Recipe for Buddy Oliver's family-friendly and easy to make pasta with green veggies and garlicky breadcrumbs

Greens Pasta with Crispy Garlicky Bread Crumbs

Developed by Jamie Oliver's son, Buddy, this vibrant dish is so easy the entire family can help out.

This dinner recipe is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for the whole family (yes, even picky eaters and kids). Developed by Jamie Oliver‘s son, Buddy, the easy green pasta sauce is packed with vegetables like broccoli, scallions, peas and spinach. It all gets blended up and mixed with a pasta of your choice (this recipe uses farfalle). Serve with a fine grating of Parmesan cheese and garlicky bread crumbs, and bon appetit!

The best part about this recipe being so easy to make is that the whole family can help out with the cooking too. There is no chopping required, and it uses frozen peas and spinach for extra ease. It comes from Buddy Oliver’s best-selling cookbook, Let’s Cookfeaturing over 60 recipes for kids and cooking beginners to explore. Besides this easy green pasta sauce with garlicky breadcrumbs, there are recipes for quick pizzas and a chocolate microwave mug cake.

Jamie Oliver recipes to try

Buddy is clearly following in the footsteps of his father, Jamie Oliver, the famed celebrity chef and restauranteur. Jamie is no stranger to putting out cookbooks, with over 35 to his name. Here are some of our favourite Jamie Oliver recipes from 5 Ingredients Mediterranean and Simply Jamie:

Recipe for Buddy Oliver's family-friendly and easy to make pasta with green veggies and garlicky breadcrumbs

Greens Pasta With Crispy Garlicky Bread Crumbs

Buddy Oliver
This vibrant pasta dish—developed by Jamie Oliver’s son Buddy—is accessible and delicious and simple enough to make that the entire family could help out.

Ingredients

  • 1 piece of fresh garlic bread 3 inches
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 head broccoli florets broken into bite-size pieces and stem thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch scallions trimmed and sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 1 cup frozen peas scant
  • 4 oz frozen spinach
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 340 g dried farfalle
  • 60 g finely grated Parmesan or cheddar cheese plus extra to serve

Instructions
 

  • Pulse garlic bread in food processor until you have fine crumbs, then toast in large, shallow Dutch oven over medium heat until lightly golden and crisp. Transfer crumbs to small bowl.
  • Drizzle olive oil into Dutch oven and place back over medium heat. Add broccoli stems, scallions and garlic, followed 2 minutes later by half the peas and all the spinach.
  • Season with a pinch each of sea salt and black pepper, then cook for 10 minutes or until veg is soft and spinach has thawed, stirring regularly.
  • Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water following package instructions, adding broccoli florets and remaining peas for the last 3 minutes.
  • Scoop 1 cup starchy cooking water from pasta pot and stir into vegetables along with cheese, then blitz carefully with an immersion blender until smooth.
  • Drain pasta, broccoli and peas, toss with sauce and spoon into bowls, finishing with a fine grating of cheese. Serve the garlicky bread crumbs alongside for sprinkling.
Keyword green peas, parmesan, pasta, Spinach

The cover of the Let's Cook cookbook on a beige background.

Recipe excerpted from Let’s Cook by Buddy Oliver, published by Appetite © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited. Adapted for ELLE Gourmet. Recipe photography © David Loftus & Paul Stuart, 2025. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
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