This Creamy Roasted Garlic and Beet Pasta is the perfect dish to serve up on Valentine’s Day or anytime you want to switch it up for a fun pink pasta!
Creamy beet pasta has a perfect combination of sweet and savory flavors with roasted garlic and beets in a creamy sauce. Whether you’re looking for a quick and easy weeknight dinner or a special meal to impress your guests, this pink pasta is sure to be a hit!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This dish started when I was on a mission to find a pink Valentine’s Day dinner. When Valentine’s comes around I love to do all things pink. Pink is my favorite color after all! I love pink tea, pink clothes, and pink food. Bonus if I can turn my food into heart shapes. And it quickly became a year-round fav!
I’ve seen how gorgeous the food can be that comes from beets so I wanted to make a beautiful pink-colored pasta. This pink pasta is such a beautiful vibrant shade of pink!
Ingredients for Pink Pasta
- beets: Roast beets for sides all week and just use as much as you’d like in the dish. Start with a couple cubes of roasted beets and continue to add until you’re happy with the color and flavor.
- garlic: Garlic is roasted for a slightly sweeter, milder flavor to compliment the beets.
- olive oil: Used to drizzle on the beets and garlic before roasting.
- cashews: The cashews make this sauce so creamy and luscious.
- shallot
- lemon: A hint of lemon gives this dish a little brightness.
- vegetable broth
- pasta: Use any medium pasta. I love rigatoni but penne, bowtie, or shells would all work!
You will also need a baking sheet, a skillet, and a high powered blender.
How to Roast Beets
Oven-roasted beets are very simple to make!
- Cut off the tail and roots of the beets.
- Cube the beets.
- Toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Spread on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil and cover with another piece of tinfoil. Crimp edges together to create a packet.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 450°F for perfectly roasted beets.
How to Make Pink Pasta
Pink pasta is very easy to make. I find the beets don’t add too too much flavor, so you could add the roasted beets to your favorite cream sauce to create a pink pasta sauce. In this recipe I create a cream sauce from scratch using cashews, roasted garlic, and lemon juice.
- Roast beets and garlic. Soak cashews in boiling water.
- Blend all sauce ingredients until smooth, adding in as much or as little roasted beets to reach desired flavor and color.
- Toss sauce with pasta of choice.
NOTE! You can add as much or as little roasted beets as you wanted. To get this shade of pink pasta I added about half to two thirds of one medium-roasted beet. I started with a few cubes of my roasted beets and blended it. Then I continued to add beets until I was happy with the flavor and color.
More Pasta Dishes
Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta – a fall time favorite
Greek Orzo Pasta Salad – an easy pasta salad
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese – healthy spin on mac and cheese
Peanut Noodles – bursting with flavor
Creamy Avocado Pasta – creamy, healthy & delicious
Creamy Roasted Garlic and Beet Pasta
Equipment
- High Powered Blender
Ingredients
- 1 medium beet
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 1 cup cashews
- 16 ounces medium pasta
- 1 shallot finely diced
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- salt & pepper
Instructions
Roasted Beets & Garlic
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Place a layer of tinfoil on baking pan.
- Cut off tail and roots of beet. Peel beet and then cube. Cut off ¼-inch off the top of the garlic head. Peel off as much paper off the side of the garlic as possible while still keeping the garlic head intact.
- Spread out beets on tinfoil and place garlic head on tinfoil. Drizzle beets and garlic with ½ tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on beets to taste.
- Place another layer of tinfoil on beets and garlic. Seal the two layer of tinfoil together by crimping the edges.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime soak cashews in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Make the Pasta
- Boil pasta as per ingredient instructions.
- In a medium skillet, saute shallot in ½ tablespoon olive oil until softened.
- In a blender add the desired amount of roasted beets, roasted garlic, shallots, cashews, lemon juice, and vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
- Toss the pasta sauce with the pasta. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
Notes
Inspired by: https://www.jillianharris.com/perfectly-pink-pasta/
Pin Creamy Roasted Garlic and Beet Pasta
This is such a beautiful pasta! This would be a perfect dish for Valentine’s Day. I like that it is a muted pink color. Lovely recipe!
I love this recipe, but no where does it say how long to boil the cashews 🙁
Sorry for the confusion Eryhn! You want to add boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes or until the cashews have softened.
I have updated the recipe, I hope this helps!