6 Simple Pasta Recipes for a Healthy Dinner

The ideas in this post lean on vegetables, beans, lemon, and olive oil instead of a tub of cream, and none take longer than the water needs to boil.

A couple need the oven going, but the rest happen entirely at the stove while the pasta cooks.

All you really need is a large stockpot and a fine-mesh colander.

And before you drain, save a mug of the starchy pasta water, because most of these sauces lean on it.

1. Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta

A pint of cherry tomatoes turns into the sauce here, no jar involved.

Cook them in olive oil over medium-high and leave them alone until they blister and split.

Slide the garlic in for the last minute so it softens without scorching, then press a few tomatoes with the back of a spoon so they slump into the oil.

A little pasta water loosens it into a glaze that coats the noodles, and the basil goes in off the heat so it stays green.

Long strands like spaghetti catch this loose sauce better than a short shape.

A handful of white beans or a few shrimp at the end turns it into a fuller dinner.

2. Lemony Broccoli Pasta

Broccoli, garlic, lemon, a little parmesan.

Cut the florets small so they cook fast and tuck into the noodles instead of sitting on top.

Boil them in the pasta pot for the last four minutes and that’s your second pan gone.

Cook the garlic low in olive oil at the same time, only to pale gold, never brown.

Off the heat, add lemon juice and a lot of zest from a microplane, because the raw lemon is what wakes the whole bowl up.

A can of drained white beans or some shredded chicken stirred in turns it from a side into dinner.

3. Roasted Vegetable Pasta

This one runs on whatever’s going soft in the crisper.

Zucchini, peppers, red onion, and cherry tomatoes, cut the same size and roasted at 425 on a rimmed baking sheet until the edges char.

Give the pan room and leave it mostly alone, because the browning is the flavor.

Toss the roasted veg with the pasta, a spoonful of pasta water, and enough feta to melt at the edges.

Stir in a couple of handfuls of arugula at the end and it wilts down into more greens.

It’s good cold too, so the leftovers go straight into tomorrow’s lunch.

4. Mediterranean Tuna Pasta

The only thing you cook here is the pasta.

Canned tuna, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs, all off the shelf.

Buy the tuna packed in olive oil and don’t drain it fully, since that oil is half the dressing.

A short shape like fusilli or farfalle grabs the flakes and olives better than long noodles.

A pinch of red pepper flakes and a spoonful of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes round it out.

Capers and a squeeze of lemon sharpen it, and it eats just as well cold the next day.

5. Garlic Mushroom Pasta

Brown a pile of mushrooms hard with garlic and you barely need a sauce.

Give them room in a 12-inch sauté pan and don’t touch them for the first few minutes, or they steam instead of browning.

They cook down to half their size, so use more than looks right, and a mix of cremini beats plain button mushrooms.

A little thyme and a splash of white wine scraped off the pan take it further.

Pasta water and parmesan pull it silky without the cream a mushroom pasta usually calls for.

Serve it over something ridged like rigatoni so the sauce catches instead of sliding off.

6. Chickpea Pasta e Ceci

An Italian pantry dinner, small pasta simmered with chickpeas and tomato until it’s thick and stew-like.

Cook a spoonful of tomato paste and a sprig of rosemary in the oil first, for a deeper base.

Mash some of the chickpeas into the pot and the broth turns creamy on its own, no dairy.

A short tube like ditalini is the classic shape, small enough to eat with a spoon.

Cook the pasta right in that broth so it drinks up the flavor and there’s one pot to wash.

It sets as it cools, so loosen leftovers with a little water, and it freezes fine.

A Few Notes on Keeping Pasta Light

The thing tying all of these together is that mug of pasta water, so pull it before you drain and use it to loosen any sauce that’s gone too tight.

Salt the cooking water well, since bland noodles are the fastest way to make a healthy bowl taste like a diet.

Lemon, olive oil, and a real pile of vegetables carry the flavor people usually credit to cream.

Load the bowl closer to half vegetables or beans than pasta and it sits lighter.

Whole wheat or chickpea pasta adds fiber and protein and cooks the same way.

Fresh parmesan off a box grater and a last drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil finish any of them.

More Pasta Dinners on the Site

For a quick one – check out this easy lemon garlic pasta.

On the nights you’d rather not stand at the stove, easy crockpot pasta recipes for busy weeknights hands it to the slow cooker.