Healthy Penne Recipes

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.

Getting in your daily servings of vegetables is easy when you feature this veggie-loaded pasta recipe. It's full of broccoli, asparagus, and tomatoes and a creamy ricotta-tomato sauce--you'll be amazed that it takes just 25 minutes to prepare.

Turn humble pasta and beans gourmet by adding roasted vegetables, fresh mint and tangy, salty aged goat cheese. When making a pasta dish with beans, you can use some of the bean-cooking liquid to give the sauce silky body and help it cling to the pasta. If you're using canned beans, use some of the pasta-cooking liquid or just water.

This ooey-gooey pasta dish is a crowd-pleaser for adults and kids alike--think rich and creamy macaroni-and-cheese tossed with cauliflower and chicken. Serve with a spinach salad.

Here's the meaty, saucy pasta that we all crave. If you have any slow-cooker bolognese leftovers, freeze them and reheat on a cold night when you're in need of a hot, comforting dish. Serve with a simple, crisp salad and crusty bread. For the prettiest appearance, sprinkle with whole fresh basil leaves instead of chopped oregano.

Get dinner on the table even faster by using precubed butternut squash in this creamy pasta recipe. Found in the produce section of large grocery stores, the cut butternut is a little bigger than you need here, so you will have to do some chopping--but the peeling and gutting has been done for you. That means this easy healthy dinner takes just 35 minutes to prep. Score!

In this braised cauliflower and squash penne pasta recipe, we cook the pasta and vegetables in broth rather than water to make this warming vegetarian pasta extra flavorful. The starch from the pasta and vegetables combines with the broth as it simmers and creates a silky sauce. And you can make the whole dish in just one pot, so cleanup is a breeze.

Penne tossed with spring vegetables, such as carrots, morel mushrooms, asparagus, peas and fava beans, along with loads of fresh herbs is a perfect example of Mario Batali's rustic approach to great-tasting Italian food. When both fava beans and morel mushrooms are in season, by all means use them in this recipe. But if you can't find either of those, substitute what looks best. Basic cremini mushrooms will work and frozen lima beans are a good option. Recipe adapted from Molto Gusto by Mario Batali and Mark Ladner (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers, 2010).

In the mood for Italian? Try this low-fat sausage-and-eggplant one-dish meal recipe.

This chunky sauce is laced with chard and accented with smoked tofu. Convenient packages of peeled and diced butternut squash are available in most supermarkets in the fall and winter.

In this braised cauliflower and squash penne pasta recipe, we cook the pasta and vegetables in broth rather than water to make this warming vegetarian pasta extra flavorful. The starch from the pasta and vegetables combines with the broth as it simmers and creates a silky sauce. And you can make the whole dish in just one pot, so cleanup is a breeze.

Artichokes, ricotta cheese and lemon juice and zest form the sauce for this quick pasta dish.

Just a sprinkling of walnuts lends crunch and flavor to this vegetarian pasta dish, without adding a lot of fat or calories.

With bold ingredients like garlic, anchovies and cayenne pepper--not to mention the sweet ones like raisins--the only subtle aspect to this lusty dish is the flavor of the broccoli. It's excellent as a side dish, but between the pasta and a hearty, vegetable-flecked tomato sauce, this pasta dish is a meal all by itself.

The heat level of this spicy tomato sauce can be adjusted to your taste. This quick pasta dish comes together in 30 minutes.

Toss Italian sausage, bell peppers and onion with jarred marinara for a quick and easy supper. Make it a meal: Serve with sautéed broccoli seasoned with a touch of anchovy and garlic.

This easy and healthy cherry tomato pasta recipe takes just 20 minutes to prep, so it's a perfect weeknight dinner. Cooking garlic cloves whole and then mashing them into the sauce not only saves time, it creates a mellow garlic flavor that melds seamlessly into the silky burst cherry tomatoes.