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Creamed Pasta with Bacon and Vegetables is an easy dinner that comes together in about 40 minutes with just a few pantry staple ingredients.
Is there anything better than bacon? You get so much flavor for a relatively small amount of money.
With only half a pound of bacon, a pound of pasta, and a few veggies, plus a cup of cream, this recipe makes a whole lot of great tasting food on the cheap. It’s the best recipe for serving a crowd!
In the summer, this pasta is so good with a chef salad or an easy spinach salad and peach ice cream. And you could pair it with dinner rolls and some chocolate mousse in the colder months.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Quick and easy. If you can boil pasta, you can make Creamed Pasta with Bacon and Vegetables.
- Affordable. You get a lot of bang for your buck with the ingredients – pasta, bacon, and a few veggies.
- Great for a group. This recipe is easy to double or triple and still pretty affordable.
Recipe Ingredients
- Bacon
- Onion
- Bell pepper: any color will do
- Garlic
- Heavy cream
- Salt and pepper
- Pasta
- Tomato
- Parmesan: shaved or shredded works best here
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Creamed Pasta with Bacon and Vegetables
- Step #1. On a cutting board, finely chop the raw bacon and then add it to a large skillet. Stirring often, cook it over medium heat until crispy.
- Step #2. To the pan with the cooked bacon, add the onion and bell pepper and cook until soft, about 4 to 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
- Step #3. Add the cream by whisking it in and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Then add the salt and let the whole mixture simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Step #4. Combine the hot sauce with bacon and vegetables to hot cooked pasta, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese.
Recipe FAQs
Definitely! You could use a whole pound. If you do, be sure to remove about half of the grease before adding the veggies.
It probably would, but I haven’t tried it. I would recommend using gluten-free pasta in a penne or bow-tie shape.
Make the recipe up until adding everything to the cooked pasta. You can refrigerate the sauce portion of the recipe for up to three days. On the day you’re serving it, reheat the sauce and add it to fresh-cooked pasta (and then add the tomato and Parmesan).
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip the Parmesan on top of this pasta. It’s not just a garnish but gives this dish a lot of flavor.
- If you can, buy a hunk of whole Parmesan and shave it at home. A vegetable peeler works great for this.
- Use fresh tomatoes from your garden or local farmer’s market when they are in season. Be sure they are bright red, firm, and free of blemishes.
- This “creamed” pasta sauce is literally just cream. It won’t turn turn into an Alfredo sauce but it will remind you of it.
More Pasta Recipes to Consider
Recipe Collections
Zucchini Recipes
Chicken Recipes
Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Pasta (One Pot!)
Pasta Dishes
Easy Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagna
Pasta Dishes
Pumpkin Alfredo
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Creamed Pasta with Bacon and Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound bacon
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound pasta, cooked according to directions
- 1 large tomato, diced
- additional salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan
Instructions
- Finely chop the raw bacon on a cutting board. After bacon is chopped, add it to a large skillet and cook over medium heat until crispy, stirring often.
- Add the onion and bell pepper to the bacon and bacon grease and cook until soft, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in the cream, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the salt and combine.
- Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the hot cream mixture to the hot cooked noodles.
- Add the diced tomatoes to the noodles.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve right away with the Parmesan on top.
Notes
- Make this recipe ahead by preparing everything up until you’re adding the cooked pasta. Then refrigerate the sauce for up to three days and reheat it when you are ready to serve and finish the rest of the instructions.
- If you want more bacon, you can use a full pound. Just be sure to remove roughly half to the bacon grease before proceeding to the next step.
- This is a great recipe to double to triple making it an affordable meal to serve a crowd.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to three days.
This came together so easily! I’ll definitely make it again!
Made this for dinner tonight. Turned out amazing!!! I used pre-fully cooked bacon and I had set aside bacon fat from Sunday, which made this recipe that much easier to put on the table. Thanks for sharing this super quick, easy and delicious recipe.!
Yay! It’s a favorite meal of our and I’m so happy you guys liked it too!