Creamy Tomato Rigatoni with White Beans

Ingredients

• 12 oz Whole wheat pasta (dry), rigatoni
• 3 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• ½ tsp Red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 can Crushed tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 can Cannellini beans, canned no-salt-added, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups Baby spinach
• ½ cup Fresh basil, torn
• 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
• ½ tsp Kosher salt

Method

1. Boil the pasta in well-salted water. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
2. Cook the onion in oil over medium 7 minutes; add garlic and pepper flakes 45 seconds; fry the tomato paste 60 seconds until dark.
3. Add crushed tomatoes and salt; simmer 8 minutes.
4. Blend the beans with 1/2 cup of the pasta water until completely smooth, then stir into the sauce. It goes from red to a glossy orange-pink — that is the cream you didn't add.
5. Add spinach and let it wilt, 2 minutes.
6. Toss the drained pasta into the sauce with a splash of pasta water. Off heat, add basil and parmesan.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Finish the pasta in the sauce for a full minute with pasta water, tossing hard. That emulsion is what makes restaurant pasta cling instead of sit in a puddle.

🧒 For the kids

This is already the recipe most kids ask for again. If yours won't eat visible spinach, wilt it in and blend it with the beans — it disappears completely into the sauce.

🌿 From the garden

Basil, always basil.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps 4 days. The sauce alone freezes well without the pasta.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.