25 High-Protein Pasta Dinners to Make This Spring
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
You’ll want to make one of these healthy and delicious pasta dinners ASAP. They’re packed with your favorite seasonal foods like asparagus, peas and artichokes, so you can enjoy the taste of spring in every bite. Plus, these dishes offer at least 15 grams of protein per serving from ingredients like beans, spinach and chicken to help with satiety, muscle recovery and healthy digestion. Recipes like our One-Pot Chicken & Broccoli Pasta and Creamy Rotisserie Chicken & Spinach Pasta are satisfying and flavorful meals best eaten at the end of a beautiful spring day.
One-Pot White Bean, Spinach & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo with Lemon & Feta
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Julia Bayless
This one-pot pasta dish with white beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is lively and vibrant and leaves you with an easy cleanup. Toasting the orzo before adding the broth adds another layer of flavor. Another dark leafy green like chopped kale or Swiss chard can stand in for the spinach, but may take longer to wilt in the pan. If you use a sturdier green, add it to the pan during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Creamy Shrimp & Mushroom Pasta
Cashews are the base of this delicious shrimp pasta dish. Blending the nuts helps thicken the sauce and provides creaminess—no actual cream required! Straining the cashew mixture removes any unwanted large pieces. Chopped rosemary adds freshness to break through the creaminess of the dish.
Creamy Rotisserie Chicken & Spinach Pasta
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Julian Hensarling, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
This creamy rotisserie chicken pasta recipe uses Gruyère cheese and cream cheese as the base for the velvety sauce. Gruyère adds a rich and nutty flavor, although you can experiment with alternatives like Cheddar or Swiss cheese. We love the ease of using baby spinach, but feel free to swap it out for another leafy green like kale or Swiss chard if you have them on hand.
One-Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus
This healthy chicken pesto pasta recipe is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus brightens up the look and flavors of this easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.
Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Pasta
Make this creamy mushroom and spinach pasta for an easy, healthy dinner. Be sure to save some of the pasta-cooking water as it helps the sauce emulsify.
Creamy Green Pea Pesto Pasta
Mint and peas are a natural pairing in this creamy pasta dish. It works well as a vegetarian main dish or can be divided into smaller portions as a side dish. If you have pine nuts on hand, sprinkle them over the top for a little crunch. If you like your pesto to be totally smooth, process it a little longer, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Parmesan cheese grated fresh with a microplane grater will give you the best results.
One-Pot Chicken & Broccoli Pasta
This creamy chicken and broccoli pasta makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. We opt for small shells in this recipe, but any other small pasta, like orecchiette, would work, too.
Creamy Salmon Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
In this creamy salmon pasta recipe, sun-dried tomatoes are used in two ways. The flavorful oil is used to sauté shallots, while the tomatoes get added to the cream sauce.
Burrata Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Spinach
Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
This luscious weeknight pasta dish features burrata cheese—a soft cow's-milk cheese that looks similar to fresh mozzarella but features a creamy center that melts beautifully. You can substitute chopped fresh summer-ripe tomatoes for the cherry tomatoes. If they are plump and juicy they will moisten and flavor the pasta well so you can hold back on adding the full amount of pasta water. Serve with crusty garlic bread and a green salad on the side.
Creamy Artichoke Pasta
This creamy artichoke pasta uses lemon zest and parsley to balance the richness of the Parmesan cheese sauce. You can use frozen or canned artichoke hearts in this healthy pasta recipe.
Skillet Broccoli-Cheddar Mac & Cheese
Broccoli—just like pasta—makes a tasty pairing with sharp Cheddar. Here, we've combined all three ingredients in a homey casserole that's baked in a cast-iron skillet. Replacing some of the pasta in the dish with vegetables makes it more nutritious and helps you cut down on carbs.
Creamy Caramelized Cabbage Pasta
Photographer: Grant Webster, Food Stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop Stylist: Lexi Juhl
In this comforting vegetarian dinner, cabbage is sautéed in butter until it caramelizes, imparting a subtle sweetness to the dish. A light, creamy sauce coats both the cabbage and the pasta. If you want to stretch the sauce a little further, you can thin it out by adding in a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water.
Chicken & Asparagus Skillet Pasta with Pesto
Fresh lemon juice, tangy sun-dried tomatoes and zippy pesto tie together the flavors in this quick and easy skillet meal. The 30-minute dinner is so versatile--you can use any quick-cooking protein or vegetable you have on hand and still have a delicious meal on busy weeknights.
Mushroom Ragout with Herbed Ricotta & Pappardelle
This mushroom ragout is topped with dollops of ricotta, which cut through the acidity of the tomato-based sauce for a balanced flavor and creamy texture.
Shrimp & Broccoli Pasta
The corkscrew-shaped rotini pasta and broccoli florets do such a great job of holding the cream cheese sauce in this easy shrimp-and-broccoli pasta.
Anthony Anderson’s One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese with Broccoli
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer, Prop Stylist: Christine Keely
This easy one-pot mac & cheese recipe gets an extra boost of protein from chicken. Buffalo sauce adds spicy tang—look for one without added sugar, like Frank's RedHot.
Creamy Chicken & Asparagus Pasta
This creamy chicken and asparagus pasta is a quick, warming meal all cooked in one pot. The cream cheese adds a silky texture to the sauce, while fresh asparagus and lemon brighten the dish.
Creamy Lemon & Spinach Pasta Bake
This creamy and comforting vegetarian pasta bake is perfect when you want a pasta dinner that is light, bright and flavorful. This easy pasta bake is packed with spinach. Feel free to swap the spinach out for another green like kale if you have it on hand. Just be sure to remove the tough stems and chop it into smaller pieces before cooking. Depending on your green, you may have to cook it a little bit longer so it's nice and tender before baking.
Garlicky Pasta with Grilled Shrimp & Asparagus
This grilled garlic-shrimp pasta with asparagus is a great way to have a fancy dinner on the table in minutes, and it's perfect for any night of the week.
One-Pot Lemon Asparagus Pasta with Shrimp
This quick one-pot shrimp and pasta dinner is cooked with asparagus in a lemony sauce. Feta cheese sprinkled over the top adds another savory layer, but feel free to skip it and add additional fresh herbs and a lemon slice instead.
Green Goddess Ricotta Pasta
We take the flavors of green goddess dressing—lemon, anchovy and herbs—and use them as the base for a colorful, bright pasta sauce. We like a mix of basil, chives, parsley and tarragon, but you can mix herbs depending on what you have on hand. Adding ricotta to the sauce creates a luscious, velvety texture, while the acidity from the lemon juice balances out the creaminess. We use shells, which hold the pools of sauce well, but you could easily swap in another noodle if you prefer. To amp up the veggies even more, try adding asparagus or peas to the dish.
Cashew, Chickpea & Pasta Salad with Cilantro-Mint-Shallot Vinaigrette
In our humble opinion, the dressing makes this salad. Tangy and zesty with a bit of a crunch from the shallots, this cilantro-mint-shallot vinaigrette will quickly become your go-to. Make the dressing and chop up the veggies while you wait for the pasta to cook, then mix everything and enjoy!
Creamy Chicken, Mushroom & Ricotta Pasta
Ricotta cheese is the key to this creamy pasta dish made without the cream. It melts down along with Parmesan into a luscious cheesy sauce, thanks to a little pasta-cooking water. For the smoothest results, use freshly grated Parmesan—pre-grated cheese often contains cellulose that can prevent melting.
Creamy Arugula Pesto Pasta with Peas & Tomatoes
Here, we jazz up store-bought pesto with peppery arugula and tangy goat cheese to make a creamy pasta sauce.
Artichoke, Chickpea & Mozzarella Pasta Salad
This healthy pasta salad draws inspiration from a traditional antipasto platter. Artichoke hearts and pepperoncini add briny flavor, while fresh mozzarella lends a creamy note. Serve this pasta salad at your next dinner party or backyard get-together.
Read the original article on Eating Well.
