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ground beef pesto pasta on a plate
5 from 17 votes

Ground Beef Pesto Pasta

Blog: www.nextinlime.com

Author: Nelo
Servings: 4

Ingredients

For cooking pasta

  • 8 ounces (227 g) pasta - uncooked, I prefer penne or rigatoni (Note A)
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil - or any cooking oil, to prevent drained pasta from clumping

For beef pesto sauce

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil - or any cooking oil
  • 4 cloves garlic - finely minced or grated
  • 1 small (100 g) onion - finely chopped
  • 1 small (100 g) green bell pepper - aka capsicum. Finely chopped
  • 1 pound (454 g) ground beef - aka beef mince (Note B)
  • 1 teaspoon salt - adjust to taste
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste - (Note C)
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) basil pesto - store-bought (Note D)

Optional garnishes

  • some freshly grated parmesan
  • some chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

  • In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente – according to package instructions (see Note E). Once cooked, drain the pasta, drizzle olive oil on it and gently mix. This will prevent pasta from clumping together.
  • While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add minced garlic, chopped onion, chopped green bell pepper and saute 3 to 4 minutes – or until the onions become translucent. Stir constantly.
  • Then add ground beef, salt, ground black pepper, dried oregano plus red pepper flakes. Mix well and then cook for 7 to 10 minutes until the beef has turned brown. Break up any lumps with your spoon and stir frequently.
  • Now add tomato paste, water, sugar and mix. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes or until the sauce has reduced somewhat.
  • Reduce the heat to low, add pesto and mix well. Simmer a minute or two.
  • Finally add your cooked pasta and gently fold to combine. Let it cook 1 minute so the pasta warms up.
  • Plate the pasta, garnish with grated parmesan plus chopped parsley and enjoy!

Notes

Note A: Pasta – I prefer penne or rigatoni but feel free to use any shape you have on hand.
Note B: Ground beef – if using frozen, make sure to thaw completely before use. Lean options are fine, but I like the fuller flavor that comes with a bit of fat.
Note C: Tomato paste – if you see salt mentioned in the ingredient list of your paste, reduce the quantity of added salt by half. Then adjust later when the sauce is ready.
Note D: Pesto – I use store-bought options for this recipe. But feel free to make it at home. Here's a good pesto recipe by Daniel Gritzer.
Note E: Cooking pasta – For 8 ounces pasta, I use 8 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt and boil it for 9 minutes (follow the cook time instructions on your pasta package).
Note F: Helpful content – click on the links below for related useful content in the main body of the post.
Note G: Related – try pesto chicken rigatoni or ground beef and potato skillet next.