If you’re a pasta lover, you have come to the right place as today we are giving you our favorite healthy pasta recipes. All of these recipes require nothing but a few simple ingredients and a passion for pasta—best of all, they won’t take much of your time.
Best Healthy Pasta Recipes
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Kung Pao Spaghetti Recipe
In today’s recipe, we are delighted to introduce a healthy version of their Kung Pao spaghetti. Ours features succulent chicken, chewy spaghetti, dried chilies, and crunchy peanuts tossed in a sweet and savory condiment. Requiring only 25 minutes and minimal cooking skills, this delectable CPK’s Kung Pao Spaghetti is definitely worth trying.
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Rasta Pasta Recipe
Our Rasta pasta recipe is a unique take on a classic Italian dish featuring penne pasta, chicken, bell peppers, and Caribbean seasoning.
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Spaghetti With Sausage Recipe
This effortless spaghetti with sausage recipe makes for an easy and wholesome Italian-inspired meal within 20 minutes.
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Cheesy Taco Pasta Recipe
This cheesy taco pasta recipe helps you create a perfect combination of taco and pasta from simple ingredients and a diverse group of spices.
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White Spaghetti Recipe
Today’s dish calls for spaghetti and juicy shrimp stirred in a Béchamel-based sauce, offering a five-star dining experience. Also, the simplicity of the prepping and cooking process makes this dish beginner-friendly and worth trying.
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Stir-fried Spaghetti Recipe
Our crowd-pleasing stir-fried spaghetti makes dieting fun and exciting for those healthy-lifestyle enthusiasts. In this recipe, our chefs combine spaghetti, chicken, vegetables, and tomato sauce to create a delectable dish—savory, spicy, and umami.
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Creamy Seafood Pasta Recipe
Our creamy seafood pasta recipe has a short list of ingredients and a simple stir fry technique but tastes like it could be served in a restaurant.
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Tuna Spaghetti Recipe
The tuna spaghetti recipe we’re sharing today utilizes inexpensive ingredients to make a healthy and fulfilling meal. The dish features many layers of flavor and texture from simple ingredients that may already be in your pantry.
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Squid Ink Seafood Pasta Recipe
This squid ink seafood pasta gives you a taste of the sea with shrimp, mussels, and squid served alongside elegant-looking squid ink pasta.
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Creamy Tomato Pappardelle Pasta Recipe
Our creamy tomato pappardelle recipe makes a quick and easy delicious pasta dish that can also be part of a healthy diet: a perfect not-so-guilty pleasure.
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Vegan Spaghetti Recipe
This vegan spaghetti recipe proves how fun and tasty vegan food can be by making tomato sauce pasta with a wide collection of fresh vegetables.
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Pasta Puttanesca Recipe
A homemade food dream come true, this Pasta Puttanesca Recipe takes simple ingredients and turns them into a hearty dish that instantly brightens your meal.
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Southwestern Spaghetti Recipe
This Southwestern spaghetti recipe features tender spaghetti, savory beef, sweet corn, black beans, and bright veggies. Infused with robust and smoky spices, it’s a dish that captivates the taste buds from the very first bite.
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Sweet Potato Gnocchi Recipe
This sweet potato gnocchi recipe doesn’t require many ingredients, but it does call for some effort. But don’t worry— it’s actually very simple.
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Cheese Spaghetti Recipe
This one-pan recipe features al dente pasta and bacon chunks whipped in a thick cheddar cheese mixture. You’ll experience the luscious flavors and texture in every bite—chewy pasta, crispy caramelized pork, and velvety cheesy sauce.
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Spaghetti Lasagna Recipe
This spaghetti lasagna recipe has everything that makes a hearty comfort meal: baked pasta, a creamy sauce, and melted cheese.
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Spaghetti Casserole Recipe
After forming a spaghetti base, we spread on a mixture of beef, onion, and tomatoes, then top it with a creamy sauce and cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and the edges are slightly charred, and your spaghetti casserole is ready for the taste test.
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Baked Spaghetti Recipe
This baked spaghetti recipe creates a scrumptious hybrid between lasagna and spaghetti. It features layers of tender spaghetti, juicy tomato sauce, savory beef, and creamy cheese, baked to heart-melting perfection.
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Carbonara Pasta Recipe
This classic al dente pasta coated with a rich, creamy sauce guarantees a most wonderful culinary experience.
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Pesto Spaghetti Recipe
This pesto spaghetti recipe mixes pasta with aromatic and herbaceous pesto sauce, bright cherry tomatoes, and tangy parmesan cheese. The whole dish comes together easily in approximately 20 minutes, making it the ideal choice for any weeknight dinner.
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Spaetzle Recipe
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Spaghetti Pizza Recipe
Today’s spaghetti pizza recipe offers the best of both worlds by combining spaghetti and pizza in one single dish. Kids and adults alike will fall in love with it after just a few bites!
Is Pasta Healthier Than Rice?
When it comes to eating a balanced diet, most people believe that carbohydrate-rich meals like pasta and rice can be harmful.
However, this could not be further from the truth, as the exact reverse is the case. These slow-release carbs aid in energy replenishment and, as a result, endurance during workouts.
As part of a balanced diet, starchy foods like rice and pasta should account for a third of our daily calories. But, in terms of nutrition, which is better: pasta or rice?
To uncover the answer, we looked at a regular bag of retail white rice and white pasta and dissected the nutritional benefits.
- Pasta (per 100 g)
- Calories: 160
- Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbs: 32.5 g
- Fiber 1.4 g
- Protein: 5.1 g
- Rice (per 100 g)
- Calories: 117
- Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbs: 25.1 g
- Fiber: 1.2 g
- Protein: 2.6 g
The breakdown:
Though there may not appear to be much of a difference between rice and pasta at first glance, when we examine the details, we can see that these carbohydrates have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. The greatest option for you is the one that works best with your diet.
1. Rice
When it comes to calorie content, rice has 117 calories per 100 g compared to 160 calories for pasta. If you're trying to lose weight on a low-calorie diet, rice over pasta might be the best option.
When it comes to carbohydrate content, rice has far fewer than pasta. If your gym regimen requires you to limit the number of carbohydrates in your diet for the best results, rice may be a better option than pasta.
2. Pasta
We can see that pasta has more nutritional fiber than rice, which is an important aspect of a balanced diet and digestive system health.
We can also see that pasta has more protein per 100 g than rice (5.1 g vs. 2.6 g), thus if getting enough protein from your dietary sources is a priority for you, pasta may be a better option.
Protein aids in the development and recovery of our muscle groups, therefore if weight training is a part of your gym routine, protein is an essential nutrient to include in your diet.
The results:
Both rice and pasta have health benefits when eaten in moderation. Rice takes the cake when it comes to calorie and carbohydrate levels. However, if you want more protein and fiber, pasta beats rice.
Though carbohydrates are an important element of your diet, portion control is crucial, and whole-grain alternatives to rice and pasta are better for your body than refined-grain alternatives.
Remember that nutrient-dense foods like vegetables should make up a large portion of your plate. Adding protein from meat or meat substitutes to pasta and rice dishes makes for a more filling and nutritious dinner.
3. How Many Calories Are There in Pasta?
As mentioned before, there are 160 calories per 100 g of pasta.
Types of Pasta
Despite the fact that pasta was originally mentioned in the 13th century, it is now one of the most popular foods on the planet. It's adaptable, practical, and rewarding - and there are many varieties to choose from.
While there are roughly 350 different types, each shape and style is ideally suited to specific types of Italian cuisine, which is a little-known truth.
1. Spaghetti
Consisting of long, thin noodles that may be coupled with a variety of sauces, spaghetti is one of the most popular pasta in the world. Spaghetti Bolognese is perhaps the most well-known meal, in which pasta is served with meat in a marinara sauce. This spaghetti goes well with any meat or veggie meal, or even just garlic and olive oil.
2. Penne
Penne is a popular shape with a circular, tube-like structure and diagonal cuts on both ends. Because the tube holds the sauce well, it's best served in meals with a rather thick, creamy sauce, such as Penne Arrabbiata. This is also the greatest variety of pasta for making spaghetti bakes.
3. Lasagne
Lasagne is the name of the thin pasta sheets that make up a dish, not the dish itself, contrary to common perception. Lasagne is commonly used in oven-baked dishes, the most well-known of which is lasagne al forno, which consists of a beef or pork ragu sandwiched between layers of lasagne and béchamel sauce, then topped with cheese. This meal can be made with any type of stuffing, such as mushrooms in place of pork.
4. Ravioli
Ravioli are pillow-shaped dough squares that can be used in a variety of ways. They can be stuffed with cheese, seafood, meat, or vegetables and covered with sauce, served in soups, or drizzled with olive oil.
5. Rigatoni
Rigatoni are tubes with little ridges on the outside, similar to penne, but they are somewhat wider and cut in a square rather than diagonally. Because of their size, they're best served with chunky vegetable sauces or baked into a gratin.
6. Farfalle
This pasta is known as 'bow-tie' pasta and is shaped like a butterfly. It's a little pasta with a vast surface area, which is why it's best served with cheese or tomato sauce, as the 'wings' perfectly hold the sauce. It goes well with a cold pasta salad and is occasionally served with grilled chicken.
Fusilli
This spiral-shaped pasta goes well with rich meat sauces or chunky vegetables because the pieces get stuck in the crevices of the twirls, giving the meal a wonderful texture.
Macaroni
Macaroni is a simple shape consisting of little tubes of pasta cut into short lengths and often curved. They're frequently found floating in a minestrone or cheese sauce, ready to be baked for a classic Mac 'n Cheese, so they don't actually need to contain sauces.
How to Cook Pasta
1. Dry, store-bought pasta
The best advice we can give you on how to cook pasta is to follow the instructions on the packet. No one knows dry pasta better than its manufacturers.
2. Freshly made pasta
If you have the time, try making homemade pasta for once.
Luna Regina
Writer, Author