Healthy Italian Beef Recipes

This easy slow cooker ground beef and pasta recipe makes a great meal any night of the week.

Skip the jar of tomato sauce at the supermarket. This homemade ragù is so simple and so good that you'll want to make it in batches and freeze it so you always have some around. For the homemade pasta, this healthy recipe uses whole-wheat flour instead of the "00" type often used, adding a nutty flavor and fiber. Serve with your favorite Italian red wine.

You can't go wrong with these classic marinara meatballs filled with applesauce, zucchini, and green onions.

Using mini pepperoni slices (or chopping regular-sized slices) allows you to use less pepperoni, but still get plenty of flavor on this pepperoni and pepper pizza. Use green or yellow pepper instead of red, or swap out the pepper for your favorite veggie instead. No time to make homemade dough? Look for whole-wheat pizza-dough balls at your supermarket. Check the ingredient list to make sure the dough doesn't contain any hydrogenated oils.

To stretch the ground beef, we use high-fiber bulgur and whole-wheat breadcrumbs in the meatballs, which are baked rather than fried.

Eggplant gives this pasta sauce a rich meatiness that complements the ground beef. Plus the eggplant allows us to use a little less beef but still have a generous and hearty serving.

The economical cube steak is elevated to new heights in this recipe. The salad, with chopped arugula, basil, tomatoes, onion and sharp Italian cheese, is the picture of summer simplicity; all it needs is olive oil and lemon to dress it.

Our version of beef Stroganoff tops seared flank steak with a rich-tasting sauce made with a touch of cognac, reduced-fat sour cream and plenty of portobello mushrooms. Serve over whole-wheat egg noodles.

Reminiscent of the stuffed cabbage of yore, the mild flavor of chard makes these beef-stuffed rolls perfect for the whole family. Make It a Meal: A side of whole-wheat spaghetti to soak up the sauce plus a glass of Syrah.

Prosciutto, wine and mushrooms dress up this all-purpose spaghetti sauce; keep some handy in your freezer to toss with your favorite pasta, layer into lasagna or spoon over polenta. We have added bulgur to reduce the amount of ground beef.

While the cooking method for this steak recipe means standing it up on the “T,” celebrity Florentine butcher Dario Cecchini guarantees it yields truly juicy results. It's important to get a T-bone steak that's 1 1/2 inches thick or it won't stand on its end on the grill, as instructed. Ask your butcher to cut one to order for you.

Who doesn't love pasta with a quick meat sauce? This crowd-pleasing healthy spaghetti Bolognese recipe is a boon for busy cooks--it's ready and on the table in just 40 minutes.

The meatballs and sauce are cooked in the slow cooker for this traditional Italian spaghetti and meatballs recipe. You could also serve the meatballs over creamy polenta or on a sandwich with melted provolone.

We love the taste of these zesty Italian-style one-bite appetizers--topped with sopressata, red pepper spread and fresh mozzarella--on thin-sliced toasted focaccia bread. If you can't find focaccia, toasted slices of baguette are a good substitute.

Instead of opening a jar of sauce, try this easy spaghetti with meat sauce on a weeknight. Serve with steamed broccoli and garlic bread. The recipe makes enough for 8 servings. If you're serving only four for dinner, cook 8 ounces of spaghetti and freeze the leftover sauce.

Finely chopped mushrooms, carrot, celery and onion practically melt into the turkey filling in this healthy makeover of classic meat lasagna. The picky eaters in your family will never guess that this lasagna is loaded with healthy vegetables.

This is a version of the famous meat sauce of Emilia Romagna, of which Bologna is the capital. Giuliano Hazan's family is from Emilia Romagna, and he learned to make Bolognese sauce from his mother, Marcella, who learned it from her grandmother, Mary. Its classic pairing is with homemade tagliatelle or pappardelle but it's also very good with rigatoni, shells or any substantial pasta shape, preferably one with ridges, that has nooks and cavities to trap the sauce. Adapted from How to Cook Italian by Giuliano Hazan; Scribner, 2005.

A touch of cinnamon distinguishes these delicious tomato-sauced meatballs. Adding whole-grain bulgur allows you to use less meat, resulting in meatballs with less than half the total fat and saturated fat of the original. Plus a vibrant-tasting combination of fresh and canned tomatoes in the sauce helps reduce the sodium by two-thirds. Serve with pasta, polenta or even on a whole-grain roll with a bit of melted part-skim mozzarella for a meatball sub.

This dish is elegant enough for company, yet easy enough to serve on a weeknight. Chicken or turkey cutlets could easily substitute for the veal, if you like.

This chunky, full-bodied sauce is a good match for hearty whole-wheat pasta. We've augmented a little lean ground beef with mushrooms to get a rich, meaty sauce that has a minimum of saturated fat.