyed the pasta. Thank you for commenting!
Kate love your recipes but wonder why you don’t put the nutritional values at the end of your recipes would really appreciate them thanks for the great recipes
Hi Sharon, I’m sorry, I don’t provide nutrition information because it really varies based on the ingredients used. I don’t want to provide inaccurate information to my readers. I’d suggest running this recipe through myfitnesspal.com to calculate the facts.
I made your spring pea and asparagus pasta last night for dinner. The herbs (Italian parsley, chives and mint) that I used for the dish were refreshing. It is also one of those pasta dishes that wont surprisingly weigh you down due to a heavy sauce. Great for a week night dinner!
Thank you, Stacey! Glad you enjoyed it!
YUM! Did all the prep work while my kids napped this afternoon and dinner came together in a breeze! Thank you so much!!!!
Happy to hear it! Thanks, Lisa!
I made this last week. We loved it!
Awesome! Thank you, Johanna!
Made this for dinner last night – it was INSANE! Told my housemate that we were having a healthy dinner and she pulled a face. She then took leftovers for lunch today so I’m calling it a win.
I actually forgot to put the butter in and it was still delicious. I am now off to plow the rest of your recipes :)
Hooray! Thanks, Stephanie. So glad you and your skeptical roommate loved the pasta. :)
I’m always looking for recipes that include a lot of veggies so this was perfect for me. It was my first time cooking with asparagus, fresh parsley, and scallions (I confused shallots with scallions. They’re both onion-like so I was close!). My favorite thing about this recipe was the flavoring that the lemon juice added and my last favorite was the big bite of parsley that I took! Thanks a lot!
Yay! Glad you enjoyed this pasta, Loni! I bet scallions were great anyway. Glad you enjoyed it!
I just made this and threw a cup of the extra pasta water in the blender with an avocado before coating the pasta. I also may have added 3x the garlic. So good!
I know this is an old blog entry, but I just tried this recipe. It was spectacular. I used parsley and mint and added some white wine with the pasta water. You have a beautiful blog! Can’t wait to explore more recipes. Thank you!
I made this for my dinner last night, and didn’t realise until I had already prepped all the veggies that I meant to halve the the recipe. Oh well! I just halved the pasta and looked forward to all the extra veggies per serving. I also left out the parmesan in favour of this dairy-free substitute I made to try instead. It worked out just fine and overall this dish is amazing! So tasty.
While it isn’t spring it sure feels like it here in Los Angeles so I decided to give this a try. It was delicious! I just finished leftovers and made myself a moscow mule using your recipe. Thank you for all your great recipes!
Great combination of meal and beverage. :) Thank you, Michelle!
I made this tonight but made it vegan by doing vegan butter and homemade vegan parmesan cheese, topped with fresh basil from my garden this was AMAZING! Definitely one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever made, thanks for passing it along :)
Homemade vegan parmesan cheese! That’s great. You’re very welcome. Thanks for commenting and providing a review.
This was good—I liked the lemon+mint combination. We used walnuts instead of pine nuts. Very fresh and light.
Thank you, Emily!
I substituted here and there: rotini,leeks,chives, toasted sunflower seeds, fresh cilantro. Added peeled shrimp to the boiling pasta. It was super! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
This recipe is an oldie but a goodie. I made this again last night and realized when I got home I had forgotten to pick up lemon at the store! This time, I substituted some balsamic vinegar for the lemon, and it turned out delicious!
I agree with you, Joni! Thanks for the review.
I loved this! I ended up using all of the lemon juice and pasta water and lots of red pepper flakes. I added a cup of fresh chopped spinach to my oregano/basil/mint herbs (sounds weird, but it was fantastic). Also, I used whole wheat fusilli.
Thanks for sharing, Kathie!
PS – I have a vegan friend. Anything you would suggest as a substitute for the cheese?
You could substitute a vegan parmesan cheese. You want this recipe creamy. I haven’t tried it, but let me know what you think!
I didn’t include the toasted pine nuts but this recipe perfectly captures the flavors and colors of spring. Will make again!
You’re welcome, Allie!
I have to make something for a potluck and I have all of these ingredients from my CSA box yesterday. Do you think this would be good room temp? I will have to cook it earlier in the day and not serve until dinner time.
I wouldn’t leave it set out too long. Sorry for my delay! How did it turn out?
Delicious! Used chives from my garden which are just blooming now along with grocery story parsley and locally grown asparagus. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any pine nuts on hand; so I toasted about a cup of panko bread crumbs in a frying pan with a little butter to add some texture. This worked well, but I think the recipe would even be better with pine nuts. Thanks for the great recipe! My family loved it.
I’m glad you were able to use what you had on hand, Patrice! I appreciate your review.
Hi Kate! Thank you for the great recipe, delicious as always! I made it as a weeknight dinner, so I had to make some swaps based on what I found in my pantry. I substituted cheddar for the parmesan and used a mix of toasted almonds and sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts, and it still turned out pretty great :)
Thanks again for the inspiration!
Thanks for sharing!
So delicious and springy! My husband has dietary restrictions so we used gluten-free pasta and skipped the cheese and nuts. I added 4 slices of chopped bacon to make up for the omissions. Cooked bacon and removed from pan, drained half of the grease and sauteed the shallots in the remaining grease. So delicious even my 5year old ate all his dinner, which is super rare!
I’m happy you were able to make this work for your needs, Redkat.
I’ve made this delicious recipe twice and love the incredibly fresh flavors. I used 8 ounces of chickpea pasta and feel like that was the right ratio of ingredients for me. I also like the added protein and fiber that the chickpea pasta provides.
hoping to make this for dinner tonight! bc of limitations, i don’t have shallots or those particular herbs (though i do have fresh thyme & rosemary). any guidance on how to substitute? thank you!
Hi there! Do you have red onion? A small red onion would be a great substitute for the shallot. I’m afraid thyme and rosemary will be too intense here. You can omit the herbs. The dish just won’t be quite as fresh and lively without them—still good, though!
ah bless you, kate! i do have a red onion! thank you so much for your quick reply <3
AMAZING! Made with fresh pappardelle and frozen corn instead of peas and it was delicious!
I’m happy you loved it, Kirsten!
SO TASTY! Definitely have to make again!
SO tasty as always! I used up the last of my farmers market asparagus, added some broccoli, and that was the perfect combination of textures with the peas. Literally spring in a bowl!
I made this with penne pasta becuase that’s what I had on hand and loved it. My husband liked it but wasn’t thrilled with the pine nuts, so the next time I made it I did not mix in the pine nuts and sprinkled them on my serving. Our CSA share included asparagus so guess what’s for dinner tonight…
Colors like spring.
I added carrots for an extra color and omitted the butter. Still very delicious.
Great simple recipe for a week-night dinner.
This was SO surprisingly good! I’m not a huge asparagus or pea fan, but this dish was a perfect way to enjoy them. I used parsley and mint and half the butter. I think I might sprinkle the cheese on post serving instead to make it a little healthier. We will make this again for sure.
I’m glad this recipe was a great way for you to enjoy asparagus and peas! Thank you for your review, Andrea.
Delightful recipe and vibrant with flavors
Thank you for your review Wiley!
It was so delicious! I maybe could have done with 1 less shallot but overall very delicious and great leftovers.
The Spring Pea and Asparagus Pasta is delicious, thank you, Kate! I love the zingy lemon and saucy attributes that go so well with the fresh organic asparagus and peas. I’ve added it to my favourites list
Made this tonight without the cheese to make it vegan with a little extra vegan butter. It turned out delicious! Highly recommend for a springtime meal!
Yes, this is great this season! I appreciate your review.
This was incredible! My 1yr old gobbled it up smacking his lips the whole time and letting me know when he wanted more :) Thank you for such a fresh and delicious recipe. I used scallions, rosemary and mint and was delighted by the lemony flavor. I also completely spaced the pasta water and drained it all off but it still turned out wonderfully thank goodness :) can’t wait to try it again. Thank you Kate!
That’s great to hear, Anna! Thank you for taking the time to review.
My favorite pasta hands down. Makes incredible lunch or dinner. My 3 year old loved it. Thank you Kate!!
You’re welcome, Anna! I appreciate your review.
Delicious recipe for spring. Enjoy the blending of flavors.
I’m glad you love it, Nancy! I appreciate your review.
This was very good and quite easy! I made j half of the recipe and used the juice of the whole lemon, I would use more next time because we love lemon. I’d also invest the ratio of asparagus to peas, again personal preference. But definitely going on the “make again” list!
Amazing!! I prepared this exactly as written and looooved it. Do not skip the lemon, that’s the extra bit of acidity that really kicks it up a notch.
Glad I read the note to half it because it still made plenty for leftovers for the two of us halved. Omnivore partner gave it a 4/5 but tbh I don’t think he’s capable of eating anything without meat without saying “it’s missing something”. Wah wah. He’s wrong. Perfect spring time dish
I’m glad you loved it, Carly! Thank you for your review.
I have been making this every time I see fresh peas in the market in the spring since it was published. That might be 10 years ago??? Certain recipes bring a comforting continuity to life and this is one of them for me. So much has changed since ~2013 but life is beautiful isn’t it?
That’s amazing! Thank you for coming back to share, Ellie. I appreciate your support thought the years!
Absolutely delicious and light!!!!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, Leah!
This was ssoooo good and fairly easy. I had everything prepped and its a good thing as it went quite fast as I used WW spaghettini which only took 6 minutes to cook – absolutely delish !!!
Spring-y and delicious! I subbed snap peas, bias-cut, for the shelled peas and used mint as the herb, walnuts instead of pine nuts. As others have mentioned, the lemon is key!
Why do you use unsalted butter in this when the recipe calls for salt?
I find it’s hard to manage the salt with butter that’s salted since it can vary by brand. I hope that helps!