Healthy Pancetta Recipes

French green lentils and black lentils hold up well to long, slow cooking without becoming mushy. Save the rinds from used-up blocks of Parmesan in a resealable plastic bag or tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. They give soup broths a rich, savory flavor.

We opt for fresh spinach pasta here--it cooks quickly and adds a pop of color. Cooking lima beans in pancetta drippings infuses them with flavor.

In this roasted Brussels sprouts recipe, pancetta--cured Italian-style bacon--seasons sweet Brussels sprouts with a hint of salt and a touch of smoke that goes nicely with the fresh sage. These Brussels sprouts are the perfect vegetable side dish to any turkey, pork or chicken dinner.

This healthy appetizer has a kick of heat thanks to dried chiles, while pancetta and vinegar brighten up the caramelized squash topping.

Don't ditch your pasta-cooking water! The flavorful liquid retains a touch of the pasta's starch, which helps your sauce cling to the pasta in this healthy pasta recipe.

We use just a touch of pancetta--cured Italian-style bacon--to balance the sweet tomatoes and peppery watercress. Make it a meal: A salad tossed with a red-wine vinaigrette completes dinner.

Created by chef Fabio Viviani of Siena Tavern in Chicago, this Amatriciana sauce is a classic of modern Roman cooking (though it most likely came from the town of Amatrice about 90 miles away). Typically, it's made with few ingredients: garlic, guanciale (cured pork jowl), cheese and tomato. This version doctors up jarred sauce to keep it quick and calls for easy-to-find pancetta in place of the guanciale. This tomato sauce is sometimes paired with bucatini; here, Fabio dresses up rigatoni with it.

In this dinner, ricotta dumplings are pan-fried until browned and served with creamy peas, bacon (or pancetta) and shaved Parmesan. Part-skim ricotta makes light and fluffy dumplings and adds protein to this elegant dish. For an easy mess-free way to shape the dumplings, see our tip on how to make quenelles.

This scallop salad is inspired by the French salad frisée with lardons. Crispy, salty pancetta and fried capers complement the buttery sweet flavor of seared scallops. Softly wilted sturdy greens like frisée or escarole add texture and flavor to this healthy dinner salad.

This is a salty, sweet and smoky onion jam with a noticeable pork and black pepper flavor. It may seem slightly runny when hot, but when cooled it's thick and tender. Eat this tasty slow-cooker jam on burgers, especially with blue cheese, or serve on a cheese board. It will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

Pangrattato is simply fresh breadcrumbs with herbs, garlic and salt sautéed in hot olive oil until crunchy to top this quick-cooking pasta. We add pancetta and chopped walnuts for even more richness.

With pancetta, lettuce and tomato, this pie combines salad and pizza all in one, a pizz-alad if you will! It's a delicious mess--serve it with knives, forks and plenty of napkins.