Today’s Plant Sourced is a really homely comfort food dish. As you guys all know by now, lentil pasta is a dietary staple in my house, and today’s recipe combines lentil penne with a spicy cannelini bean and butternut squash sauce. There’s protein from the beans and the pasta, a few of your 5 a day, it’s healthy, while still being filling. I thought a high protein vegan pasta dish would be great for this series because it’s simple enough for the whole family to enjoy while containing enough protein to keep everyone full and satiated.
Protein Sources
The main protein source in this recipe is the lentil penne, with a healthy added amount from the beans. This recipe contains 63g protein in total and serves either 2 large servings, or 3 small. I’m working out the nutritional information based on two servings per recipe, which equates to 31.4g protein per serving. 8g of which comes from the beans, 18.6g comes from the pasta and the remainder is from smaller amounts in the vegetables.
Catch up with other high protein recipes here.
Nutritional Information
This recipe is very nutrient dense, each serving contains over 100% of the minimum RDA of vitamins A,C and B1. It contains a very impressive 27g if fibre, over half of the RDA of B6 and at least a quarter of the recommended daily amounts of calcium, iron, B3, B5 and vitamin E. As lentil are a source of iron, the lentil penne will also add to the iron content but British food labels don’t contain vitamin content so I can’t provide a specific amount for that.
High Protein Vegan Pasta Recipe
A rich spicy tomato based source with fresh herbs and hearty vegetables.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free, but free and vegan.
Vegan High Protein Squash & Bean Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- Fry spray
- Handful fresh basil
- A few sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Chilli flakes to taste
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 small red onion diced
- 1 small/ medium red pepper finely chopped
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups tomato & herb vegetable stock I used Kallo, regular stock will do if this is unavailable
- 1 can cannelini beans drained and rinsed
- 1 small butternut squash cubed
- Salt & pepper
- 150 g red lentil penne
Instructions
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preheat oven to 190°c. Place the squash on a baking tray, spray with fry spray then add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place the tray in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes until the squash is cooked and crispy on the edges.
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After you’ve added the squash to the oven, place a large saucepan on medium heat. Once hot, add a few sprays of fry spray and the onions and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes then stir in the fresh and dried herbs and the chilli flakes. Cook for one further minute stirring constantly then add the pepper. Stir to combine then cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
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Add the chopped tomatoes and stock to the pan, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, start cooking the pasta (lentil penne takes about 6-7 minutes) and stir the beans into the saucepan. Cook for roughly 5 minutes, then remove the squash from the oven and also add that to the saucepan and stir to combine.
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Once the pasta is ready, combine with the sauce and serve.
Serve and enjoy!
What are your favourite/ go-to pasta dishes?
Until next time,
Sophie
I love the look of this recipe. I can’t wait to try it out.
This dish looks so good – I love lentil pasta, I love beans, and I love squash! It seems really healthy and nutritious too, as well as pretty simple to make. Perfect 🙂
This sounds delicious! I never even heard of lentil penne. I love big bowls of pasta but struggled to get it to be nutritionally balanced like this
Yum! I’m always looking or veggie lunch inspiration and this pasta dish sounds perfect. Thanks for sharing the lovely recipe.
Kate
This looks delicious!
Ooh this looks gorgeous and perfect if you’re on a health kick this jan!
Love it xxx
This looks sooo good and I’m all cry face over here because of it. I’m trying to lose weight and my body is stupid so every time I eat carbs it goes “well, better store this for later.” Doesn’t matter if I keep to my calorie count. If I eat pasta, rice or bread my body refuse to get down in weight.
Saving this for a special night though ❤️
This looks so delicious! I love pasta – I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried lentil pasta before but I like that you have used it, makes a change from ordinary pasta! And can’t go wrong with the beans and squash. It looks like a warming winter dish.
I love pasta and any pasta dish for that matter! This looks so scrumptious! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
This recipe looks fantastic, however I’m allergic to butternut squash so would there be anything I could exchange it for do you think? Love your recipes!
How delicious this looks! I never quite know what to do with butternut squash and would never have thought to put them in a pasta dish, I’ll definitely be trying this as a mid-week dish. Thank you for the recipe! xxx
I am always looking for new good food to try! This looks delicious! Will try soon!
I’m saving this! My friend will love this and I’m helping her out with cooking over the next few weeks while she recovers from surgery!
Thanks for sharing!
Em
http://Www.emsworldblog.com
Sounds great. I’ve never heard of tomato and vegetable stock. I’m sure it’s good. Thanks for the recipe.
Oooo i love new vegan recipes, especially pasta ones! I will be trying this out w my brother, whos doing Veganuary!
Thank you!
This pasta looks so delicious! I need to try it! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This sounds absolutely delicious, I’m a big fan of squash so I think I would love this. I really think this would be a perfect lunch time meal to take to work x
Kayleigh Zara http://www.kayleighzaraa.com
Thanks v. much for sharing this! I have been looking for some high protein, easy to make winter meals so this will definitely be one I print off and try! It sounds delish xo
Makeup Muddle
It looks delicious. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
This sounds delicious! I adore pasta it is my favourite comfort food.
Alyssa
The Sacred Space AP
This looks absolutely delicious and definitely something I’d enjoy. I can’t wait to make it in future, thanks for sharing lovely xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
Pasta is such a wonderful, quick and easy way of filling yourself up on protein. Fab post! I’m sending you so much love.
With love, Alisha Valerie x | http://www.alishavalerie.com
OMG!! We are vegan and food lovers, and this pasta looks absolutely amazing!
I actually can’t wait for Friday and cook this delicious meal for Patricia :p
Have a great week
With love,
Patricia & Miguel
https://patriciandmiguel.com/
Healthy pasta recipes are always so welcome to me because I loveeee pasta and could easily gain 5 stone by eating pasta and pasta alone. I’ve never thought of incorporating beans into it but I’m definitely trying this out!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com x
This looks and sounds delicious. You can’t go wrong with pasta but I also love things with a lot of herbs and flavours x
This looks so delish, and the perfect comfort meal for the winter! Lovely recipe.
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
Three of my favorite things, pasta, beans and squash. This is definitely right up my alley as I eat mostly plantbased
That sounds and looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it out.
This looks CRAZY delicious! OMG! What a great source of plant based protein! Also, I didn’t know that red lentil pasta existed. Who knew!? Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
looks like a very nice high protein pasta dish! I love squash and definitely need to try making this recipe.
Mel | Moonlight Mel
I love pasta dishes, and this looks so good. The cannelini beans in there sounds so good. It’s hard for me to pick out a favorite pasta dish, but if I had to choose probably pesto.
I need to try this recipe x
When are you writing a recipe book?! You have so many incredible recipes and this is another one down on my list! You can’t go wrong with pasta! Haha!
Love pasta, this looks so good. Need to try it!! x