Tags: vegetarian, gluten-free
Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons Pesto
- 1 Pint Half & Half
- 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
This is a 10-minute sauce that takes about as much time and effort as cooking the pasta.
Coat the bottom of a medium pan with the pesto and set to medium-low heat. Add black pepper.
Once the pesto starts bubbling a little bit, stir in the half & half. Stir constantly as the sauce heats. Once it starts steaming a little, add the parmesan cheese. Continue stirring and heating until it barely starts to boil. Turn the heat off and give it a couple more stirs as the bubbling subsides and it’s done.
Allergens
- Milk (dairy) — half & half, parmesan, and the cheese in the pesto.
- Tree nuts — pesto usually contains pine nuts (some brands use cashews or walnuts); check the label.
- Gluten / wheat — not in the sauce, but the pasta it’s served over.
This sauce is meat-free, but note that traditional parmesan and the cheese in most pesto are made with animal rennet, so it isn’t necessarily vegetarian unless you use rennet-free versions. It contains dairy and nuts, so it is not vegan.
Nutrition
Estimated for a yield of about 2 cups of sauce (~4 servings of 1/2 cup). The “with pasta” column adds 2 oz of dry pasta (~1 cup cooked) per serving.
Per serving
| Sauce only | With pasta | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | ~245 | ~445 |
| Fat | ~22 g | ~23 g |
| Carbs | ~6 g | ~48 g |
| Protein | ~7 g | ~15 g |
| Sodium | ~265 mg | ~265 mg |
Whole recipe (~4 servings)
| Sauce only | With pasta (8 oz dry) | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | ~980 | ~1,780 |
| Fat | ~87 g | ~91 g |
| Carbs | ~24 g | ~192 g |
| Protein | ~30 g | ~58 g |
| Sodium | ~1,050 mg | ~1,050 mg |
Almost all of the fat comes from the half & half, with the pesto and parmesan adding the rest. Using heavy cream instead of half & half would make it richer and higher in calories and fat.
These values were estimated by Claude (an AI assistant) and may be inaccurate. Treat them as rough approximations, not exact figures.