Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This creamy pasta with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes is packed full of flavour, and it's ready in just 15 minutes. The sun-dried tomatoes and soft goat cheese are a killer combo, and the pine nuts and rocket add extra depth to this vegetarian pasta recipe that's easy to throw together on a busy weeknight.

Goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes are a match made in heaven, but pasta that's made creamy by using soft goat cheese and sun-dried tomato paste takes this combination up a notch.

And if that wasn't a wonderful proposition in itself, this creamy sun-dried tomato pasta with goat cheese is ready in 15 minutes. You can have the sauce ready by the time the pasta is boiled and a delicious vegetarian pasta dinner in no time.

What do you need to make this pasta?

To make this satisfying meatless meal, you only need a handful of ingredients.

• Pasta — I like to use casarecce pasta for this type of creamy recipe with cheese because it has the perfect shape to embrace the sauce. I make a delicious Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Walnuts with casarecce, which has approximately the same texture. You can substitute it with any other type of short pasta, like fussili, cavatappi, or penne.
• Sun-dried tomato paste — you can make your own sun-dried tomato paste from half a jar (200 g / 7 oz. ) of sun-dried tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Simply drain the tomatoes and add them to a food processor together with the garlic and oil and blitz until smooth. Alternatively, you can use shop-bought sun-dried tomato paste if you want to do it the easy way. The sun-dried tomato paste from Belazu has a wonderful flavour.
• Soft goat cheese — you need the soft, creamy type of goat cheese for this recipe because it needs to melt in the sauce completely and make it smooth. This cheese typically has a thick, yet smooth texture that's almost spreadable. It has an irresistible tangy flavour that pairs great with sun-dried tomatoes.
• Sun-dried tomatoes — make sure you drain the sun-dried tomatoes well before adding them to the sauce.
• Rocket — this is optional, but highly recommended because it adds a subtle pepperiness to the cheese.
• Pine nuts — toast the pine nuts before adding them to the pasta for a bit of crunchiness and sweet flavour.

How do you make the goat cheese pasta sauce?

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the shallots for 1 minute over medium heat. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute.

Stir in the sun-dried tomato paste and cook until it begins to bubble. Add the goat cheese and stir it in (you may need to add a dash of pasta water at this point).

Add the pasta to the pot, give it a good stir, adding a bit of pasta water if it looks too thick, and sprinkle the rocket and pine nuts on top. Stir everything once again, then sprinkle the parmesan and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Recipe tips and tricks

• You can add a dash of white wine to the sauce for extra flavour. Add it after the tomato paste and simmer for 1 minute until the alcohol evaporates before continuing with the rest of the recipe.
• You can do all the prep for this recipe while the water reaches the boiling point. Once the pasta is in, start making the sauce — they'll be ready at the same time.
• Remember that the pasta water is salted, so don't add any salt to the pasta until it's ready. It doesn't need any salt, in my opinion, as there's enough saltiness from the sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese.

If you liked this creamy goat cheese pasta recipe, you may also like some of my other quick pasta recipes.

15-Minute Creamy Boursin Pasta with Artichokes

One-Pot Gorgonzola, Walnut and Spinach Pasta (Pasta Gorgonzola e Noci)

Creamy Lemon Salmon and Dill Pasta

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