27 Heart-Healthy Pasta Recipes to Make for Dinner Tonight

January 04, 2021

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Enjoy a heart-healthy dinner with these delicious pasta recipes. These dinners are packed with hearty protein and nutritious vegetables like broccoli and spinach. Plus, each recipe is low in sodium and saturated fat, so it’s easy to follow a heart-healthy eating pattern. Recipes like Pasta Puttanesca with Beef and Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms are satisfying and healthy.

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Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce

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Ripe tomato and fresh basil give this quick recipe tons of flavor. Serve this healthy pasta dinner with crusty garlic bread and steamed green beans.

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Pasta Puttanesca with Beef

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

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Sesame-Garlic Beef & Broccoli with Whole-Wheat Noodles

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A savory marinade with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil infuses flavor into sirloin steak pieces in this healthy beef and broccoli stir-fry recipe. Tip: Partially freeze the beef for easier slicing.

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Easy Pea & Spinach Carbonara

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Fresh pasta cooks up faster than dried, making it a must-have for fast weeknight dinners like this luscious yet healthy meal. Eggs are the base of the creamy sauce. They don't get fully cooked, so use pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs if you prefer.

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Spaghetti with Quick Meat Sauce

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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.

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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

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This one-pan pasta that combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal is garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.

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Shrimp-Stuffed Pasta Shells

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When choosing dry white wine for enhancing this deluxe dish, pick a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay in the $8 to $10 range.

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Creamy Mustard Chicken

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In this healthy, creamy mustard chicken recipe, thin-sliced chicken breasts (sometimes labeled chicken cutlets) cook quickly and are delicious smothered in a velvety, light mustard sauce and garnished with fresh chopped sage. If you can't find chicken cutlets, cut boneless, skinless chicken breast into 4-ounce pieces and place between pieces of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat mallet, rolling pin or heavy skillet until flattened to about 1/2 inch thick.

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Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms

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Sliced Brussels sprouts and mushrooms cook quickly and cling to the pasta in our fall version of pasta primavera. Look for presliced mushrooms to cut prep time. Serve with a tossed salad.

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Baked Penne Florentine

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This comforting and flavorful vegetarian dish is packed with protein.

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Creamy Chicken, Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms One-Pot Pasta

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You'll only have to dirty one pot in this easy pasta recipe that cooks chicken and vegetables right along with the noodles. Plus, by using the exact amount of water you need to cook the pasta, the starch that usually gets drained off with your pasta water stays in the pot, giving you delectably creamy results.

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Vegetarian Lo Mein with Shiitakes, Carrots & Bean Sprouts

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A hit of Sriracha gives a sweet and spicy edge to this healthy vegetarian recipe. Traditional lo mein is made with fresh lo mein noodles, which can be found in Asian markets. You can also use fresh or dried linguine noodles--fresh linguine is in the refrigerated section of some grocery stores. This easy dinner comes together in just 30 minutes, so it's perfect for weeknights.

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Italian-Style Turkey & Penne Skillet

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This delicious one-skillet pasta meal-for-two is ready in just 35 minutes! Turkey--seasoned with a spicy Italian-seasoning blend--is served with tomato sauce and wilted spinach over multi-grain pasta.

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Farfalle with Tuna, Lemon, and Fennel

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This warm, flaked tuna and lemon pasta recipe is ready in 30 minutes.

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Chicken Pasta Primavera

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Ready in under an hour, this pasta and veggie dish is perfect for any night of the week!

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Baked Cavatelli Casserole

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This easy to make, comforting dish will keep you warm on a cold day.

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Asian Beef Noodle Bowls

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With a lime wedge served on the side, these Asian noodle bowls are packed with flavor.

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Lemon-Garlic Shrimp over Orzo with Zucchini

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This light and veggie-packed shrimp and pasta dish makes a special weeknight dinner.

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Instant Pot Goulash

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Your Instant Pot (or other multicooker) cuts hours off the cooking time of this Hungarian beef stew recipe. This Instant Pot goulash, a saucy dish flavored with caraway and smoked paprika, is served over whole-wheat egg noodles that cook while your multicooker works its magic. It's comfort food at its best!

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Italian Mussels & Pasta

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This combination of mussels with plenty of garlic, parsley, saffron and white wine was inspired by the Venetian soup zuppa de peoci, which is usually ladled over sliced crusty bread. Here we serve it over pasta. For a more elegant presentation you can remove the mussels from their shells before serving…but then again, who wants to be elegant? Enjoy!

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Spaghetti Genovese

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Traditionally, this Italian pasta recipe combines pasta and pesto with potatoes and green beans. In our recipe for Spaghetti Genovese we give pesto a nutritional boost by adding spinach and toss it all together with fiber-rich whole-wheat pasta for a warm, comforting weeknight meal. Serve with escarole and radicchio salad.

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Vegan Mushroom Bolognese

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This Bolognese sauce recipe is adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. We swap out the beef and pork for button mushrooms to keep this traditional comfort food vegan yet weighty with umami flavor. And while some recipes call for red wine, this recipe sticks with Hazan's white wine selection.

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Fresh Herb Shrimp Linguini

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Have this fresh shrimp and pasta meal on the table in 30 minutes.

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Dan Dan Noodles with Chicken & Baby Bok Choy

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In this Asian dan dan peanut noodle recipe, Chinese black vinegar lends authentic flavor to the creamy sauce. If you can't find baby bok choy, use about 1 pound of mature bok choy sliced into 1- to 2-inch strips. Serve with your favorite hot sauce, such as sriracha, if desired.

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Vegan Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo with Kale

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In this date-night-worthy vegan fettuccine Alfredo recipe, cooked cauliflower transforms into a rich, luscious sauce when it's blended with softened cashews. A high-speed blender will give you the creamiest results. Opt for whole-wheat fettuccine to add fiber to this vegan pasta recipe.

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Italian Penne with Tuna

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Need a quick pasta dish that's flavorful and colorful? This penne pasta dinner-for-two combines leeks, baby spinach, tuna and sun-dried tomatoes--and it's ready in just 20 minutes!

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Spicy Jalapeño-Shrimp Pasta

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Get dinner on the table in 30 minutes with this healthy, one-dish spicy shrimp and pasta meal.

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