Healthy Italian Pasta Recipes

Find healthy, delicious Italian pasta recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

Easy Italian Wedding Soup

Rating: Unrated
4
Forget the marble-size meatballs you find in many versions of this soup. In this easy recipe, they're full-size, full-flavored and plenty filling.
By Robin Bashinsky

Lemon-Garlic Chicken Penne with Pesto and Spinach

Fresh pesto brilliantly compliments the lemon and garlic flavors of this juicy chicken dinner.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Baked Penne Florentine

Rating: Unrated
2
This comforting and flavorful vegetarian dish is packed with protein.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

One-Pan Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Rating: Unrated
17
This chicken Parmesan pasta uses the one-pot pasta method to cook your noodles, chicken and sauce all in one skillet for a fast and easy dinner with minimal cleanup. Finish the dish under the broiler to achieve a delicious melted cheese crust.
By Hilary Meyer

Ground Beef & Pasta Skillet

Rating: Unrated
9
Sneak extra vegetables into your child's day (and yours too!) with this easy one-skillet pasta recipe. Finely chop mushrooms to resemble the texture of ground beef and stir them into a classic meat sauce for an extra-healthy twist on a dinnertime favorite.
By Carolyn Casner

Hearty Minestrone

Rating: Unrated
4
This version of the Italian classic soup Minestrone is packed with leeks, potatoes, beans, zucchini, spinach and orzo, making it perfect for a hearty lunch or supper on a cold winter's night. To make a vegetarian version use vegetable rather than chicken broth. Top each bowl with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for a zesty burst of flavor.
By Kathleen Desmond Stang

Tortellini Primavera

Rating: Unrated
24
This creamy tortellini and vegetable pasta is a real crowd pleaser. To make it even quicker, use frozen chopped vegetables instead of fresh. Serve with: A green salad and whole-grain baguette.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Parsley-Walnut Pesto

Rating: Unrated
2
Homemade pesto may seem daunting, but in this quick pasta recipe you can make a simple sauce in minutes while the pasta water comes to a boil. You can substitute frozen green beans and cauliflower for fresh; in Step 4, cook the frozen vegetables according to package directions before tossing with the pasta and pesto.
By Patsy Jamieson

Easy Pea & Spinach Carbonara

Rating: Unrated
5
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.
By Adam Hickman

Easy Lasagna

This classic beef lasagna recipe is easy to make and will be ready to eat in just over an hour.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Creamy Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms

Rating: Unrated
20
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.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Chicken, Peppers & Pasta Casserole

Rating: Unrated
1
You can assemble this healthy chicken casserole before you leave for a party and pop it in the oven at the host's house. Or bake it at home and bring it along--it's delicious at room temperature too.
By Hilary Meyer

Inspiration and Ideas

Spaghetti with Quick Meat Sauce

Spaghetti with Quick Meat Sauce

Rating: Unrated
9
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.
One-Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

One-Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

Rating: Unrated
4
This one-pot pasta with tangy tomato-basil sauce is a simple, fast and easy weeknight dinner. All of your ingredients go into one pot, and with a bit of stirring and about 25 minutes of cook time, you'll have a healthy dinner the whole family will enjoy.
Slow-Cooker Pasta e Fagioli Soup Freezer Pack

Slow-Cooker Pasta e Fagioli Soup Freezer Pack

Rating: Unrated
2
Pasta with Creamy Mushroom-Pea Sauce

Pasta with Creamy Mushroom-Pea Sauce

Rating: Unrated
3
Shrimp Scampi

Shrimp Scampi

Rating: Unrated
1
Spicy Chicken Lasagna

Spicy Chicken Lasagna

Rating: Unrated
1

Nonna's Spaghetti & Meatballs

Rating: Unrated
5

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.

All Healthy Italian Pasta Recipes

Quick Shrimp Puttanesca

Rating: Unrated
2
Because refrigerated fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, this Italian pasta dish will be on the table lickety-split! Puttanesca, traditionally made with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and garlic, gets a makeover with shrimp for extra protein and artichoke hearts to boost the vegetable servings (and the fiber!). If you can't find frozen artichoke hearts, sub in drained canned artichoke hearts.
By Katie Webster

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans

Rating: Unrated
110
In this one-skillet supper, we toss dark leafy greens, diced tomatoes and white beans with gnocchi and top it all with gooey mozzarella. Serve with a mixed green salad with vinaigrette.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Cauliflower, Pancetta & Olive Spaghetti

Rating: Unrated
1
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.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Quick Pasta Bolognese

Rating: Unrated
5
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.
By David Bonom

Chicken Tetrazzini

Rating: Unrated
7
This retro dish will please kids and adults alike.
By Ruth Cousineau

Spaghetti Frittata

Rating: Unrated
6
Here's a creative way to use leftover cooked spaghetti: try mixing it with eggs for a filling Italian omelet. If you don't want to buy separate bunches of fresh herbs, look for an Italian blend package that may contain some of each or use one-third the amount of dried.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Vegan Mushroom Bolognese

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.
By Paul Greenberg

Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus

This healthy chicken pesto pasta is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus--which is cooked in the same pot as the pasta--brightens up the look and the flavors of this family-friendly and easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.
By Pam Lolley

Skillet Gnocchi with Shrimp & Asparagus

Rating: Unrated
11
The gnocchi cooks right in the skillet, along with shrimp, shallots, asparagus and Parmesan cheese, in this gnocchi recipe. Look for shelf-stable gnocchi near other pasta. Serve with baby arugula salad with vinaigrette and a glass of pinot grigio.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Salmon Alfredo

A low-fat white sauce, made with fat-free milk, coats the salmon, pasta, and broccoli in this complete 30-minute meal.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Whole-Grain Spaghetti with Italian Turkey Sausage, Arugula & Balsamic Tomato Sauce

Rating: Unrated
2
Total happiness in a bowl: pasta, sausage, tomatoes and herbs. The tomatoes get sweet and tender and turn into sauce with the stock and the pasta. Without ever adding any butter, the spaghetti sauce is rich and silky. Adding the herbs at the end gives the dish a fresh pop of color and flavor. This is one healthy pasta recipe we can definitely get behind!
By Cooking Light

One-Pot Italian Sausage & Kale Pasta

Rating: Unrated
8
For a fast weeknight pasta dinner, why not cook your sauce and pasta all at once? By using the exact amount of water you need to cook the pasta--no colanders here--the starch that cooks off into your pasta water, which you usually drain away, stays in the pot, giving you delectably creamy results.
By Breana Killeen

Pasta & Chickpea Soup (Pasta e ceci)

Rating: Unrated
1
This thick soup is full of chickpeas, tomatoes, fresh rosemary and pasta. Convenient pantry items makes it the perfect solution for harried weeknights. To make this soup vegetarian simply swap reduced-sodium vegetable broth for the beef broth.
By G. Franco Romagnoli

Spaghetti Carbonara with Peas

Rating: Unrated
2
Our healthy spaghetti carbonara recipe is lower in calories and fat than a traditional spaghetti carbonara recipe, plus it boasts 9 more grams of fiber per serving from whole-wheat pasta. For the best flavor, use Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The eggs in the sauce are not fully cooked; if you're concerned about consuming undercooked eggs, use pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs in this spaghetti carbonara recipe.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

Rating: Unrated
1
This healthy chicken pasta recipe is jazzed up with traditional bruschetta toppers, including cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Multicolored cherry tomatoes look pretty, but you can use all one color of tomato too. Either way, you've got an easy weeknight dinner that's ready in 25 minutes. We've called for spaghettini (thin spaghetti) in this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite shape of pasta.
By Liz Mervosh

Italian Mussels & Pasta

Rating: Unrated
3
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!
By John Ash

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp over Orzo with Zucchini

Rating: Unrated
4
This light and veggie-packed shrimp and pasta dish makes a special weeknight dinner.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Italian-Style Turkey & Penne Skillet

Rating: Unrated
1
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.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Rating: Unrated
5
All the delicious flavors of your favorite chicken Cordon Bleu--salty ham, melty cheese, tangy mustard--with no tricky assembly required. This healthy comfort food recipe would be perfect for a potluck.
By Hilary Meyer

Chicken & Gnocchi Dumplings

Rating: Unrated
5
This crowd-pleasing gnocchi recipe is perfect for an easy weeknight comfort meal. Get all the flavors of chicken and dumplings without having to make the dumplings when you use gnocchi in their place.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Spinach & Sausage Gnocchi

Rating: Unrated
5
Some like it hot--but if you don't, sweet Italian turkey sausage is also delicious in this healthy gnocchi recipe. Serve with a mixed green salad with sherry vinaigrette.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Tomato & Kale Pesto Pasta

Rating: Unrated
1
This 25-minute pasta side dish goes well with chicken or fish and can be served either warm or at room temperature. Kale and basil create a fresh-tasting pesto that is packed with protein and taste, thanks to the addition of chickpeas. We like shaved Parmesan sprinkled on the top, but feel free to add toasted pine nuts or walnuts for some crunch.
By Diabetic Living Magazine

Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce

Rating: Unrated
3
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.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Chicken Piccata with Pasta & Mushrooms

Rating: Unrated
33
Our chicken piccata, served over whole-wheat pasta, has a rich lemon-caper sauce that's made with extra-virgin olive oil and just a touch of butter for flavor. If you like, you can use a mild fish like tilapia or even shrimp instead of chicken breast.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen
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