Jimmy Kimmel’s Family’s Favorite 5-Ingredient Pasta Is Creamy Perfection

When I first saw the video of Jimmy Kimmel making his kids’ favorite “pasta-tina” with a sneaky bean sauce, I thought, “Celebrities! They’re just like us!” Okay, maybe not, but it is essentially a universal truth that kids love pasta. And many of us parents are always looking to boost the nutritional content of a bowl full of noodles. 

That’s how Kimmel came up with this idea for a bean-based pasta sauce. He wanted to upgrade the classic pastina, which is typically just tiny pasta cooked in broth with Parmesan. His version uses larger pasta (in the clip, he uses cavatappi) and puréed cannellini beans flavored with a little garlic and chicken base — topped with grated Parm, of course. 

The reason this really caught my eye is because it’s very much like one of my family’s favorite meals, “Sunday Night Pasta,” which I got from Nigella Lawson. It’s made up of heavy cream, garlic, and chicken base, but I’ll often add beans, too (although I don’t typically purée them). I was curious how the creamy bean purée would stand in for the dairy. Would it still be delicious, or be an obvious “healthy” swap? 

You’ll start by cooking a pound of pasta (any shape). Meanwhile, open a can of cannellini beans. Pour off a couple of tablespoons of the canning liquid, then use an immersion blender to blend the beans directly in the can. (Alternatively, blend the beans in an upright blender.)

Smash a few garlic cloves and remove the paper skins. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook gently until lightly golden. Discard the garlic. Add the bean puree and a tablespoon of chicken base to the garlic oil. Heat through.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce in the pan. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top.

This was great! It was a super-simple pantry meal that came together in a snap. I made it for a weekend lunch at home, and everyone ate it up — not a single comment about beans. It was a bowl of creamy, carby comfort. That said, no one compared it to our favorite Sunday Night Pasta, either. It just stood up as its own thing. 

My only comment on the recipe is that you really do need to reserve a cup of the pasta water before draining it to use in the sauce. Without the pasta water, the sauce is quite stiff. The pasta water loosens everything up so that it feels lush — not stodgy and starchy. I used over 1/2 cup of pasta water. You’ll need to add more as the pasta sits as well. 

This also makes quite a lot of food. A pound of pasta is too much for my family — even with two teenagers. You’ll have quite a lot of leftovers if you’re cooking for littles like Kimmel in this video. You could use half of the bean purée and boil just a half pound of pasta, and freeze the other half of the beans for another meal down the road. 

Kimmel also mentions he sometimes adds an egg to the bean puree for another hit of protein. I opted to add one at the end to see if it made a difference, and honestly I wouldn’t bother. As long as you include the pasta water, it’s plenty creamy enough on its own. Plus, a singular egg stirred into a pound of pasta isn’t boosting the protein all that much. 

• Reserve some pasta cooking water. Scoop at least a cup before draining the cooked pasta. Start with adding a quarter cup to the sauce, pouring in more until you reach the desired consistency.
• Use your favorite chicken base. Kimmel uses Minor’s Chicken Base. I used Better Than Bouillon, which worked great.
• Top it to your heart’s desire. I topped our bowls with Parmesan as directed, plus freshly cracked pepper and a little olive oil for some extra flavor. I could see swapping in Pecorino for some cacio e pepe vibes. 
• Add some veg. Stir in some chopped broccoli to the pasta cooking water for the last couple of minutes, or add frozen peas for a little extra nutrition.