Creamy Mexican Green Spaghetti (Espagueti Verde)

Mexican Green Spaghetti, also called espagueti verde and spaghetti verde, tosses cooked spaghetti pasta (I used trofie, a twisted pasta shape) with a creamy green sauce made from roasted poblanos, Mexican crema, garlic, cilantro, and queso fresco.

This green pasta is a perfect vegetarian main dish for busy weeknights.

Jump to Recipe

Want to make this Mexican spaghetti recipe perfectly the first time? I want to help with that. Check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post will help you the most.

Jump to:

• 🤷‍♀️ What are poblano peppers?
• 🌶 What's a good substitute for poblano peppers?
• ❤️ Why you'll love this Mexican pasta recipe
• 🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
• 🔪 Recommended Equipment
• 📝 Instructions Overview
• 💡Ideas for Mexican Spaghetti Variations
• 📇 More Vegetable Pasta Dishes For You
• Mexican Green Spaghetti (Espagueti Verde)

If you need dinner ready quickly, one of the best strategies is to make some favorite sauces in advance and keep them in the refrigerator. This green sauce is an excellent example of a sauce that adds to many dishes. Other sauces I like having on hand are a Gribiche Sauce, this Smoky Spicy Roasted Tomato Sauce, and an Avocado Cream Sauce (for tacos!).

They can be tossed with pasta, grains, legumes, or vegetables during the week for easy, healthy lunches and dinners.

🤷‍♀️ What are poblano peppers?

• This recipe is essentially pasta in a green sauce made with poblano peppers. If you're unfamiliar with these peppers, they're large, dark green, oblong, and heart-shaped peppers. When eaten raw, they're spicy, even though I've read reports that label them mild.
• They're typically roasted or grilled whole and peeled, but many recipes call for them to be chopped and sautéed without peeling them.
• The longer you roast them, the milder they become.
• In some parts of the world, including the United States, they are sometimes called pasilla peppers.
• If you're at a Farmer's market where they roast them on-site, they're often only lightly roasted and will still be pretty spicy. This happened to me in Santa Fe for a dinner I made for a party that night. I had to add a LOT of cheese to balance the heat.
• Poblano peppers are fantastic with potatoes in a gratin and as part of a broth for Mexican spaghetti soup (Sopa de Fideo Verde).

🌶 What's a good substitute for poblano peppers?

If you can't find poblanos (or pasilla chile peppers), you can substitute Anaheim or Hatch chile peppers for the green pasta sauce.

Anaheim peppers are slightly less spicy than poblanos. Hatch chiles are typically hotter than their sister Anaheim pepper.

❤️ Why you'll love this Mexican pasta recipe

• Flexible use. This poblano cream sauce can be used for veggie dishes such as cauliflower and potatoes or tossed with grains such as rice or farro.
• Super easy recipe. Roasting and peeling the poblano peppers is the most time-consuming part of the recipe.
• Make-ahead options. You can make the sauce ahead to make this recipe easy to make in less than 30 minutes.

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📝 Instructions Overview

The recipe card below provides detailed instructions for making this Mexican Green Spaghetti, but here's a quick overview!

Step 1

Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Step 2

Roast the peppers. Roast the peppers until their skin is charred, then stack them in a container with a lid. Steam for a few minutes to make them easy to peel. Stem, seed, and peel the poblano peppers.

Step 3

Blend the peppers. In a high-speed blender, blend the roasted peppers with the cilantro, crema, and milk.

Step 4

Make the sauce. Combine the remaining ingredients except the queso fresco in a skillet and add the cooked pasta.

Serve with crumbled queso fresco on top.

I have a jar of this green pasta sauce in the refrigerator now. I'm using it on air fryer potatoes, grains dishes, and as a dressing with white wine vinegar. It's very flexible.

💡Ideas for Mexican Spaghetti Variations

• If you prefer more heat in the dish, swap out poblanos for either Serrano peppers or jalapeño peppers. Use the peppers' pith and seeds in the sauce for maximum heat.
• Peel and slice half a white onion into ½" slices. Place them on the sheet pan with the chiles, drizzle with olive oil, and roast under the broiler. Add the roasted onion slices to the blender with the peppers to purée.

📇 More Vegetable Pasta Dishes For You

• Another super easy and delicious pasta dish is tossing cooked pasta with this vegan sun-dried tomato pesto. Top the pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or use a vegan Parmesan-style cheese) and serve with crusty bread. Serve it warm or at room temperature.
• Another room-temperature vegetable pasta dish is this Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad. Mexican Street Corn is addictive and a popular street food. This recipe turns it into a pasta salad.
• For hardier pasta, try this romanesco pasta recipe. The pasta is tossed in a creamy, vegan cauliflower sauce. The pectin in cauliflower helps to make a creamy sauce without any dairy at all.
• If you grew up with chicken tetrazzini as a kid and loved it, I recommend checking out this vegetarian tetrazzini with cauliflower, kicked up with poblano peppers. I love it so much that I included a version in my cookbook!
• Another approach to pasta is to mix spaghetti noodles with a pasta sauce and layer with cheese in a casserole, like this Baked Spaghetti Casserole.
• Lastly, go with this classic spaghetti alla vodka if you want something uber-simple.

Modified from La Cocina de Leslie blog.