Orecchiette Pasta and Broccoli, Garlic and Chilli

Orecchiette Pasta and Broccoli, Garlic and Chilli and topped with Parmigiano cheese and fresh lemon. This recipe is easy and full of flavour, suited to busy weeknights when you need a good and nourishing meal on the table, fast.

Living in Italy, we once had a discussion with a few friends about their favourite pasta dish. Broccoli pasta was mentioned more than once.

Broccoli pasta? Not an undeniably good cacio e pepe or umami-rich carbonara? Ragu, surely it's ragu alla bolognese? Nope, broccoli pasta was top of the list, and although we would be lying if we said it beats those three dishes for us, it's still good.

Since there is no meat or fancy ingredients involved, it's low cost, uses simple, everyday ingredients, and the whole family loves it (we usually omit the chilli when making it for our daughter). You can opt to make it cheesy or fresh and zingy with lemon (see our notes on that below), either way it's SO good.

See the full recipe below, including step-by-step photos, variations and our top tips. Enjoy!

Love Orecchiette pasta? Check out some of our other favourites Orecchiette alla Positanese (Sausage, Tomato and Burrata) and Orecchiette with 'Nduja Sugo.

Ingredient notes

An overhead shot of all the ingredients needed to make a simple broccoli pasta with garlic and chilli.

Orecchiette – We love this pasta shape, and it works so well with this broccoli sauce because it coats it perfectly. It's not the easiest shape to find, so another small shape would work as well, such as small pasta shells, rigatoni or penne.
Broccoli – Use one large or two small. Romanesco or cauliflower would also work well, use them in the same way as broccoli.
Garlic – you can add more if preferred. We don't recommend using garlic powder.
Shallot – You can use white onion instead, but you'll need to saute that for a few minutes before adding the garlic and chilli, as it'll take longer to soften.
Fresh red chilli – use as much as you like, we like to deseed ours first and use between half to one whole chilli, depending on the heat. You can also use dried chilli flakes to taste instead.
Vegetable stock – We prefer using low-sodium stock so we can control the amount of salt added. You can also use chicken stock, which works well.

Recipe tips

Skip the chilli – if you're making this for kids or don't feel like any heat, you can leave out the chilli.

Emulsify the sauce – if the liquid has mostly evaporated after cooking the broccoli, you can add some reserved pasta water (about 1/2 – 1 cup/ 125ml-250ml). We always add an extra splash of water after adding the pasta until the pasta is well coated in the sauce.

Sauce consistency – for a smoother/saucier consistency, you can blitz the broccoli (either all of it or half of it) with some pasta water using an immersion blender before adding the pasta. Do this at the end when the broccoli is cooked.

Add sausage – sausage is a good addition to this sauce. You can either chop them into small pieces or remove them from the skins, and brown the meat after adding shallot, garlic and chilli.