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.
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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:
- ๐คทโโ๏ธ What are poblano peppers?
- ๐ถ What's a good substitute for poblano peppers?
- โค๏ธ Why you'll love this Mexican pasta recipe
- ๐ง Main Ingredients + Notes
- ๐ช Recommended Equipment
- ๐ Instructions Overview
- ๐กIdeas for Mexican Spaghetti Variations
- ๐ 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.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minute meal or less.
Go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post for all the ingredients, measurements, and directions for this espagueti verde recipe.
- Poblano peppers - If poblano peppers aren't available in your markets, pasilla, Anaheim, and Hatch chile peppers are all good substitutes. For a spicy pasta dish, add a Serrano or jalapeño pepper. See the Variations Section for more details.
- Pasta - I used trofie pasta, but any pasta shape featuring folds or crevices to catch and hold the sauce will work great. Smooth pasta shapes, such as spaghetti pasta, are acceptable but they won't do the sauce as much justice.
- Cilantro - Use fresh cilantro - not dried. I haven't made it with alternate fresh herbs, but you can use Italian flat leaf parsley if you don't care for cilantro.
- Mexican crema - Mexican crema is Mexican sour cream, and you may also see it labeled Crema Mexicana. Substitute a standard full-fat sour cream or cream cheese for a creamier sauce.
- Heavy cream - For a lighter version, use whole milk.
- Bouillon cube - I use Better Than Bouillon, roasted vegetable paste.
- Queso fresco - This is a soft, fresh Mexican cheese. If you can't find it, use crumbled cotija cheese.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. These links mean that at no additional cost, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, which helps support the costs of running this website. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
Having the right equipment for recipes makes prepping much easier. Check out my updated list of favorite kitchen tools and equipment for more fuss-free prepping and cooking ideas.
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Countertop blender
- Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot
- Fine mesh strainer or colander
- Large skillet
📝 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 ยฝ" 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.
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Mexican Green Spaghetti (Espagueti Verde)
Equipment
- baking sheet
- fine mesh strainer
Ingredients
- 4 poblano peppers
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta I used trofie
- ยฝ cup fresh cilantro leaves rinsed and patted dry
- 1 cup Mexican crema (Mexican sour cream)
- ยฝ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Roasted Vegetables
- ยฝ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ยผ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ยฝ cup crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese
Instructions
- Arrange the poblano chiles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Broil until blackened, occasionally turning the peppers to char their skin on all sides.Stack them in a plastic bag or container with a lid for a few minutes to make it easy to peel. Peel off the blistered skins, and use a sharp knife to remove the stems and seeds.Transfer the peppers to a blender.
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Remove from heat, scoop out ยผ cup of the pasta water, set it aside, and drain the pasta in a colander.
- Add the cilantro, crema, and milk to the peppers in the blender and puree until smooth.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Stir in the poblano puree, the bouillon cube, salt, and black pepper. Fold in the pasta and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until heated through. Remove from heat.
- Toss with crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese.
Nutrition
Modified from La Cocina de Leslie blog.
Liz
Nice and easy. Thank you and have a Wonderful Day!
Sid
We love Mexican food here and this looks like a great addition to my repertoire of recipes.
SallyBR
Oh, this sauce would go well on ANYTHING if you ask me - I love poblanos with their well-behaved heat and unique flavor
you are right, having a few things made in the fridge waiting can be a life saver
Happy Reveal Day!
Balvinder
Oh heavens, that poblano sauce looks just dreamy! I have never made pasta with poblano sauce, going to pin!
Katie Zeller
I need to start exploring Mexican food.... This looks wonderful!
Anna
That sauce sounds amazing! I definitely must try it soon.
cheri
Hi Susan, oh I love poblano peppers, this really looks delicious. I bet my husband would not even realize there was no meat in this.
Rachael
This sounds great! ๐
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
That is exactly my type of sauce, and my type of strategy. Great SRC choice!
Kevin | Keviniscooking
This is just supreme! Love the flavor sAND the photos, thanks!
Leigh
Such a gorgeous colour.
laura@motherwouldknow
I love Leslie's blog and this creamy poblano sauce looks amazing. You're so right about needing to have sauces at the ready for a quick weeknight dinner. Now I'll have to master this one to add to my Italian red sauces in the freezer.
mjskitchen
Awesome dish!!! Green is my favorite color. ๐
Nora
For years I've been attempting to clone the mysterious recipe for my favorite salsa from local Mexican restaurant. I happened to be perusing the poblano peppers at the market and a Mexican American woman was alongside me doing the same. I turned to her and asked her how she used them. She whipped out her phone and showed me a recipe similar to this. I've tweaked many through the years but this one is, I must tell you, spot on. The true test was my husband - he goes to the restaurant and buys it by the quart and swears I have mastered the salsa. I'm grateful to you for helping me reach the end of my recipe testing for this salsa. At times I add just a bit of neuchfatel cream cheese, but I've learned that really isn't necessary to make this the creamiest, most delicious salsa EVER!
Susan Pridmore
Wow! Thank you so much for the feedback! I really appreciate it and am so happy that it checks all the boxes for you!!