- I made Meghan Markle's one-pot spaghetti from her Netflix series "With Love, Meghan."
- The pasta dish is made in a skillet using boiled water, tomatoes, and two different types of greens.
- The final dish lacked rich flavor, but it was tasty and shockingly easy to make.
Meghan Markle's one-pot pasta recipe has sparked mixed reactions online.
However, for those short on time and in need of a quick, easy meal, I thought the simple pasta dish fit the bill.
In the first episode of Meghan's new Netflix series "With Love, Meghan," the duchess walks her friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin through one of her go-to dinners, which she calls her single-skillet spaghetti.
The "family favorite" pasta recipe — yes, even her and Prince Harry's kids supposedly love it — uses spaghetti, Swiss chard, kale, baby tomatoes, and grated Parmesan cheese.
It has received criticism online, with some outlets calling the finished product "bland" and others comparing it to similar recipes already in existence.
While the dish is by no means packed with rich, creamy flavor, I did think the tomatoes, cheese, and red pepper flakes did a lot of heavy lifting to add flavor.
The pasta took under 20 minutes to make and used one pot, which saved me time cleaning up. The recipe seemed ideal for people who want to feed an entire family with little to no time to prepare dinner.
Here's how to make Meghan Markle's one-pot pasta.
I started by gathering the ingredients for the one-pot pasta.
For this recipe you'll need:
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pint plum tomatoes
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Zest of 1 lemon
- A box of spaghetti
- 3 ½ cups of water
- Swiss chard
- Kale
- ¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- Red pepper flakes
Meghan doesn't list any exact measurements in the scene, other than how much water she uses, so I estimated how much to use of each ingredient.
I spent $28.10, excluding tax, on ingredients at my local grocery store in Brooklyn, New York.
I chopped the tomatoes in half and added them to my skillet.
Meghan said this doesn't need to be precise and that you can use whatever tomatoes you have on hand, from a mix of red or yellow plum tomatoes or more exotic varieties like heirlooms.
I added the tomatoes to my skillet with chopped garlic and olive oil.
At this point, you keep the stovetop off — when Meghan is making it, she does these steps while the pan is on the countertop.
After adding the olive oil and tomatoes to the pan, I sprinkled the entire skillet with salt. I then added the chopped garlic and mixed it with a wooden spoon.
I then added about a box of spaghetti to the pan.
Part of what makes this pasta dish especially easy to make is that you don't need to boil the pasta in a separate pot. Instead, the pasta water comes together with the other ingredients to cook the pasta and make the sauce.
I zested a whole lemon over the pasta noodles and then started boiling my water in a tea kettle.
It took about 3 cups of water to cover the pasta and tomatoes. Then, I covered the skillet with a lid.
In the show, Meghan said to cover the spaghetti with water, which she said takes about 3 ½ cups. However, the amount you use will depend on the size of your skillet.
Even though the water was fully boiled when I added it, I noticed that it wasn't hot enough to cook the pasta fully since the entire dish had to be brought to a boil.
I turned the heat on my stove to medium-high and let the pasta boil for about five minutes.
While the pasta was cooking, I chopped the Swiss chard.
Meghan doesn't say exactly how much she uses, but I ended up using about three stems. She recommends chopping the red part of the stem for added color and flavor, as well as the leaves.
When the pasta was fully brought to a boil, I lowered the heat and added in the greens.
I tried to separate the spaghetti noodles using a wooden spoon but found that they initially stuck together. However, as the pasta continued cooking, they eventually separated.
I also added the chopped Swiss chard and a couple of handfuls of massaged kale, which I tore apart with my hands and added directly to the pot.
I mixed the pasta with the greens and let it cook for a few more minutes on low heat.
Meghan said the starch from the pasta would create a "creamy" sauce without the need for cream. Even after letting it all cook down for a few minutes, I thought it still appeared pretty watery.
After I added the grated Parmigiano Reggiano, the sauce started to come together.
The blistered tomatoes and cheese made the sauce slightly thicker and a light-orange color. The pasta noodles were also perfectly al-dente.
I topped the dish with a pinch of fresh salt and red pepper flakes, per Meghan's suggestion.
I was really impressed by the final result, and by how easy it was to make.
I love having a one-pot recipe on hand, especially during a busy workweek. This pasta dish made for a quick, healthy dinner.
The lemon and slightly blistered plum tomatoes added flavor, while the red pepper flakes added a kick — I was surprised Meghan and Harry's kids would be into it. It tasted light and fresh, and I thought the Swiss chard and kale added texture.
However, it was far from the most flavorful or decadent pasta dish I've ever had.
Still, it was also unbelievably quick and easy to make, and even easier to clean up.
I could see myself adding this recipe into my weekly rotation for a quick dinner, though I'm not sure I would make it for a dinner party or when I'm really wanting to impress someone with my culinary prowess.
