High Protein One-Pan Pasta

Author Notes

*Adapted from Martha Stewart's One-Pan Pasta

The changes I made to this recipe were to bring it closer to Zone macros (30% protein, 25-30% fat, 40-50% carbs) and MyPlate recommendations (25% protein, 25% starch, 50% vegetables). Seasoning in the hot Italian chicken sausage meant I needed to reduce the 2 tsp salt originally added. I reduced the amount of pasta from 3 oz per serving to 2 oz per serving and used Barilla Protein Plus pasta. It has more protein and fiber than standard pasta, but unlike chickpea and lentil pasta, the texture is almost indistinguishable from 100% semolina pasta. My pasta did cook past al dente before the water had evaporated as much as I would have liked. Instead of reducing the water in the recipe to 4 cups, I should have taken it all the way down to 3.5 (or even 3.25) cups.

The original recipe already included two 84-gram servings of vegetables per serving, but I added greens because you can never get enough greens. I also thought the finished dish needed more tomatoes—more brightness and acid. I added another 4 oz of fresh tomatoes to my room temperature next day leftovers and thought it was perfect.

Nutritional Info: (without extra tomatoes)
435 calories, 34g protein, 50g carbs, 13g fat, 6.5 g fiber —Cara Powers