Beef Pesto Pasta

5 from 18 votes

Beef Pesto Pasta is a super quick recipe that will get dinner sorted in 20 minutes. Cheesy, creamy and beefy, this dish takes minimal effort.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Total Time20

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian, Western

Keyword: beef pesto pasta, steak pesto pasta

Servings:

Calories: 819kcal

Cook beef: add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large saute pan, turn heat to high, add beef strips, salt and pepper. Cook till the beef has browned on all sides, using a silicon turner to help move the meat around in the pan.
Make pesto: add basil leaves, pistachio nuts, garlic, pecorino romano cheese to the bowl of a food processor. Blitz to combine for about 15 seconds and scrap the insides of the bowl down with a spatula once done. Pour in the olive oil and then continue to blitz. Taste the pesto, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and add the 2nd tablespoon as needed. Blitz till consistently combined then transfer combined pesto to a small bowl.
Cook pasta: read and follow the instructions on the packet to cook the pasta in a medium saucepan of boiling salted water. Moments before it is done, use a heatproof jug to scoop out 1 to 2 cups of the water. Then drain the pasta into the sink using a colander and discard the remaining pasta water.
Combine: add the cooked drained pasta to a large saute pan, add in the cooked beef and dollop in the pesto. Pour in ½ cup of reserved pasta water. Then use a wooden spoon to toss the pasta, pesto, pasta water and beef till it is consistently combined.
Garnish: generously garnish the top of the combined steak and pesto pasta with grated pecorino romano, cracked black pepper and basil leaves. Provide utensils for serving.

Note 1 Pecorino romano: this is a sweet cheese made from sheep's milk. You can substitute parmesan cheese to the equivalent amount if you wish.
Note 2 Lemon juice: freshly squeezed from a lemon or bottled is fine for this recipe, don't sweat the difference.
Note 3 Reserved pasta water: for my eagle eyed readers 🥰. I usually take out 1 to 2 cups but for the recipe we only need to add ½ cup. In the photo I am using a ¼ cup and poured this in twice (my ½ cup was in the dishwasher). If you keep the leftovers in a sealed, jar with lid these can be used to juice up leftovers. Hence the difference that we take out compared to what we pour in to the recipe.