Cheesy Spinach & White Bean Pasta Bake
with Italian Herbs & Lemon
- Milk
- Wheat
Here’s a vegetarian dinner idea for the ages! It’s filling, homey, and a real crowd-pleaser thanks to the one-two punch of velvety cream sauce and melty cheese topping. You’ll toss tender penne pasta, creamy cannellini beans, and garlicky spinach in a lemon-cream sauce, then top it all with a blend of Italian cheeses and bake until browned and bubbling. After a sprinkle of lemon zest, it’s off to the table for family-style serving in just 20 minutes—easy cheesy lemon squeezy!
Ingredients
1.5 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
5 ounce
Spinach
1 unit
Cannellini Beans
1 unit
Lemon
6 ounce
Penne Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
1 clove
Garlic
1 tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
½ cup
Italian Cheese Blend
(Contains: Milk)
1 ounce
Cheese Roux Concentrate
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce. • Drain and rinse beans. Peel and mince or grate garlic. Zest and quarter lemon.
• Once water is boiling, add penne to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water (1½ cups for 4 servings), then drain.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add beans and cook, stirring, until warmed through, 1-2 minutes. • Add spinach and another drizzle of oil; cook, stirring, until wilted, 2-4 minutes. • Add garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds more. Season with salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat under pan with beans and spinach to medium low; stir in cheese roux, sour cream, half the Italian Seasoning, ½ cup reserved pasta cooking water, 1 TBSP butter, and juice from two lemon wedges. (For 4 servings, use all the Italian Seasoning, ¾ cup pasta cooking water, 2 TBSP butter, and juice from four lemon wedges.) TIP: If pasta isn’t finished cooking, ladle pasta water straight from pot. • Cook, stirring occasionally, until bubbling, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Stir drained penne into pan with filling until thoroughly coated. TIP: If needed, stir in more pasta cooking water a splash at a time until pasta is coated in a creamy sauce. • Transfer pasta to an 8-by-8-inch baking dish (use a 9-by-13-inch baking dish for 4 servings); top with Italian cheese blend. Bake on top rack until cheese is bubbling, 2-4 minutes.
• Garnish pasta bake with lemon zest; squeeze juice from remaining lemon wedges over top. Serve family style directly from baking dish (be sure to dig in while it’s hot!).
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many found it tasty, though some felt it needed more seasoning or depth of flavor.
- Ease of prep: Quick and easy to make, with clear instructions and minimal hands-on time 🍲.
- Suggestions: Consider adding chicken, extra cheese, or vegetables like mushrooms for more flavor and texture.
- Leftovers: Reheats well for some; others found it dry when reheated.
- Texture: Some enjoyed the creamy beans; others felt they made the dish too mushy.
- Portions: Generous servings; many found it filling and had enough for multiple meals.
Reviews from our home cooks
My family loved this recipe! Easy to put together and so yummy! Love the combo of white beans and spinach with the creamy cheesy pasta.
This was soooo good. I do think I could improve it by making my own white sauce with Italian seasoning. It could be an easy enough recipe to replicate and I mostly get Hello Fresh to get more complex meals that I don't want to buy a lot of ingredients or go to a lot of trouble. But glad that I was introduced to this.
Really enjoyed the flavor and texture. Appreciated that the beans and pasta created a complete protein and had plenty of veggies with the spinach. Loved the balance and completeness of this meal.
Quite delicious! I love how easy it was to cook spinach into the dish. The easier it is for me to cook vegetables and greens, the more I love the recipes. Otherwise, I don't think I'd eat as healthy as I should.
I had no idea what to expect, but this was very good! Many of your recipes include lemon and lemon zest, which I have not used much in savory dishes in the past, but I will be from now on!
Turned out the way I hoped. Not overly cheesy so not too heavy. Good flavor overall and pretty easy to make.
Loved this dish. I will probably save 1/2 or 1/4 of the beans to add at the end with the garlic so there are more intact beans. Flavor was great.
Yummy yummy! More of this!!! The beans were a pleasant surprise and I ended up mixing the cheese with some breadcrumbs, oil, and herbs, it made the perfect topping.
The white beans in this dish make it a little bland. It definitely needed more lemon to balance it out. It also took more like an hour to cook because of the water boiling- not 20 minutes. Pretty good overall though, would get again.
Pretty good, but the final dish was a little bland in taste. I think it didn't need the lemon zest, but maybe some fresh basil or using two cheeses to add texture? But it is good and I'd eat it again!
