Beat the Budget's Creamy Spinach and Bacon Pasta

Start by adding the chopped bacon into a pan on a low/medium heat. As the bacon heats the fat will render, allowing the bacon to fry in its own flavourful fat.

After around 6 minutes, the bacon should be crispy. Remove any fatty pieces of bacon (pieces without any lean meat on) and set the crispy bacon aside, leaving the grease in the pan. No additional oil required!

Add the onion into the pan and fry on a medium heat until softened, for around 5 minutes. Season with black pepper. Meanwhile, add the fusilli to boiling water, set a timer to 2 minutes minus the packet time.

Once the onion has softened, add the garlic and spinach into the pan to fry for a couple of minutes.

Transfer the contents of the frying pan into a blender, along with the cream cheese and 2 ladles of pasta water. Blend until smooth.

Drain the undercooked pasta, reserving some pasta water. Add the pasta and creamy spinach sauce into the frying pan and heat on low. Continue to heat until the sauce has thickened, adding pasta water if necessary. Add the juice of half a lemon & serve with crispy bacon and an extra sprinkle of black pepper.