• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Joe's Healthy Meals

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipe Index
    • Meals
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch
      • Main dish
      • Fruit
    • Side dishes
    • Seafood
    • Appetizers
    • Sauces
    • Salads
    • Pasta
    • Desserts
    • Meats
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Pork
      • Turkey
    • Condiments
    • Drinks
    • Soup
    • Baking
    • Sandwiches
    • Tips
You are here: Home / Main dish / Cauliflower Pasta-Pancetta+Parmesan

Cauliflower Pasta-Pancetta+Parmesan

October 5, 2019 By Joe 1 Comment

12 shares
  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Flipboard
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Cauliflower and pancetta on pasta with a creamy melted parmesan sauce. Delightfully tasty and easy to make. You’ve got to give this a try.

Bowl of pasta with cauliflower and pancetta.

First off….there are just 5 ingredients to this recipe plus salt and crushed red pepper. The whole thing can be made in about 30 minutes. Perfect for a busy weeknight meal. And it’s a refreshing departure from pasta and red sauce. 

Skillet with cauliflower pasta and pancetta.

Ingredients in cauliflower pasta

It’s just 5 basic ingredients:

  • Pasta…any shape you prefer to use
  • Pancetta…or good quality bacon can be used for a smokier flavor
  • Cauliflower florets
  • Parmesan cheese…freshly grated is best
  • 3 garlic cloves…minced

 

Bowl of pasta with cauliflower and pancetta.

How to make it

Cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain and reserve 2 cups of the pasta water. Put the pasta back in the pan and add about 1/4 cup of the reserved water. This will keep the pasta from sticking together while it sits.

While the pasta cooks, use a good sized skillet and heat to medium high. I used my 12″ All-Clad stainless skillet. Add the chopped pancetta, (or bacon), and cook until the fat starts to render and you get some oil forming in the skillet. This will take 6 to 8 minutes. 

Next, add the minced garlic and stir it around for a minute to release it’s fragrance. Then add in the cauliflower florets along with some red pepper flakes and stir them so they absorb that flavorful oil. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, to soften and lightly brown the cauliflower. Use a fork to grab a piece of cauliflower to test the tenderness. It should be soft but not mushy, and not crunchy.  Just right.

Lower the heat to low and stir in another 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water and the grated Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted, gradually adding more water as necessary until you have a creamy sauce that coats your stirring utensil.

Add the pasta and stir to combine. Serve right away.

This can be made ahead of time, (that is what I did), and refrigerated, covered, in a microwave safe casserole dish. Save any remaining pasta water separately to use for reheating. It took about 6 minutes to reheat the dish with another 1/2 cup of water stirred in.

Bowl of pasta with cauliflower and pancetta.

Since you have some leftover cauliflower, here’s a couple more cauliflower recipes to try:

  • Microwave garlicky cauliflower rice
  • Tasty fried cauliflower patties
  • Roasted cruciferous vegetables
Close-up view of bowl of pasta with cauliflower and pancetta.

Cauliflower Pasta-Pancetta and Parmesan

Easy to make main dish with cauliflower and flavorful pancetta and parmesan
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cauliflower pasta, pasta
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes minutes
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 360kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. pasta, farfalle (bowtie), or other of choice
  • 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into small florets about 2 1/2 cups
  • 5 oz. pancetta, chopped into small strips good quality bacon can be substituted
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 oz. parmesan cheese, fresh grated
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain and reserve 2 cups of pasta water. Place pasta back in the pot and stir in 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water.
  • While the pasta is cooking, use a large skillet on medium high heat and add the pancetta or bacon. Cook until the fat starts to render, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the minced garlic, stirring for 1 minute until fragrant.
  • Add the cauliflower florets to the skillet and stir to coat with the rendered fat. Add the red pepper flakes. Stir occasionally to soften and lightly brown the florets, 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Add 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to the skillet, lower the heat to low, and add the grated Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted, gradually adding more water as necessary until you have a creamy sauce that coats your stirring utensil.
  • Add the pasta to the skillet and stir to combine. Taste and add salt, up to 1/2 teaspoon as desired. Serve hot.

Notes

Good quality bacon can be used rather than pancetta. This will impart a smokier flavor.
When stirring in the Parmesan cheese a creamy sauce will start to form on your stirring utensil when enough water is added.
This dish can be prepared ahead of time and microwaved to reheat. Save the reserved pasta water separately to mix in while reheating.

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal
 

12 shares
  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Flipboard

Filed Under: Main dish, Pasta

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE DELICIOUS MEALS FROM FRESH INGREDIENTS?

SIGN UP TO ACCESS ALL THE NEW RECIPE POSTS.
Previous Post: « Easy Stovetop Baked Beans
Next Post: Easy Beer Cheese Soup Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MaryJo

    October 6, 2019 at 7:30 am

    5 stars
    This is a delicious side dish that we had with sauteed shrimp, a tossed salad, and a good baguette. The pasta made it a special meal.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

     Welcome to my Website

I know you can make healthy food using unprocessed, easy-to-find ingredients. Most of my recipes don’t take a lot of time to make but taste amazingly good. Glad you found me…let’s get cooking.

read more

Are you ready to make delicious meals from fresh ingredients? Come along and never miss a new recipe post.

Featured in

companies that have featured me

Search for recipes

Amazon Mother’s Day ad

Main Course Meals

Chicken thighs on a plate.

Simple Chicken Brine For Grilling

Chicken brine will bring out flavors and juiciness to the meat. June is upon us and grilling season has started. Time to fire up the charcoal and soak some thighs in this simple chicken brine. You’ll be amazed at how flavorful, tender, and juicy this chicken becomes. Chicken Brine You have probably read or heard…

Read More

Overhead view of ground beef and cabbage.

Ground Beef and Cabbage Recipe

Ground beef and cabbage are a terrific combination of flavors. Add to that a couple of unique spices to really make this recipe special. And, by using lean ground beef, the calories stay low for this healthy casserole dish. I was thinking that with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, a recipe with cooked cabbage without…

Read More

Plate of crepes with melted cheese on top.

Crepes St. Jacques

Crepes St. Jacques is a copycat recipe from the old Magic Pan restaurant chain and the flavor of this is outstanding. If you enjoy seafood, this is the recipe to try.   I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to try a savory crepe dish.  After having so much fun making sweet crepes, I…

Read More

My Favorites

From A Chef’s Kitchen

Half Baked Harvest

Recipe Tin Eats

Girl Gone Gourmet

Gourmet Done Skinny

Spend With Pennies

Garlic And Zest

Girl Carnivore

Skinny Taste

The Cookie Rookie

Kevin Is Cooking

Foodness Gracious

Copyright © joeshealthymeals.com 2013 - 2023 -     All Rights Reserved    
Privacy Policy   Web Accessibility Statement