Pesto Cream Sauce (10 minutes!) for the Table

This savory Pesto Cream Sauce is straightforward to make with rich cream, well-seasoned pesto and parmesan cheese. Serve it over your regular pasta for a family friendly dinner that uses a handful of simple ingredients and comes together in less than 20 minutes.

Love a creamy pasta recipe? You need to try our Cheesy Dump and Bake Pasta, as well as our Creamy Lemon Pasta and our Cavatappi Pasta with Cream Sauce!

The DEPENDABLE Creamy Pesto Pasta Recipe

This is an straightforward recipe we’ve been making for a good 10 years now and I crave it on a regular basis. I genuinely prefer to make it with my Old-school Basil Pesto (I also have a vegan pesto recipe!). That being said, when basil is hard to come by in the winter, I’ll reach for store-bought pesto.

I wanted to keep the recipe pretty basic so that you could customize it based on your preferences! A regular here adding protein and/ or veggies to this to genuinely bulk the meal up!

Any way you make it, I know you’re going to certainly love this creamy pesto pasta!

Happy cooking!

Why You’ll Love This dish

• Straightforward to adjust thickness + richness
• Ready in about 10 minutes!!
• Uses simple, pantry-friendly ingredients
• Ultra creamy + savory
• Reliable for pasta, gnocchi, veggies, or protein

Ingredients needed

The full list of ingredients for this creamy pesto sauce recipe are listed fully down in the recipe card but let’s briefly go over the pantry staples needed including a few substitutions you can make as desired!

• Heavy cream. I recommend a good quality heavy cream, where cream is the only ingredient listed on the package. This will make your sauce perfectly rich and extra good!
• Water. For extra flavor, if you’re serving this with pasta, use the leftover pasta water.
• Butter. I prefer using unsalted butter for this method to control the saltiness.
• Pesto sauce. The star of this method! I like to use fresh pesto that can be found near fresh (not dried) pasta or in the produce section of the store. You could also make kitchen-made pesto OR simply use a jar of store-bought.
• Parmesan cheese. Freshly grated Parmesan is always go-to.
• Salt & pepper. I recommend tasting the finished sauce before adding salt. Depending on the saltiness of your pesto, you may not need any salt at all.
• Pasta. Choose any go-to pasta to pair with this straightforward pesto sauce. We like to use bow tie pasta, also known as farfalle pasta. Penne pasta works too!
• Optional for topping. Fresh basil, toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, and a small drizzle of olive oil.

How to Make Creamy Pesto Sauce

Simply a reminder that you can find the FULL written creamy basil pesto sauce recipe down in the recipe card, but I want to quickly go over how to make them with visuals for you:)

1. Cook your pasta of choice. I like to cook my pasta in a large pot of water. If you want the dish to be EXTRA saucy and creamy, use 8oz of pasta. For a more balanced dish, go for 12oz of pasta.

1. Make the sauce. Start out by heating the cream and water (pasta water is go-to!) over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer and add in the butter and pesto. Cook for a few minutes before adding in the parmesan and then the cooked pasta. Enjoy!

Recipe Tips

• Use pasta water instead of regular water for a silkier, more cohesive sauce
• Keep the heat low—high heat can cause the cream to separate
• I like to make the sauce in a large skillet, so the pasta can easily be mixed into the sauce once made.
• Add parmesan slowly while stirring to avoid clumping
• Taste before adding salt – pesto + parmesan are already salty (I make this mistake often)!
• Want it thicker? Let it simmer a bit longer or add extra parmesan

Frequently Asked Questions

Storing leftovers

Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to about 4 days.

The sauce mixed with the pasta is go-to served immediately. If you wait too long to serve it, the pasta tends to dry up. If your pasta gets too dry, add additional pasta cooking water to make the pasta creamier again.